"Lucifer in the flesh" — former Speaker John Boehner
"If you killed Ted Cruz on the floor of the Senate, and the trial was in the Senate, nobody would convict you." — Sen. Lindsey Graham
“Why does everyone HATE Ted Cruz on first sight? It just saves time.” — anonymous former staffer for Ted Cruz
"I like Ted Cruz more than most of my other colleagues like Ted Cruz. And I hate Ted Cruz." — former Sen. Al Franken
Those are the words of politicians and staffers who have served with Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. Many of them are the words of Republican colleagues. Some say if you want a friend in Washington, DC, you should get a dog. However, this amount of vitriol directed at this fellow politician is only eclipsed by the invective given to Donald Trump. How can voting Texans stand Cruz?
There is another option in Texas besides the archconservative Cruz. His name is Rep. Colin Allred, and he is running to eject Cruz from the Senate.
Allred has the background (especially being a former football player) to win Texas over. Yet Texas still has a reputation as a red state. It is truly a non-voting state, in part because it is a voter suppression state. That image is slowly changing. It is one voter moving in at a time. One person of color turning 18 at a time. One suburban mom changing allegiance at a time. Beto was at the forefront of this sea change, and Allred is the next wave that could sweep away Sen. Cruz.
The question is, can Rep. Colin Allred break through after 30 years of wandering in the desert for Texas Democrats?
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Colin Allred for Texas Senate
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What’s the Big Idea?
THIS STATE IS LIKELY REPUBLICAN, with an R+5 PVI
Texas hasn’t seen a Democratic candidate win statewide in 30 years. It has been a frustrating experience for liberal Texans, living in a state that continuously votes the wrong way. However, the political calculus is slowly changing in Texas. As the urban areas of the state grow, they are attracting a more liberal group of people. Countervailing that is the reputation of Texas as a conservative bastion, attracting “blue state refugees”.
Finally, the state is majority-minority, and if minority groups there vote in similar numbers as elsewhere in the United States, Texas would be a purple state. The GOP is running scared in the state, hideously gerrymandering it and enacting voter suppression laws to cling to power. It’s only a matter of time before Blue Texas is a reality!
That year may not be 2024, however. Biden pulled a great performance in 2020, getting the margin down to 52.1% to 46.5% in favor of Trump. Beto O’Rourke did even better during the 2018 blue wave election, holding Sen. Ted Cruz to a 50.9% to 48.3% result. Rep. Colin Allred will have done an excellent job to replicate those numbers, especially during a Presidential election year when Trump will drive up GOP turnout. Allred is a long shot to actually win, but at least he can build infrastructure to turn Blue Texas into a reality!
Here’s where this race will be won in Texas.
- Dallas/Fort Worth Metro Area: This is the base of Colin Allred, and he will need to run up the score here. He needs to win Tarrant, Collin, and Denton Counties outright if he has any hope of pulling off the upset. Not to mention he needs a larger margin out of Dallas than ever before.
- Houston Metro Area: Allred is unfamiliar to this metro area, and his first task is to introduce himself to the largest metro area in the state. Harris County needs to be won by a commanding margin, and Fort Bend County also needs to stay in the Democratic column. He needs to cut into the margins in Brazoria, Galveston, and Montgomery Counties to win.
- Austin Metro Area: Allred is also an unknown quantity here, but the area is much more liberal than anywhere else in Texas. He needs to pull at least 75% in Travis County, as well as win Williamson and Hays Counties significantly if he is to win statewide. This area is probably the #1 area where he will need to overperform statewide.
- San Antonio Metro Area: This metro area has more Hispanic residents than the others mentioned above, and it is unknown how well Allred will fare with Latinx voters. Bexar County is key to his chances statewide, but the fast growing counties surrounding San Antonio are in the Ted Cruz camp. Allred needs to limit the damage in the outlying counties to win.
- Rio Grande Valley: Much has been written about the dropping margins of victory for Democrats in this area. This was Allred’s weakest area in the primary, and he would be wise to emphasize his Brownsville roots to the voters. From El Paso in the Trans-Pecos region to Brownsville on the Gulf Coast, Allred needs to turn back the clock and win at the Beto margins to have hope.
Here’s where we need to keep the margins down, or we lose.
- Permian Basin and Texas Panhandle: These regions used to vote for very conservative Democrats once upon a time. Now, they shun any Democrat and vote straight GOP. Allred had better hope that turnout in Midland/Odessa, Lubbock (except Texas Tech), and Amarillo isn’t huge because they will vote overwhelmingly against him.
