NBC 5’s political reporter Phil Prazan breaks down Thursday night’s debate between incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas.
For NBC 5's in-depth coverage of the debate, click here.
The two candidates for the U.S. Senate, incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, faced each other for the first time in Thursday's only debate statewide.
What stood out in this debate was two dynamic candidates confronting each other in person for the first time. They had good back-and-forths about many issues, including one on border security.
Earlier this year, a bipartisan border security bill failed to pass the U.S. Senate. Sen. Cruz voted against it because he believed it didn't go far enough.
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“We had a bill. This is a pattern. He talks tough. But he never shows up. We have a phrase for this in Texas. All hat and no cattle. That’s what Senator Cruz is. Six more years of this come on. He’s had twelve years to do this. Give someone else new a chance," said Rep. Allred.
"Well, Congressman Allred has memorized his lines well. I will say this, though. He asked what have you done? We produced the lowest rate of illegal immigration in forty-five years, working hand in hand with President Trump. He didn’t address that. He also didn’t address the fact that it didn’t take a bill to make Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to break the border," Sen. Cruz responded.
Maybe the most direct critique of Senator Cruz came on the question over January 6th. Cruz objected to the election results four years ago even after a crowd of Trump supporters stormed the capitol to stop the electoral count for the next president.
“You can’t be for the mob on January 6th and the officers. You can’t. And it’s not funny. You’re a threat to democracy. I was on the House floor and I remembered when you objected to the results in Arizona," said Allred.
“You want to talk about threats to democracy. Let’s take a vote that just happened a few weeks ago on the floor of the House, the SAVE Act. The Save Act says in order to register to vote, you need to prove you’re an American citizen. Congressman Allred voted no," Cruz responded.
The two spared over abortion laws, the economy, and a new issue Cruz has put on televisions across the state - transgender athletes. Allred says he opposes boys playing in girls' sports but also voted for additional protections for transgender students.
“There was a bill. There was a very simple bill, narrowly defined. It was protecting women in girls' sports. He voted no," said Cruz.
“What he’s trying to do is a little game called distraction. To distract you from his record of doing horrific things in this state," Allred responded.
These were just a few of an hour-long debate with only three weeks until election day.
