Updated at 8 p.m. with Ken Paxton comments at Cruz rally.

BARTONVILLE -- With two days left before Texans seal their fates, Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep. Beto O'Rourke scrambled Sunday to keep supporters upbeat enough to keep working and worried enough to avoid complacency.

Polls show the contest teetering between optimism and anxiety on both sides.

"It might be close. It might be close,” averred Debra Reed, 60, a GOP precinct chair in Denton wearing a "Team Jesus" T-shirt to a Cruz rally in Bartonville, outside Denton. "I'm hoping for the big red wave to come through."

She's dubious about polls showing a tight race.

"I'm fixing to be 61 and no one's ever asked me who I'm voting for. It could just be a bunch of mumbo jumbo to get people discouraged," she said.

Angela Nelson, 44, an event planner, moved to nearby Argyle with her husband from California several years ago. She backed Florida Sen. Marco Rubio in the 2016 GOP presidential race, but is happy to back Cruz for re-election, given the alternative.

But some Republican friends are backing O'Rourke.

"We see so many Beto signs everywhere, even in North Dallas suburbs," she said. "I'm very concerned."

O'Rourke, after a Saturday of knocking on doors in Dallas and Tarrant counties and an evening rally in Lower Greenville that brought 500 campaign volunteers and other supporters spilling onto a side street, moved on to Austin and San Antonio on Sunday.

In an East Austin park, O'Rourke told a crowd of several hundred people that he needed every last bit of help to ensure a victory.

"Over the next 54 hours, I'm asking you to give me every waking moment of your life," he said, calling for volunteers to make phone calls and knock on doors "if you really want to win this, given what's at stake, given what's on the line, given the judgment of the people of the future: our kids, our grandkids, our conscience."

O'Rourke also expressed skepticism of polls -- most of which give Cruz an edge -- but did cite a recent poll from Change Research, a Democratic pollster that used online polling and found the race tied.

He noted the outcome may hinge on new voters, and touted huge early voting tallies compared with the last midterm election, and a 500 percent spike in participation among voters ages 18-29.

"These are the leaders of right now and this moment," he said.

1 / 4Sen. Ted Cruz campaigns at Marty B's in Bartonville on Sunday Nov. 4, 2018(Todd J. Gillman / staff) 2 / 4Sen. Ted Cruz campaigns at Marty B's in Bartonville on Sunday Nov. 4, 2018(Todd J. Gillman / staff) 3 / 4Debra Reed of Denton at a Ted Cruz rally in Bartonville on Nov. 4, 2018. "It might be close," she said.(Todd J. Gillman / staff) 4 / 4Sen. Ted Cruz speaks at a campaign event at Marty B's in Bartonville, Texas, Nov. 4, 2018. Behind him are state Sen. Jane Nelson and U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess. (Tamir Kalifa/The New York Times)(TAMIR KALIFA / NYT)

At a noisy rally in Fairview on Sunday evening, near McKinney, Texas attorney general Ken Paxton introduced Cruz by casting Donald Trump's victory two years ago in religious terms, and warning of dire consequences if Cruz is defeated.

"We were delivered two years ago," he said, and "if we don't save Texas in the next two days, we lose America."

In Bartonville, Cruz pressed the case that the economy is too strong to shift power in Washington to Democrats.

"Who in their right mind would want to screw it up?" he said. "On Tuesday, jobs are on the ballot" — a comment that prompted a man in the crowd to shout, "Jobs not mobs!"

Alluding to the record $70 million his opponent has raised, he added: "If you give me a choice between the millions from Hollywood liberals, or the men and women in Texas, I will take the men and women in Texas -- the men and women gathered here ... who are standing and manning the barricades and defending the state of Texas."

Cruz will campaign in suburban Houston on Monday, reminding tea party members and others why they picked him six years ago and making the case why they should return him to the Senate.

The Democrat plans to start his day in downtown Houston and end up at a hometown rally in El Paso.

