DALLAS (AP) – Is Texas’ U.S. Senate race even really a race? Or is it a foregone conclusion for Republican Ted Cruz?

Democrat Paul Sadler says his tea party-backed opponent is too extreme and that he’ll prove it during a pivotal debate Tuesday night in Dallas.

It could bolster his otherwise long-shot campaign.

Sadler plans to press Cruz on his support of building a fence stretching Texas’ entire border with Mexico. He also says Texans don’t support Cruz’s calls to abolish the U.S. Department of Education or wipe all of the White House-backed health care reform law.

Cruz has refused to respond to Sadler’s charges. Cruz spokesman Sean Rushton called the debate, “another opportunity to champion the voices of thousands of Texans who want Washington to stop spending money we don’t have.”