- Central Texas: Killeen/Temple, San Angelo, Waco, and Abilene are small cities cast adrift in a sea of rural red. Even these cities don’t have very many Democratic voters found in them. Allred cannot hemorrhage too many votes, because the rural counties are lopsidedly against him in any election scenario. He may need to win Bell County (Killeen/Temple) to win statewide.
- East Texas: Allred may juice up turnout amongst the Black residents in this region, but the region as a whole is dead set against Democratic candidates of all varieties. Allred will have to hope that the area has low turnout as a rule, because they give lopsided margins to GOP candidates. He isn’t likely to win a single county in the area.
- Texas Gulf Coast: Allred is likely going to need to win Nueces County (Corpus Christi) and Jefferson County (Beaumont) in order to win the state. Beto carried them and wound up losing in 2018. The other counties not in the Houston Metro Area are deep red, and are unlikely to support the Democratic nominee for Senate.
Who is Rep. Colin Allred?
Rep. Colin Allred was born in Dallas to a single mom and never knew his father. He was a baseball, basketball, and football star in high school and earned a scholarship to play football at Baylor University. He went undrafted, but eventually was signed by the Tennessee Titans to play linebacker. He lasted around 4 years with the team before leaving football to get a law degree from UC Berkeley. He is an Obama administration alumnus, working in HUD and in other roles. He became a litigator at a voting rights firm before running for Congress in 2018. He knocked off longtime incumbent and future colleague Rep. Pete Sessions during the 2018 blue wave election. He is seen as a more moderate member of the Democratic caucus. Here is more information on his background and the state of the race.
Much of this information comes from his issues page.
- Abortion Rights Ally. Allred strongly criticized the Dobbs decision and Texas choosing to ban most abortions, without exceptions, before women even know they are pregnant. He would vote to protect abortion rights, IVF, contraception, and birth control in the Senate. Texas has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates, and Allred will ensure that the steps above will give women and girls control over their future.
- Gun Safety Champion. Allred supports “common-sense” gun safety legislation such as red flag laws, universal background checks, and safe storage laws. He has also voiced support and voted for an assault weapons ban in the past. He voted for the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the first piece of gun safety legislation in 30 years.
- Immigration Supporter. Allred seeks a balanced approach on immigration, working to secure the border along with opening up a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and those who work hard in this country. He opposed Trump sending troops to the border, and was aghast at the family separation policy Trump promoted. He would send more resources to border communities affected by the broken immigration system.
- Defending Democracy. Allred was a voting rights attorney, so this issue is personal for him. He would vote to get money out of politics, put an end to gerrymandering, and make sure everyone has a chance to vote. He is a staunch supporter of the For the People Act and the John Lewis VRA.
- Climate Crisis. Allred does get a knock on his record for supporting an “all of the above” energy plan, but that is a reality in an oil producing state like Texas. His support for increased wind and solar energy production to eventually replace those jobs is more important. He has also helped secure $25M to plug orphan oil wells and reduce methane emissions.
- Health Care Helper. Allred wishes that Texas would expand Medicaid coverage, but he isn’t waiting for that to happen. He is a staunch advocate of the ACA and Medicare and will work to strengthen those programs by letting them negotiate drug prices. He would fight to save rural hospitals that are closing in Texas due to a lack of funds. He would vote for funding to expand mental health services and addiction treatment services.
- Education Advocate. Allred votes consistently to better fund public schools, including their infrastructure. He would vote to expand pre-K programs and child care programs so that they are universal. For older students, Allred would make sure that community colleges and apprenticeship programs have expanded access. Finally, he argues that teachers deserve a pay raise, not degraded working conditions and culture war attacks.
- Foreign Policy Focus. Allred argues that we should be supplying Ukraine with what it needs to win the war against Russia. He also argues that China is a growing threat in the Indo-Pacific region and that we need to support Taiwan as a bulwark of democracy. He believes that a strong national defense is the best deterrent to threats around the globe.
- Saving Social Security. Allred will protect Social Security (and Medicare!) from right-wing attacks via privatization or voucher schemes. He came out strongly against the Rick Scott plan to sunset these programs. He will work to make them solvent for generations to come.
- Infrastructure Maven. Allred has promoted and voted for infrastructure improvements all across Texas. This includes $3.3B for rural internet connectivity, earmarks for roads and bridges, over $200M for the Dallas/Fort Worth airport, and many more. He will also make sure that funds are allocated to make the Texas power grid more reliable.
