As Election Day approaches, Ted Cruz’s campaign for his third term in the U.S. Senate is in full swing.

Cruz, a prominent Republican who ran for president in 2016, is running against his Democratic challenger Colin Allred, a U.S. representative from Dallas. The two opponents will face off Tuesday night in a debate hosted by WFAA-TV (Channel 8).

Here are 10 things you should know about U.S. Senator Ted Cruz:

1. Born in Calgary, Alberta in 1970 to Cuban immigrantsCruz said he barely remembers his early life in Canada – mostly learning to walk and playing in the snow. He moved to Houston with his parents in 1975 after his father, who had abandoned the family when Cruz was three, came to faith and returned to his wife and son.

2. Until he was 13, Cruz was called Felito Cruz, short for Rafaelitothe diminutive of his name, Rafael. But the kids in Houston teased him as Dorito Felito and other rhymes (Fritos, Cheetos, Tostitos).

“My father was angry about the decision,” Cruz wrote in his book. A time for the truthabout the choice of the name Ted. “He viewed it as a rejection of him and his legacy.”

3. Cruz began developing conservative principles in his early teens. In high school, he was part of a group sponsored by the Free Enterprise Institute that studied the Constitution and traveled around Texas giving speeches about conservative ideas.

4. Cruz studied public policy at Princeton University for his bachelor’s degree and earned his law degree from Harvard Law School. While at Princeton, Cruz was a member of a debate team and won top honors at a national debate championship his senior year.

5. Cruz clerked for then-Chief Justice William Rehnquist in 1996. He missed watching his beloved Houston Rockets beat the Orlando Magic in Game 4 of the 1995 NBA Finals so he could do an interview with Rehnquist.

6. Cruz bought his wife Heidi a .357 Magnum revolver to stay at her bedside for protection when he’s not in Texas. He had to leave hospital “just hours” after the birth of his first daughter, Caroline, to argue a death penalty case in the Supreme Court.

7. Cruz was appointed to his first public office in 2003 by Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who serves as the state’s attorney general. He held this position until 2008. He was elected to his first term in the Senate in 2012, defeating Democrat Paul Sadler, and was re-elected in 2018 ahead of challenger Beto O’Rourke.

8. Cruz ran for president in 2016but lost the Republican nomination to former President Donald Trump. The two had a contentious relationship during the 2016 Republican presidential primary, with Cruz calling Trump “afraid of debates” and Trump making the baseless statement that Cruz’s father was linked to Lee Harvey Oswald.

The two rekindled their relationship when Trump was elected president, with Cruz defending Trump’s claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election.

9. Some of Cruz’s recent legislative achievements These include leading reauthorization of funding for the Federal Aviation Administration, passage of a law to ease permitting requirements for new microchip facilities and a measure to streamline the process for new bridges over the Rio Grande.

10. A lot of money was spent in the 2024 Texas Senate race, Allred said it raised $30 million in the third quarter of the year, more than Cruz’s $21 million. The senator has reiterated his conservative values ​​during the election season, saying Allred’s policy proposals are not “the values ​​of Texans.”

Former Washington correspondent Matthew Adams contributed to this report.