Allred Makes It Official: He’s Challenging Cruz for Senate

WASHINGTON — Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, made it official Wednesday morning: He’s launching a bid to unseat Republican incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz in 2024.

Allred’s formal announcement came via a three-minute 11-second video posted to Twitter, though his intentions were first reported in The Dallas Morning News on Monday.

In the video, Allred wastes no time trashing Cruz, particularly when it comes to some of the senator’s better known missteps.

“When I left the NFL, I thought my days of putting people on the ground were over,” says Allred, a former linebacker for the Tennessee Titans in the video’s opening seconds.

“Then Jan. 6 happened,” he continues. “I remember hearing the glass break and the shouts coming closer. I texted my wife, ‘Whatever happens, I love you.’ And then I took off my jacket and got ready to take on anyone who came through the door.

“And Ted Cruz?” Allred asks as footage of the senator appears on screen. “He cheered on the mob.”

At this point Cruz is heard saying forcefully, “We will not go quietly.”

“Then he hid in a supply closet when they stormed the Capitol. But that’s Ted for you, all hat and no cattle.”

Allred then moves on to Cruz’s February 2021 family vacation in Cancún while Texans were enduring the effects of the worst winter storm in many of their lifetimes.

A photo of Cruz leaving on the trip appeared after a social media user snapped it and posted on his account. The ensuing outcry forced Cruz to quickly return home.

“Obviously a mistake and in hindsight I wouldn’t have done it,” he said at the time.

In the video Allred suggests the incident is just one of several things that suggest the incumbent senator cares little about his constituents.

“When Texans were freezing in the dark, he jetted off to Cancun,” he said.  “He’ll do anything to get on Fox News, but can’t be bothered to help keep rural Texas hospitals open. He spends months trying to whip up phony culture wars, but not a minute trying to raise wages or lower drug prices. The struggles of regular Texans just don’t interest him,” Allred says. “Well, they matter to me. Because those struggles are the story of my life.” 

Cruz did not immediately respond to Allred’s announcement, but the National Republican Senatorial Committee immediately hit back, describing the congressman, who was first elected to the House in 2018 as “too liberal for Texas.”

“Colin Allred votes with radical Democrats and said he wished the Second Amendment had never been written,” the committee said.

Its spokesman, Philip Letsou, added in a statement, “Just like Beto O’Rourke before him, Colin Allred is going to quickly regret giving up his safe House seat to run yet another doomed, Democrat vanity campaign in Texas.”

Allred currently represents the 32nd congressional district, which includes the northeastern corner of Dallas, as well as many of its northeastern suburbs such as Garland, Richardson, Sachse, Wylie, the Park Cities and Rowlett.

A Dallas native, Allred attended the city’s Hillcrest High School in Dallas, where he played baseball, basketball and football. He subsequently accepted a scholarship to play college football at Baylor University. He graduated from Baylor with a bachelor’s degree. in history

After his football career, Allred enrolled in law school and received his J.D. degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law in 2014.

He then went to work as a special assistant in the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of General Counsel alongside then-Secretary Julian Castro in the Obama administration and subsequently worked as an attorney at the Perkins Coie law firm, where he was a voting rights litigator and counsel to clients including national and state political candidates and advocacy organizations.

In the House, Allred currently sits on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, as well as its subcommittees on Highways and Transit and Aviation; Foreign Affairs, and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.

He is also a member of the New Democratic Coalition; the Congressional Black Caucus Future Forum; co-chair of communications for the Bipartisan Paid Leave Working Group, and co-chair of the Supply Chain Caucus.

In his campaign video, Allred credits his family, coaches and YMCA counselors for keeping him on the right track during his early years.

“I learned the values that prepared me for life, how people can come together for something bigger than themselves,” he says. “I took those lessons with me in public service. 

“That’s why I worked with Republicans to help our veterans, to pass a new trade deal with Mexico and to bring high tech manufacturing jobs back home. Because it was the right thing for our state,” Allred says. 

“We deserve a senator whose team is Texas. Ted Cruz only cares about himself,” the congressman continues. “You know that he wants to divide us … to get people to fear their neighbors and turn on their teachers. He banned books, outlawed all abortions and cut Social Security and Medicare. That’s not my Texas. 

“My boys are fifth generation Texas, and they’ll learn that this state is full of generous people who look out for each other,” Allred said. “That this is a place where if you work hard and play by the rules, you can get ahead. That’s how a working class kid raised by a single mom can make it to the NFL, law school, and even Congress.”

In conclusion Allred assures prospective voters that they “don’t have to be embarrassed by our senator.”

“We can get a new one,” he says. “Some people say a Democrat can’t win in Texas. Well, someone like me was never supposed to get this far. I’ve taken down a lot tougher guys than Ted Cruz. So let’s get on the field and find out.”

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