Colin Allred, Ted Cruz do battle in Texas Senate debate Emergency USA

Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.

---

DALLAS — U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and his Democratic challenger, U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, sparred Tuesday over immigration, abortion and transgender rights in a feisty debate that is expected to be the only onstage face-off between the two candidates ahead of the Nov. 5 election.

Throughout the one-hour debate, Cruz cast Allred as “radical and extreme,” repeatedly urging the audience to consider Allred’s voting record over his efforts to portray himself as a moderate. He sought to tie Allred to Vice President Kamala Harris, alleging the two “voted in favor of open borders over and over” and were both responsible for fueling a surge in inflation under the Biden administration.

“We’re doing an awful lot right in the state of Texas,” Cruz opened the debate. “Colin Allred wants to change that. I want to keep Texas, Texas.”

Allred countered by attacking Cruz as a partisan bomb-thrower with few legislative accomplishments to show for his nearly 12 years in office. He blasted Cruz for helping spike a bipartisan border package earlier this year and said the GOP senator was “only focused on himself,” invoking Cruz’s trip to Cancún in 2021 as Texas was paralyzed by a historic winter storm.

“He’s never there for us when we need him,” Allred said. “When the lights went out in the energy capital of the world, he went to Cancún. When a mob was storming the Capitol, he was hiding in a supply closet. And when the toughest border security bill in a generation came up in the United States Senate, he took it down.”

The debate, held at WFAA-TV’s studio in downtown Dallas, proved combative from start to finish, with Cruz and Allred trading barbs on nearly every issue that came up. In his opening statement, Allred called Cruz “maybe the most extreme” member of the Senate in the last 30 years. Cruz closed with the message that Allred “wants to destroy what we’ve got in Texas because he shares Nancy Pelosi and Kamala Harris’ values.”

The debate began with a focus on Texas’ abortion ban, which does not exempt cases of rape and incest. Allred has made restoring abortion access a key part of his campaign, while Cruz has largely avoided the issue. Pressed Tuesday on where he stands on the question of rape and incest exceptions, Cruz said the matter should be settled at the state level and declined to stake out a position. He went on to criticize Allred for pinning the issue on him in his TV ads.

“You know, Congressman Allred is running all sorts of ads saying that I made this decision,” Cruz said. “I don’t serve in the state Legislature. I’m not the governor.”

Allred has leaned into the state abortion ban in the homestretch of the election, running ads that highlight the stories of women who were forced to leave the state after being denied emergency medical care for pregnancy complications. He brought up the issue again Tuesday evening, disputing Cruz’s characterization of himself as “pro-life.”

“You’re not pro-life,” Allred said, turning to address Cruz. “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. … Understand that when Ted Cruz says he’s pro-life, he doesn’t mean yours.”

Allred was put on the defensive later when he was asked about a series of ads run by Cruz and his allies accusing the Dallas Democrat of supporting legislation that would allow men to use women’s restrooms and boys to play in girls’ sports.

The ads cite Allred’s vote against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023, a GOP bill that would cut off federal funds for athletic programs that allow men, “based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth,” to compete in women’s or girls’ sports.

Allred characterized the attacks as a “Hail Mary” and a “desperate” attempt to deflect from Cruz’s stance on abortion, calling it “laughable” for the GOP senator to say he wants to protect women.

“What I think is that folks should not be discriminated against,” Allred said. “What Senator Cruz should try to explain to you is why he thinks they should.”

Cruz dug into Allred for supporting a 2021 bill called the Equality Act, which would have barred gender discrimination in public places, including based on if a person is transgender. He also blasted Allred for recently signing onto a letter, along with dozens of other House Democrats, that urged GOP lawmakers to strike from an annual defense policy bill provisions that include “restricting medically necessary care for transgender service members” and restricting the use of pride flags on bases.

“You know what he argued for? Military bases should have drag shows and should be able to fly a transgender flag above it,” Cruz said. “Call me old-fashioned — I think the only flag that should fly above our military base should be the American flag.”

Cruz also faced questions at the debate over his comments regarding the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Cruz at first called the events a “violent terrorist attack,” before walking back the comment, calling it “sloppy” and “frankly dumb.” Cruz, asked about his changing stance, turned the issue around on Allred.

“Congressman Allred is happy to talk about those who committed acts of violence on Jan. 6, but you don’t hear him talking about the Antifa and Black Lives Matter riots that burned cities across this country,” Cruz said, referring to protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer. “If you commit an act of violence, you should go to jail, and there should be no political favoritism in that regard.”

Allred sought to refocus the discussion on Cruz’s role surrounding certification of the 2020 election, in which he urged colleagues to object to the certification of results in some states and called for a 10-day audit to probe unsubstantiated voter fraud claims in the disputed states. Allred said Cruz was “a threat to democracy” and recalled the harrowing events of the day, when members of Congress were told to “look under our feet for gas masks.”

Both candidates have portrayed themselves as moderates willing to work across the aisle, each touting crossover support from politicians in the opposing party. Allred’s GOP supporters include former U.S. Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, both of whom are among their party’s leading critics of former President Donald Trump. Cruz, meanwhile, has garnered the endorsement of Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg, who was defeated in the Democratic primary earlier this year. Ogg is the most prominent member of the “Democrats for Cruz” coalition assembled by the GOP senator to soften his reputation as a partisan bomb-thrower.

Cruz likened Allred’s answers to Harris and his voting record to that of former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. In response, Allred accused Cruz of making a “recent transition to trying to be someone who wants to actually get things done.”

Allred noted that he is a past recipient of the Jefferson-Hamilton Award for bipartisanship from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which Cruz noted has endorsed him in the Senate race.

After the debate, Glen Whitley, a Republican and former Tarrant County judge who recently announced his support for Allred, said Cruz’s approach to the 2020 election was part of why he is supporting the Democratic nominee. He argued that Allred performed especially well on the topic of Jan. 6, and on immigration.

“It’s a heck of a thing when you see the Democrat winning the discussion on the border over a Republican,” Whitley said.

Cruz strategist Sam Cooper said his candidate “pushed forward a positive vision for the state of Texas,” citing Cruz’s arguments in favor of a limited regulatory environment for oil and gas and other industries, and his “record of bringing jobs” to the state.

“Congressman Allred is Kamala Harris. Their record is no different,” Cooper said. “When the congressman was pressed on his record, time and time again he refused to answer.”

Most recent polling has shown Cruz leading Allred by around 3 to 5 percentage points, though a few surveys have found the race to be even tighter. Allred is hoping to close the gap in the final weeks after campaign finance reports showed he had outpaced Cruz in fundraising over the last few months.