Texas Senate candidates Ted Cruz and Colin Allred face off in the race’s only debate

DALLAS – Election Day is still three weeks away, and on Tuesday night the only debate between Senator Ted Cruz and Congressman Colin Allred was heated. They debated abortion, transgender sports and border security during Congress Texas Senate Debate on Tuesday evening.

From start to finish of the hour-long debate, Cruz tried at almost every opportunity to link Allred to Vice President Kamala Harris, calling the three-term congressman from Dallas an inappropriate fit in a state where voters have yet to elect a Democrat to statewide office 30 years.

Allred, who would become Texas’ first black senator if elected, criticized Cruz over the state’s abortion ban, which is one of the most restrictive in the country and does not allow exceptions in cases of rape or incest. The issue is central to Allred’s maverick campaign, and his supporters include Texas women who experienced serious pregnancy complications after the state’s ban went into effect.

“Suddenly the defender of women and girls will be Senator Cruz, who thinks it is entirely reasonable that if a girl is raped by a relative, a victim of incest, she should be forced to carry that child to term” in order to term it and to give birth,” Allred said Tuesday evening. “You think this is perfectly reasonable, but now you are positioning yourself as a protector of women and girls. This is ridiculous. And listen, he’s trying to distract you.”

When asked if he supported the Texas law, Cruz said the details of the abortion law have been and should be determined by the Texas legislature.

“I am not a member of the state legislature. I’m not the governor,” he said.

Cruz later criticized Allred for his support of transgender rights and the immigration policies of Presidents Joe Biden and Harris, and accused him of changing his views on border security from the positions he took when he was first elected to Congress in 2018 .

“Do you know what he was advocating for? Military bases should be able to have drag shows and fly a transgender flag above them,” Cruz said. “Look, call me old-fashioned, but the only flag that should fly over our military bases is the American flag…
There was a very simple calculation. It was narrowly defined. It was about protecting women in girls’ sports. He voted no. The only question in this bill was whether biological boys should compete against our daughters. That’s not fair. Congressman Allred was an NFL linebacker. It’s not fair for men to compete against women. “

“When Ted Cruz starts talking about team sports, you have to pay attention because the only position he played was left out,” Allred said. “I’m not trying to be mean, Senator, but you should ride this out. Listen, I don’t support boys playing girls’ sports. I don’t… What I think is that people shouldn’t be discriminated against.”

The last time Cruz voted in 2018, he narrowly won re-election against challenger Beto O’Rourke.

The debate offered Allred a chance to increase his profile among a broad Texas audience. Allred has made protecting abortion rights a centerpiece of his campaign and has sharply criticized the state’s abortion ban. Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to strip constitutional protections for abortion, the issue has been a winning issue for Democrats even in red states like Kentucky and Kansas.

“I support the protections and restrictions under Roe. But Senator Cruz simply called himself pro-life. “I don’t have any children anymore,” Allred said. “Forcing a rape victim to carry her rapist’s baby is not pro-life.”

“Congressman Allred voted to tell you, as a mother at home, that you have no right to know if your daughter is having an abortion,” Cruz said. “This is an extreme position. And the overwhelming majority of Texans do not agree with Congressman Allred’s extreme position against parental rights, against the right of a mother and father to be with their daughter during a challenging and terrible time.”

Despite Texas’ reputation as a deep red state and Democrats’ 30-year statewide drought, the party has become increasingly optimistic. In 2020, former President Donald Trump won the state by less than 6 percentage points, the narrowest margin of victory by a Republican presidential candidate in Texas since 1996.

Cruz, who quickly made a name for himself in the Senate as a hard-line conservative and ran for president in 2016, has reshaped his campaign to focus on his legislative performance. He portrays his opponent as too liberal. Allred has since tried to show moderate credibility and is supported by former Republican US representatives Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney.

The two candidates alone have raised nearly $100 million, according to the Federal Election Commission’s most recent reports. Tens of millions of dollars more have been spent by outside groups, making it one of the most expensive races in the country.

Cruz has urged Republicans to take Texas seriously as there are signs he is in a tough race. A poll released Tuesday morning by the University of Houston’s Hobby School of Public Affairs shows Cruz leading Allred by 4 percentage points, within the margin of error.