In a crisp, rapid-fire debate, their first of three in what looks to be a taut U.S. Senate race, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-El Paso, played to their strengths.Cruz was the sharp-tongued defender of conservative Texas values presenting O’Rourke as a fashionable avatar of far-left thinking out of place in Texas but fueled by the rage of a “hard left” enraged by President Trump

O’Rourke presented himself as a fresh, open and earnest figure uninterested in partisan bickering in contrast to what he portrayed as his rival’s truth-be-damned, slash-and-burn rhetorical tactics.“Sen. Cruz has a tendency to mischaracterize positions,” O’Rourke told a throng of reporters on the debate stage after the hour-long event. Cruz did not offer post-debate comments.Austin Stateman