Incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz is projected to win a third term as the senator from Texas in his race against Democratic U.S. Rep Colin Allred on Tuesday.

Texas witnessed one of the most expensive and closely watched Senate races in history as the candidates raised more than $160 million combined this election.

An Allred victory would have given Texas its first Black senator and boost the Democrats' chances of maintaining their narrow Senate majority. Texas has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1988.

The Associated Press proclaimed Cruz the winner. As of 10:39 pm, Cruz had 5,580,956 votes or 53.8 percent, while Allred had 4,563,546 votes or 44 percent; Libertarian Ted Brown drew 231,050 votes or 2.2 percent.

Cruz started serving Texas in the U.S. Senate in 2013 after defeating Democrat Paul Sadler. Cruz took over the seat previously held by Kay Bailey Hutchinson, who decided not to seek re-election in 2012.

The Harvard-educated Cruz became the first Hispanic to serve as a U.S. senator from Texas. Before that, Cruz served as a domestic policy advisor to George W. Bush during his 2000 presidential campaign and served as Solicitor General of Texas from 2003 to 2008.

According to the Associated Press, Democrat Julie Johnson won the U.S. House seat that Allred vacated to run for the Senate. Johnson is a trial attorney who will be the first openly gay member of Congress from Texas. She served three terms as a state lawmaker, where she championed LGTBQ rights at the state Capitol. She has also said that women's health care would be a priority of hers in Congress and that she would vote to put abortion rights in federal law.

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Read the full story and watch the video at KVUE.com. This story also includes a short passage from coverage by the Associated Press.