Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas won reelection Tuesday, defeating U.S. Rep. and former NFL linebacker Colin Allred in the state's senate race.  Allred, 41, was a star high school athlete from Dallas who played linebacker at Baylor University in Waco before he spent four seasons in the NFL with the Tennessee Titans.

U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, a former NFL linebacker and civil rights lawyer from Dallas, repeatedly broke fundraising records in his campaign, raising more than $80 million by mid-October.

According to projections, Texas voters opted to send Cruz back to the Senate despite his infamous trip to Cancún during a deadly winter storm.