Who is Sen. Ted Cruz?
Sen. Ted Cruz was born in Canada to an American mother and a Cuban refugee father. His family eventually wound up in Houston, Texas where Cruz was a valedictorian in his private high school. He went to Princeton to study public policy and became lauded as one of the best debaters and public speakers in America. He then went to Harvard Law School, where conservatives described him as nothing short of brilliant. He clerked for Chief Justice Rehnquist of the Supreme Court and helped craft testimony for the impeachment proceedings against President Clinton. Cruz then played a part in assembling the legal team for the infamous Bush v. Gore case.
Cruz took on many different roles in the GW Bush administration, ranging from public policy advisor to associate deputy attorney general in the Dept. of Justice to director of policy planning at the Federal Trade Commission. He eventually became Texas Solicitor General, advancing conservative causes before the Supreme Court. He filed briefs or argued cases in infamous ones such as Lawrence v. Texas, District of Columbia v. Heller, and many more. In conservative circles, he is known as one of the top 50 young lawyers in America, top 50 minority lawyers in America, and one of the 25 greatest Texas recent lawyers.
Cruz ran as the Tea Party alternative to former Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst. He was viewed as a longshot candidate for the primary until Sarah Palin (still influential at the time), Club for Growth, and Freedom Works endorsed his campaign. He went from a significant deficit in the primary election to winning by a 14-point margin in the runoff election.
He ran for President in 2016, being the last alternative to Donald Trump in the GOP primary. He eventually became a staunch ally of the former President.
- Cancun Cruz. During the 2021 Texas energy crisis, when cold weather shut down the power grid due to demand, Sen. Ted Cruz flew to Cancun on a vacation. He then threw his family (his kids specifically) under the bus for the vacation, before admitting that it was a “huge mistake”.
- Election Denier. Cruz was the Senate leader of the efforts to overturn the 2020 election. He signed onto the Texas v. Pennsylvania brief looking to overturn the results. He led the Senate effort to object to the counting of the Electoral College votes of multiple states, citing fraud. He has called the 1/6 attack terrorism, but recoiled when pro-Trump allies called him out. He eventually voted against establishing the 1/6 Commission. Cruz continues to call for an audit of the 2020 election despite other audits and court judgments finding no irregularities.
- Rash Rhetoric. Ted Cruz has a political style that rubs even fellow Republicans the wrong way. He was particularly vitriolic against President Obama, implying he was treasonous and ‘openly desirous to destroy the Constitution and this Republic’. He called Obama the ‘world’s leading financier of Islamist terrorism’ after the Iran deal. He’s called the GOP the ‘surrender caucus’ and ‘squishes’ for being willing to compromise with the Democratic Party.
- Shutdown Engineer. Cruz was responsible for the 2013 government shutdown, mainly as an attempt to destroy the Affordable Care Act. He launched a 21-hour filibuster effort and convinced the House to insert anti-ACA language in their budget. Cruz consistently votes against measures to fund the government, including during the most recent session of Congress. He isn’t prominent in talks of shutting down the government any longer, but still works for it behind the scenes.
- Hurricane Aid Hypocrite. Cruz voted against Hurricane Sandy relief efforts in 2013, only to turn around with hat in hand when Hurricane Harvey hit the Houston area in 2017. He called the Sandy bill “full of pork”, while the Harvey relief efforts were necessary funding for his state.
- Economic Extremist. Cruz is the heir to Ron Paul’s effort to audit the Federal Reserve. He is ‘adamantly opposed’ to any raise of the minimum wage in America. He has called for the elimination of many different departments of the federal government and a balanced budget amendment. He supports the end of the Import-Export Bank, calling it a ‘corrupt crony-capitalist fiasco’.
- Tax Cut Terror. Cruz has proposed the abolition of the IRS and the implementation of a flat tax so simple “Americans can fill out a postcard” for their taxes. He supported the budget busting Trump tax cuts, and falsely claims they led to higher revenues for the government. He has proposed legislation to make the Trump tax cuts permanent.
- Repealing the Welfare State. Cruz has attacked the Affordable Care Act and was a leader in the 2017 attempt to repeal the ACA. He has called Social Security a “Ponzi scheme” and has called for an increase in the retirement age. He supports means testing Medicaid and Medicare, and raising the threshold for them as well.
