HOUSTON — Representative Colin Allred, a Dallas-area Democrat who defeated an incumbent Republican to clinch his seat in 2018, announced Wednesday that he would challenge Texas Senator Ted Cruz next year.
In a three minute videoMr. Allred, 40, a former civil rights attorney who played as a linebacker in the NFL, presented himself as a bipartisan politician whose working-class upbringing would allow him to overcome the long odds: No Democrat has since won state office in Texas the nineties.
“We don’t have to be ashamed of our senator,” he said, after describing Mr. Cruz as someone who “cheered the crowd” during the U.S. Capitol uprising and who left Texas for the resort town of Cancun, Mexico. during the winter storm of 2021 and a power grid outage that killed hundreds of Texans. “We can get a new one.”
Mr. Allred came to office on a wave of Democratic enthusiasm that nearly knocked Mr. Cruz off his feet in his final reelection battle, a 2018 victory over Beto O’Rourke, then a little-known representative from El Paso. Mr. O’Rourke lost by about 2.5 percentage points, a narrow margin in the Republican-dominated state.
The same year, Mr. Allred defeated Representative Pete Sessions, a Republican, in a Dallas-area district that has since been redrawn to become more favorable to Democrats.
Almost from the start, Mr. Allred has shown his ability to capture donor interest, surpass Mr. Sessions, and continue with the strong fundraising ability that would be required in a statewide race in Texas.
Mr. Cruz is highly unpopular among Democrats in Texas, but has so far survived all attempts to impeach him.
Enthusiasm is also low among many Texas Democrats, who watched O’Rourke lose heavily to Governor Greg Abbott last year despite his well-funded campaign.
And Mr. Allred, whose decision to enter the race emerged in news reports even before Wednesday’s announcement, saw expectations for his campaign low: Texas Monthly magazine suggested he was a “substitute-level candidate.” In other words, as good as any other Democrat, but not a star.
Nick Maddux, a spokesman for Mr Cruz’s campaign, described Mr Allred as a “far-left radical” in a statement on Wednesday. “His voting is completely out of touch with Texas,” he said. “For more than a decade, Senator Cruz has led the fight for jobs, freedom and security in Texas.”
The announcement video of Mr. Allred acknowledged that he was a long shot, presenting himself as an underdog who “never knew” his father, and he dabbled in elite football, law school, and congress. He said his video would focus on Texas issues, not divisive cultural issues, and would discuss rural hospital closures and prescription drug prices.
As for Mr. Cruz, he said, “All hat, no cattle.”
