Texas Rep. Colin Allred, the Democratic Senate nominee, swung hard against Republican Sen. Ted Cruz during a debate on Monday in hopes of closing the two-term incumbent's small but stubborn lead in the polls.
While Allred accused Cruz of hypocrisy over Jan. 6 and failing to address the material hardships faced by everyday Texans, Cruz, a slick and experienced debater who appeared to find his match in Allred, called the Democratic lawmaker and former NFL linebacker a radical who would just be another rubber stamp for a potential President Kamala Harris.
It's an attack Republicans believe still has resonance in a state that Democrats hope is transforming from a GOP stronghold into a purple battleground. If Allred manages to untangle himself from a string of close but disappointing statewide losses for Democratic candidates since 2018, his victory could be decisive in keeping Democrats in control of the Senate.
Since winning a second term by a 2.5-point margin in 2018, Cruz has landed in a series of unflattering headlines that Allred tried to make sure Texans wouldn't forget. The Democratic candidate repeatedly dinged Cruz for escaping to Cancún, a resort town in Mexico, while a winter storm disabled Texas' electricity grid in February 2021, killing 200 people and leaving millions more freezing in their homes.
Allred put the story in context of Cruz's votes and positions in an effort to portray him as uncaring about the people he represents, including an exchange over Cruz voting against legislation that would cap the price of insulin, a life-saving medication, at $35 a month for everyone who needs it.
"It's not surprising, he's one of the biggest recipients of donations from Big Pharma lobbyists in the entire United States Senate," he said, as Cruz laughed. "It's true. This is a pattern. This is somebody who goes to the Ritz-Carlton in Cancún, do you really think he cares about inflation and about working families? His entire career he spent his time trying to cut taxes for the rich and not looking out for working folks."
"Congressman Allred takes no responsibility for his own voting record, takes no responsibility for the trillions in spending that has driven inflation, takes no responsibility for the war on Texas energy and LNG and oil and gas," Cruz responded, later claiming that illegal immigration was driving up inflation. According to a recent analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, the effect of immigration is negligible.
Allred also blasted Cruz for his role in enabling the Jan. 6 insurrection, labeling his frequent expressions of support for police officers as hollow given that he was also "for the mob" that injured multiple officers in the attack.
When Cruz tried again to laugh off the criticism, Allred told him pointedly: "It's not funny. Because you're a threat to democracy."
"Sure," Cruz muttered, before laughing some more.
Allred, who was on the scene as a U.S. congressman, recalled texting his "wife Aly, who was seven months pregnant with our son Cameron and at home with our son Jordan who wasn’t yet two, 'Whatever happens, I love you."
"I took off my suit jacket and I was prepared to defend the House floor from the mob," he continued. "At the same time, after he’d gone around the country lying about the election, after he’d been the architect of the attempt to overthrow an election, when that mob came, Senator Cruz was hiding in a supply closet."
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Cruz often responded to moderators' questions and Allred's attacks by declining to answer or pivoting to issues he thought would make his opponent look extreme or hypocritical. On a discussion about political violence on Jan. 6, Cruz criticized Allred for not "talking about the antifa and Black Lives Matter riots that burned cities across this country." When asked about his stance on abortion rights and whether he supported exceptions for rape and incest, Cruz spun a soliloquy about how it's a controversial topic that can be decided at the ballot box, then called Allred an "extremist" on the issue. Allred accused Cruz of lying before talking about women in Texas who suffered from strict abortion laws.
“Senator Cruz just called himself pro-life,” Allred said. “It’s not pro-life to deny women care so long that they can’t have children anymore. It’s not pro-life to force a victim of rape to carry their rapist’s baby.”
When the moderators asked Cruz to clarify his stance a third time, the GOP senator turned the question around. “Jason, I’m curious. Why do you keep asking me that?”
Later, it was Allred's turn to dodge, repeatedly deflecting questions over why he now supports expanding a barrier at the southern border after previously saying that former President Donald Trump's proposed border wall was "racist." Cruz pounced, saying that on this issue, Allred and Harris are essentially the same. “They voted in favor of open borders over and over and over again, and now they are desperately trying to hide that from the voters," he said.
Cruz's attacks on Allred over transgender rights did not land as effectively. Allred, accused by Cruz of supporting laws that would lead to "boys playing in girls' sports," responded that such claims were false, and that the senator "wants you thinking about kids in bathrooms so you’re not thinking about women in hospitals ... because it’s indefensible that we have Texas women being turned away from hospitals, bleeding out in cars, in waiting rooms, being found by their husbands.”
In their closing remarks, both candidates stayed true to form. Cruz said that Allred was running on the "same radical agenda" as Harris, while Allred accused Cruz of abandoning Texas for Cancún when his constituents were "relying on the senator to spring into action ... if you give me the chance to be your next United States Senator, I'll never abandon you."
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