VERIFYING claims from The Texas Debate between U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and Congressman Colin Allred

DALLAS — Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and Democratic challenger U.S. Rep. Colin Allred met Tuesday night in the only debate of the Texas Senate race that could help determine which party controls the U.S. Senate.

Before the voters have their say, they heard from both candidates in “The Texas Debate,” which took place at the studio of our sister station, WFAA in Dallas. It was broadcast live across Texas and moderated by WFAA’s Senior Political Reporter Jason Whitely and Gromer Jeffers from the Dallas Morning News.

If you missed the debate, you can watch it now here or on KVUE+, available for download for free on Roku, FireTV and AppleTV.

The debate presented Allred, a three-term congressman from Dallas and former NFL linebacker, with a chance to boost his name identification to a broad Texas audience. Allred has made protecting abortion rights a centerpiece of his campaign and has been sharply critical of the state’s abortion ban, which is one of the strictest in the nation. The issue has been a winning one for Democrats, even in red states like Kentucky and Kansas, ever since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in 2022 to strip away constitutional protections for abortion.

Cruz, who quickly made a name for himself in the Senate as an uncompromising conservative and who ran for president in 2016, has refashioned his campaign to focus on his legislative record. He portrays his opponent as too liberal. Meanwhile, Allred has sought to flash moderate credentials and has the endorsement of former Republican U.S. Reps. Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney.

Allred claimed 26,000 Texas women have been forced to give birth to their rapist’s child under the Texas abortion law.

• Journal of American Medical Association

The Texas Heartbeat Act (SB 8) banned abortion after the detection of embryonic or fetal cardiac activity, which is usually after about six weeks of pregnancy. It was passed by the Texas Legislature in May 2021.

According to a study by the Journal of the American Medical Association, there were an estimated 26,000 pregnancies related to rape in just over a year after Texas outlawed abortions.

Researchers said the study was based on estimates, which limits its accuracy. They said the “highly stigmatized” experiences are not easy to accurately measure through surveys and they used data from before abortion bans were put in place. They also didn’t compare the numbers year-to-year, so it wasn’t possible to tell if the estimates showed an increase or decrease compared to the year prior.

“In my time in the Senate, I have authored and passed 101 different pieces of legislation,” Cruz said.

• Congress.gov

According to Congress.gov, Cruz has sponsored four and co-sponsored 70 pieces of legislation that have passed both chambers since he has been in the Senate.

According to the same website, Allred has sponsored one and co-sponsored 51 pieces of legislation that passed both chambers since he joined the House of Representatives.

Allred claimed Cruz voted against the Child Tax Credit.

• Senate voting records

The Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024, or HR 7024, was voted on Aug. 1, 2024.

HR 7024 is, “A bill to make improvements to the child tax credit, to provide tax incentives to promote economic growth, to provide special rules for the taxation of certain residents of Taiwan with income from sources within the United States, to provide tax relief concerning certain Federal disasters, to make improvements to the low-income housing tax credit, and for other purposes.”

The bill passed in the House but didn’t pass in the Senate, where Cruz – along with 40 of the 43 other Republicans – voted against the bill.

Allred voted in favor of the bill as it easily passed in the House.

“The defund the police movement started in 2019 – from 2019 to 2023 let me tell you what happened to the murder rate in Houston – it went up 29%,” Cruz said.

• FBI crime data

According to FBI crime data, the numbers show there were 281 murders in Houston in 2019. Four years later, in 2023, 343 murders were reported.

Cruz’s claim is mostly true, but needs context – it’s a 22% increase, not 29%.

It’s also worth noting that several factors, including the pandemic, have been cited as causes of a spike in violent crime and homicides.

“He does claim he supports LNG [liquified natural gas], but when it came time to vote, there was a vote in the House of Representatives – do you support Joe Biden’s ban on new permits on LNG? And Congressman Allred voted with Joe Biden, he voted against Texas jobs,” Cruz said.

• Voting records

According to voting records, Allred voted “no” along with 199 other House Democrats on a bill to unlock domestic LNG potential. That vote was on Feb. 15.

A few months later, though, in May, Allred penned an op-ed in the Houston Chronicle seemingly switching positions calling on President Joe Biden to end the pause on permitting new liquified natural gas projects.