Republicans have seen Texas Democrats get excited before, then flame out when it came time to getting their supporters to actually participate in an election. So there's an underlying optimism at Cruz events — tempered by the sobering recognition that polls have been tight.

"He's got the base fired up," said Morgan Ali, 42, who works as a picker for Amazon. He was holding an oversized cutout of Cruz's face -- a $20 "Ted head" souvenir at a Cruz rally on Friday in Fort Worth. "Both sides are fired up. The Democrats are angry and they're turning out, and the Republicans are responding to that. It's like a turnout war."

But at a Cruz rally the previous day in Pampa, a rural town in the Panhandle, Michele Parsley, 51, a homemaker, wasn't overly confident about the senator's prospects.

"We're praying for him," she said.

Because you love him or because you're worried he might lose?

"A little of both," she said.

1 / 2Rep. Beto O'Rourke stumps in Austin at the Pan American Neighborhood Park on November 4, 2018.(SUZANNE CORDEIRO / Getty Images) 2 / 2Supporters Rep. Beto O'Rourke attend his last public event in Austin before election night at the Pan American Neighborhood Park on November 4, 2018.(SUZANNE CORDEIRO / Getty Images)

Rock star treatment

In Austin, O'Rourke's supporters were enthusiastic and in some cases even desperate for a win.

As O'Rourke descended upon the crowd of fans, like a rock star, a woman screamed, "Savior!" But even his most ardent supporters said the odds are against them.

"It's still a very long shot, but I'm immensely encouraged by the early voter turnout and the enthusiasm across generations and socioeconomic classes," said Kay Foster, 71, from Dripping Springs.

Why is she still skeptical? "Because it's Texas," she said -- echoing the reasoning Cruz supporters give for their own cautious optimism.

"It's Texas, man. I think we got Ted's back," Sam Stewart, 43, who works at a metal recycling company, said at a Lubbock rally for Cruz six days before polls closed.

Enthusiasm for O'Rourke has reached a rare pitch for any Democrat courting Texas voters.

"I've talked to a lot of people who said they didn't vote for Hillary [Clinton] because it was a foregone conclusion, but they're voting now," said Varda Langefeld, 73, from Austin.

Sloane Hayashi, 17 and too young to vote, has attended three rallies for O'Rourke and said:

"I want to say he'll win, and that all these 18- to 21-year-olds make the difference, but I don't know. I really hope so."

Jenn Golech, 37, from Austin, noted that the majority of people don't vote, which means that high turnout could lead to the unexpected. A loss would be "heartbreaking," she said.

"It would be hard to bounce back," she said. "We're talking about moving out of Texas."

Polls seen as 'fake news'

At Cruz's rally, U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess and state Sen. Jane Nelson led chants of "I say 'Texas!' You say 'Red!' Texas! Red!"

Later, as Cruz posed for photos, Nelson professed confidence.

"They tell me likability is an important factor in getting elected," she said. "I'm sure he's a personable young man," she said of O'Rourke, "but those are not Texas values. ... We will make sure that we turn every vote out for Sen. Cruz so we can offset everything the California money machine is doing to turn out votes in the urban areas."

Burgess also called Cruz's support in Denton County solid.

"It's hard when you have that much money coming in against you," he said, but he put his level of optimism that Cruz wins at 10 on a scale of 10. "And we're going to hold the House, too. 'It's the economy, stupid.' "

As in the O'Rourke crowd, Cruz voters were dismayed at the possibility their man might lose.

Polls putting victory in reach of O'Rourke cannot possibly be right, said Lauren Beck, 42, a middle school language arts teacher.

"It's more fake news," she said. "He's for socialism. We'd go back to how it was when under [Barack] Obama, when we paid for everyone."

Randy Pavlica, 55, an IT consultant from Highland Village, said he's 80 percent to 90 percent sure that Cruz will win.

He'd put the number higher, he said, but "there's been such an influx of people coming from out of state. They don't have the values of Texas."

Austin correspondent Rebekah Allen reported from Austin. Washington Bureau Chief Todd J. Gillman reported from Bartonville.