Am Law lawyers and advisers running for office had a mixed night at the polls Tuesday. 

Morgan, Lewis & Bockius appellate litigation partner Ted Cruz, a Tea Party–backed Republican, easily beat Democratic lawyer Paul Sadler to claim the U.S. Senate seat previously occupied by Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison. Cruz, who was heavily favored to win in a state that hasn’t sent a Democrat to the Senate since 1988, took nearly 57 percent of the vote—slightly less than what Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney earned in carrying the state. Having defeated the Lone Star State’s well-known—and well-funded—lieutenant governor, David Dewhurst, to win the GOP nomination in July, Cruz made history by becoming the first Hispanic to win a Senate seat in Texas.