Voters to decide if Texas sticks with Ted Cruz or flips to Colin Allred

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The Texas race drawing the most national attention is the race for U.S. Senate between U.S. Rep. Colin Allred and incumbent Ted Cruz.

As Democrats hope to maintain control of the U.S. Senate, a win by Allred would help fatten their slim margin. In seeking his third term, Cruz is again locked in a close race and leaning into conservative talking points to bolster his base.

Allred's challenge of Cruz's senate seat began in May 2023 when he announced his plan to unseat the Republican and become the Lone Star State's first Black senator.

Throughout his 18-month campaign, Allred tried to label Cruz as dangerous, pointing to his efforts to undo the outcome of the 2020 presidential election by refusing to certify the election results. Allred also accused Cruz of cheering on the Jan. 6 mob at the U.S. Capitol while hiding in a supply closet. Allred was often critical of Cruz's position on Texas's strict abortion laws and said, "Women should have the freedom to make their own reproductive health care decisions without interference from the government."

In campaign messages, Allred didn't let Texans forget about Cruz's sudden trip to Cancun during the deadly 2021 winter storm that sent temperatures well below freezing for nine straight days, crippling the state's power grid and knocking out power to millions. Cruz was panned over the trip, and many said he should have stayed home to help his constituents.

When Cruz was on the offensive, he labeled Allred as "anti-woman" and "anti-parental" and said Allred voted to allow boys in girls locker rooms and against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023. Cruz attacked Allred's voting record, saying he was "too extreme" and "too liberal" for Texas and was "out of touch" with voters in the state.

In their only debate, Allred said Cruz was one of the most divisive senators in Congress and that if people disliked anything happening in Washington, D.C., Cruz was singularly responsible. Cruz said Allred has a radical agenda and wants to destroy Texas by giving illegal immigrants the right to vote, turning Texas blue, and bringing a change to Republican state leadership.

Allred was born and raised in North Dallas and attended Hillcrest High School. He is a former NFL linebacker who was a standout at Baylor University and later attended law school at UC Berkeley. Since leaving professional football, Allred has worked in the Obama administration under Julián Castro in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. He later returned to private practice before being elected in 2018 to the U.S. House to represent Dallas in Dist. 32.

Before joining the U.S. Senate, Cruz clerked for Chief Justice of the United States William Rehnquist, was an associate deputy attorney general, worked for the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, and was the solicitor general of Texas from 2003-2008. Cruz is an attorney and has degrees from Princeton and Harvard. Cruz was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2012, winning the seat vacated by retiring U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, and was narrowly reelected six years later in the most expensive U.S. Senate race in Texas history.

Cruz unsuccessfully ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 and famously withheld his endorsement of the party's eventual nominee, Donald Trump, for several months, calling him a "pathological liar" and a "narcissist." Cruz eventually endorsed Trump and now considers him an ally.

Texas Democrats haven't won statewide office since 1994. Bob Kreuger was the last Democratic U.S. Senator to represent Texas. Kreuger was in office for five months in 1993 after being appointed by Gov. Ann Richards to finish the term vacated by Democrat Lloyd Bentsen, who resigned to become the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Republican, was elected to finish Bentsen's term in June 1993.