Early voting is already underway in Texas for the November election, and the biggest statewide contest on the ballot is the race for U.S. Senate between Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, who is vying for his third six-year term, and U.S. House Rep. Colin Allred, a Democrat who currently represents Texas’ 32nd congressional district in Washington.
The winner will be one of the Lone Star states’ two Senators, joining Republican John Cornyn.
Nationally, the race is shaping up to be one of the more closely watched campaigns of 2024 – and one of the most expensive, with Allred leading Cruz in the fundraising battle. So far, the campaigns have raised about $132 million, the Texas Tribune reported.
Allred’s fundraising success comes, in part, from national Democratic leadership seeing the seat as winnable.
“I think that their (the Democratic National Committee) willingness to put money into this race is a function both of Allred himself, of the incumbent, but then also it’s a presidential year,” UT-Arlington political scientist Rebecca Deen told The Texas Newsroom. “That’s going to bring out not only more voters but a different segment of the voters than a midterm election.”
In the most recent fundraising quarter, the North Texas Congressman raised more than $30 million to the incumbent Republican’s $21 million.
Who is Colin Allred?
Allred, who was born and raised in Dallas, grew up playing football. His success on the field while attending Hillcrest High School led to him playing for Baylor University and eventually the NFL. Allred played five seasons for the Tennessee Titans.
This experience is something Allred often touts on the campaign trail.
“I’m somebody who never has approached things from a purely partisan perspective,” said Allred in an early September interview. “I think when you’re a football player and you’ve been in kind of a background that I’ve been in, you’re more focused on, like, results. And so, to me, I feel like I’m in a results-oriented business, which is that my job is to deliver for folks who are out there working hard.”
After an injury, he left football and became a civil rights attorney, eventually working for the Department of Housing and Urban Development during the Obama Administration.
In 2018, Allred successfully ran to represent Texas’ 32nd Congressional District. The district, which includes parts of Dallas and surrounding cities, had long been represented by a Republican.
Supporters have said his legal background has made him successful in Washington.
“As a civil rights lawyer, he kind of understands the give and take as he begins to have to carry legislation,” said Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price, who has endorsed Allred in his U.S. Senate bid.
Allred is also seen as a rising star in the Democratic party, according to Deen.
“Giving a speech at this past Democratic National Convention that really, of course, elevates his stature,” she said.
Given that, and the fact that Cruz only won reelection in 2018 against Beto O’Rourke by just more than 200,000 votes, makes Texas’ U.S. Senate race one of the few seats nationwide Democrats believe they could flip.
On the polling side, depending on where you look, Allred is currently trailing Cruz by as little as 1 percentage point or as many as seven.
Abortion
Texas has some of the nation’s strictest abortion laws. There are no exceptions for rape or incest, something that polls show a majority of Americans are in favor of.
Allred has made abortion one of his key campaign issues – and the subject of several campaign ads – often saying he’s in agreement with most Americans and Texans who believe in exceptions.
During the candidates’ only debate, Allred asked Cruz to address the “26,000 Texas women who’ve been forced to give birth to their rapist’s child under this law that you called perfectly reasonable,” adding he “trusts Texas women to make their own health care decisions.”
He said that, if elected, he would, “restore a woman’s right to choose,” and “make Roe v. Wade the law of the land again.”
In a recent interview with KERA, Allred said “Ted Cruz has gone too far and that his extreme rhetoric now has become extreme policies that are impacting Texans every single day,” citing the state’s “near-total abortion ban that’s having horrific impacts for Texas women and Texas families.”
Border and Immigration
Allred has been outspoken on his stance about reforming the U.S. immigration system and increasing border security, at times breaking with fellow Democrats in Washington.
He recently told KERA he “will not only recognize that we have a problem and I have now, but then I will be a part of making sure that we do secure the border, that we reform our immigration system as well.”
Allred was alluding to a controversial vote earlier this year where he was one of only three Democrats who voted with Republicans on a resolution denouncing the Biden administration’s border policies. The resolution included strong rebukes of the administration, including language like, “Whereas the Biden administration brazenly eliminated effective and lawful Trump administration immigration enforcement policies, directly leading to the worst border crisis in the history of the Nation and affecting every State.”
That vote drew some heat from fellow Democrats, including his primary challenger, Texas State Senator Roland Gutierrez, who accused Allred of siding “with GOP extremists” on the issue.
‘Close to being a centrist’
In his campaign, Allred has been making a play for both traditional Democratic voters in Texas and more centrist and moderate-minded voters.
In an appearance on The Bulwark podcast last month, Allred invited people who believe in conservative values – like the Constitution, the rule of law and accountability – to consider casting a vote for him.
“Everyone out there in Texas who feels like they are conservative, but they believe in those things. But they’re a moderate that they’re somebody who feels like,” he said. “They don’t see themselves reflected in this version of the Republican Party. They’re welcome here.”
That sort of plea for Republicans may be what has helped him gain the approval and endorsements of Republicans like former Vice President Dick Cheney and his daughter, former U.S. House Rep. Liz Cheney.
Allred is “as close to being a centrist as far as I’m concerned,” Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price told The Texas Newsroom.
UT-Arlington’s Rebecca Deen said this may be more about perception than reality.
“Although I think most people would tack his policies toward the left or the progressive side, he presents in a way that is very moderated,” said Deen, adding that Allred “doesn’t come across as a flamethrower of any sort. He comes across as just very reasonable, very sensible, very intelligent, very well-informed on the policy issues.”
Housing and the economy
Rep. Allred’s campaign messaging around the economy echoes much of what both Democrats and Republicans have been saying in the leadup to November. Allred recently told KERA he wants to lower the cost of groceries and other things that families spend money on.
Citing how he grew up with a single mother, Allred said he understands, “You don’t have a whole lot of spare money. And you swipe your debit card and saying a little prayer as you go through the grocery store line.”
On the housing issues currently facing many Americans, Allred said he wants to follow Vice President Harris’ plan to, “make sure that we can increase our housing supply and lower the overall cost of housing.”
The Democrat has also said he wants to “keep lowering the costs of child care, lowering the cost of health care as we did when capping the cost of insulin at $35 a month for folks on Medicare.”
But Allred also understands that winning in a traditionally Republican state won’t be easy, partly because of Texas’ historically low voter turnout.
“We’re a non-voting state,” he told KERA, adding that – as a voting rights lawyer – he knows that is partly due to, “overlapping laws, but also the sense that it could be you could get in trouble.”
The latter portion which he blames on the current leadership in the state.
According to Allred, there are “a lot of Texans out there who are looking for someone who will be on their side as opposed to just being on his own side. And those are folks who I want to make sure they get involved in this campaign.”
With weeks left until election day, Allred will soon see whether his center of the line approach worked.