- Immigration Hardliner. Cruz has taken an extra hard-line stance on immigration issues and promoted the rhetoric of a ‘border crisis’. He is vehemently against comprehensive immigration reform and even against a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers. He has called for a repeal of natural-born citizenship offered by the 14th Amendment. He has defended Trump’s policy of separating migrant families, claiming Obama had a similar policy. He even blocked refugee status for political refugees from Hong Kong, citing ‘communist spies’ as his reason.
- Forced Birth Maniac. Cruz is against abortion in almost all circumstances, except if the health of the mother is at risk. He touts an A+ rating from the radical Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life group on his campaign website. He has consistently called for defunding what he sees as ‘pro-abortion groups’ such as Planned Parenthood.
- Religious Bigot. Cruz has been consistently against LGTBQ+ rights, including the right to marry. He led the charge against decriminalizing sodomy, though he has conceded this position recently. He compared Obergefell to Dred Scott, saying it was ‘amongst the darkest hours of our nation’. He is strongly anti-trans and claims his pronouns are “kiss my ass”.
- Christian Dominionist. Cruz has consistently sided with suits that expand the special rights of Christians to discriminate against everyone else or push their religion on others. He has fought for religious exemption from vaccine mandates in both schools and the military. He has fought against limits on military chaplains. Finally, he has fought for faith based organizations to operate contrary to current laws if they conflict with ‘sincerely held religious beliefs’.
- “Woke Warrior”. Cruz has claimed that our military is suffering due to being ‘emasculated’. He claims that Democrats are turning the ‘best military in the world into pansies’. He thinks that ‘bloated bureaucracy and social experiments’ require a trimming of personnel but more military spending is required to fix the problem.
- 2nd Amendment Zealot. Cruz is a gun rights enthusiast and has consistently opposed all gun safety measures — even after the mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde. He has blamed the Democratic Party for mass shootings, claiming the ‘overwhelming majority of violent criminals are Democrats’. He has also blamed mass shootings on declining church attendance, violent video games, prescription drugs, cyberbullying, and other reasons. Anything but guns.
- Climate Crisis Denier. Cruz is one of the hugest climate crisis deniers in the Senate. Cruz claims that people concerned with the climate are ‘global warming alarmists’ and that ‘temperatures haven’t changed much in 18 years’. He has compared climate scientists to ‘flat earthers’. He has proposed to handcuff the EPA when it comes to regulating gases that cause climate change.
- Big Oil’s Best Friend. Cruz is a staunch supporter of the Keystone XL Pipeline. He was one of 22 Senators who signed a letter urging Trump to abandon the Paris Climate Agreement. He’s received at least $2.5 million from fossil fuel interests since being elected. He has fought against ESG efforts in corporate America.
- Election Elitist. Cruz is a huge proponent of voter suppression, supporting strict voter IDs. He denies that these efforts are racist. Finally, he claims that the For the People Act is a front for registering undocumented immigrants to vote for the Democratic Party, in spite of it stating multiple times only US citizens can register. He calls for unlimited campaign contributions.
- Dismantling Education. Cruz perversely calls school choice the ‘civil rights issue of the 21st Century’ and is an ardent proponent of it. He supports book bans, stating teachers are putting ‘explicit pornography’ in classrooms. Ted Cruz pushes for public funding of religious and private schools and for vouchers. He is a staunch ‘parents rights’ advocate when it comes to curriculum and disrupting school board meetings.
- Shady Ethics. Cruz has a podcast that he creates content for multiple times a week. It has recently come out that ad money and other revenue pays for a Super PAC responsible for his re-election. He claims that he gains no financial benefit from this podcast, but that is clearly untrue. The podcast is hosted by iHeartMedia which is owned by right-wing Clear Channel.
How Can You Help?
If we’re going to win this race, we need a pitch-perfect campaign from Rep. Colin Allred. He needs to raise enough money, attract enough volunteers, and garner enough attention to make it possible. It takes ALL of us to make it happen as well. He won’t raise the money without small-dollar donors. Texas is such a HUGE state that a volunteer army is needed to juice turnout enough to win. We need to disseminate his messaging across social media and fight the perceptions of Texas as a red state. Texas is a non-voting state and a voter suppression state!
Rep. Colin Allred has been outraising Sen. Ted Cruz consistently since entering the race. Allred raised $4.71M while Cruz raised $3.32M during 2023 Q4 reporting period. Allred also has a hefty $10.11M in cash on hand, while Cruz has $6.18M . Allred may need more than $100M to be competitive in Texas, as Beto raised $80M during the 2018 campaign he lost. That means Allred needs as many donations as possible. Make Blue Texas a reality!
