U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz defeated Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke in the race for U.S. Senate. View full 2018 Texas election results or subscribe to The Brief for the latest election news.More in this series

State Rep. Joe Moody is joining fellow El Paso Democrat U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke‘s campaign to unseat U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

Moody, the chairman of the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee, starts Monday as O’Rourke’s statewide political director, according to a campaign official. Moody will stay on as a state representative.

O’Rourke and Moody are well-acquainted through El Paso politics. O’Rourke has represented the area in Congress since 2013, while Moody is serving his fourth term in the state House. 

News of Moody’s hire comes a day after O’Rourke announced he raised over $2.4 million in the fourth quarter of last year — more than Cruz did by a healthy margin. 

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Patrick Svitek was the primary political correspondent for The Texas Tribune. Patrick covered elections, state leaders, the Legislature and political trends across the state from 2015 until 2024. He previously...