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In his bid for a second term in the Senate in the November 6 general election, Cruz narrowly defeated the Democratic outgoing U.S. Representative [[Beto O'Rourke]] of [[El Paso]]. In the primary held on March 6, 2018, Cruz defeated four weak intra-party opponents. He polled 1,317,450 votes (85.3 percent). In the Democratic primary, O'Rourke received 641,337 votes (61.8 percent). Some 506,000 more Republicans voted in the Texas primary than did Democrats. The liberal O'Rourke, who unlike Cruz is not Hispanic, is was believed to be a potentially strong opponent because of favorable media coverage, strong fund-raising, large crowds at campaign rallies, and respectable opinion polling. O'Rourke is was said to resemble "a Kennedy," referring to the popular [[Massachusetts]] family of liberal politicians. In July, the magazine ''Politico'' declared that "Beto-mania" was sweeping Texas, an early warning to Senator Cruz that he could be unseated in a considerable "blue wave" across the Lone Star State.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/07/09/beto-mania-sweeps-texas-218961|title=Beto-mania Sweeps Texas|publisher=''Politico'' magazine|date=July 9, 2018|author=Ben Schreckinger|accessdate=July 13, 2018}}</ref> The "blue wave in Texas toppled more than a dozen state legislators and two U.S. Representatives. It also produced Democratic sweeps in the large urban areas, particularly at the judicial level.