To succeed at flipping Texas blue, special attention needs to be paid to the urban areas, where turnout can be iffy. Persuasion in the suburban sprawl is also necessary. Allred is going to need more volunteers than ever to knock the doors to make a win possible. Texas is so vast that he’ll need teams in every large city from El Paso to Houston to Dallas/Ft. Worth. If you live in Texas, please consider helping out.
Allred is covering all of the bases when it comes to social media. I’ve included his official House accounts to show his accomplishments during his six years in office. He’s one of the few candidates I’ve found that has a TikTok page, and he uses Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Threads. There’s plenty of opportunity to use social media to spread his messaging to Texans and Americans!
Allred’s official Twitter account has 56.5k followers, a great place to be after 6 years of service. He’s using it a lot to show his views on issues and legislation coming before the House. He’s also using it to empathize with victims, such as those of the huge fire in the Panhandle.
Allred has 18k followers on his official Facebook account, which is one of the higher numbers that I have seen. The content appears to be very similar to what is procured on Twitter. Just don’t read the comments to his posts there, as they are full of fascist vitriol. Here, he posits that IVF is at great risk in Texas after the Alabama court decision.
When it comes to his campaign accounts, it has been a full scale assault on Ted Cruz and all that he represents. I’ve followed him on social media for a long time now, and there has been a definite shift in tone ever since he declared for this race. Hopefully, he remembers that a positive vision for Texas is just as important as tearing Cruz down.
Allred has 106.6k followers on his campaign Twitter account, which is a robust amount. It could get even better though, as there are millions in Texas and across America that should be following him. Social media is a great way to fundraise and spread your message as well. He’s really been hammering a reproductive freedom message recently, as his choice of SOTU attendee demonstrates.
Allred has 37k followers for his campaign Facebook account, which is amongst the highest totals I’ve seen for a political figure on that social media site. Combined with his 43.5k followers on Threads, and I would say he’s doing well on Meta based platforms. Once again, it pays to ignore the trolls in the comments and focus on the actual messaging being relayed. MeidasTouch interviewed Allred about his race against Cruz a while back. It is worth a listen, as I don’t have the space to cover it elsewhere.
Allred has an embryonic TikTok account, with 8.3k followers on it. Most of his videos don’t have that many views, but one clip that was on MSNBC in which Allred called Cruz a “fake Texan” went viral. He called Cruz out for focusing on culture war stunts instead of actual issues that affect the lives of everyday Texans.
Help spread the word today by following Rep. Colin Allred and boosting his accomplishments and his campaign in the critical realm of social media.
I know what is coming in the comments — “F**k Texas, Texas should secede, the country is better off without Texas”. Combine that with the pessimists, and it is no wonder that nobody believes in Texas.
I believe in Texas, and I believe in Rep. Colin Allred. I also believe that Sen. Ted Cruz is one of the most hated politicians in America.
I’m not going to lie to you — this is a longshot race and Cruz is more likely to win than lose. However, I am not willing to give up on Texas without a fight.
- Not when we have over 5.25 million voters fighting for Democrats.
- Not when it has been trending towards Democrats in the era of Trump.
- Not when we have shining stars like Rep. Jasmine Crockett.
- Not when we have Austin, Houston, Dallas/Fort Worth, San Antonio, and many more cities on our side.
Now is the time to make a choice whether to denigrate Texas further or to believe in Texas. If you cannot believe in Texas yet, put your faith in Rep. Colin Allred. He has Sen. Ted Cruz running scared!
On Wednesday, the Texas Republican leveraged an interview with Fox News to beg for campaign donations after his opponent, NFL player and current Representative Colin Allred, took Texas’s Democratic Senate primary in a landslide.
“The Democrats are coming after me, they are gonna spend more than $100 million this year, George Soros is already spending millions of dollars in the state of Texas,” Cruz said, leaning on the popular Republican and antisemitic talking point, billionaire George Soros.
“My opponent, a liberal Democrat named Colin Allred, is out-raising Beto O’Rourke, my last opponent, 3-to-1. They are flooding millions of dollars into Texas—and the reason is simple. You remember my last reelection, it was a three-point race. I won by 2.6 percent.”
The question is, can you put aside 30 years of disappointing results and help Allred break through statewide?
Colin Allred for Texas Senate
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