How Ted Cruz pulled off a decisive win and kept his White House hopes afloat [Video]

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In the weeks leading up to Election Day, a series of polls found that U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz was in a familiar position: fighting for political survival in a state where other Republicans were routinely dominant.

But Cruz’s team felt confident. They were better positioned this election cycle overall and they’d identified what they saw as their ace in the hole: Democratic challenger Colin Allred’s record on transgender rights — specifically, the issue of transgender children playing in youth sports. The year before, Allred, a Dallas congressman, had voted against GOP legislation that proposed cutting …