US Sen. Ted Cruz won a third term on Tuesday, defeating Rep. Colin Allred in a close — and expensive — race. (Photo by Matt Hennie)
Allred campaigned on holding Cruz accountable for his views on reproductive rights, efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and blocking a bipartisan border bill. It didn’t sway enough voters.
US Sen. Ted Cruz defeated Rep. Colin Allred on Tuesday, winning a third term in the US Senate.
Despite hope from supporters that Allred would become the first Democrat since 1994 to win a statewide race in Texas, his campaign fell short.
Allred stressed his compelling personal narrative during the race — from being raised by a single mother in Dallas and spending his summers with his grandmother in Brownsville, to playing in the NFL and becoming a civil rights lawyer.
In 2018, Allred defeated Republican Rep. Pete Sessions, an 11-term incumbent, to win the Dallas-based 32nd congressional district seat.
Allred ran a campaign focused on holding Cruz accountable for his views on reproductive rights, his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and his work blocking a bipartisan border bill earlier this year. Allred also repeatedly criticized Cruz for heading to Cancún during Winter Storm Uri in 2021, saying the incumbent cared more about building a national political profile than Texas residents.
“If you are singularly responsible for taking a fundamental freedom away from Texas women because you think you know better than Texas women, their families, and their doctors, and you put in place this abortion ban, and you celebrate this abortion ban … then you have to lose your job,” Allred said during a Houston rally with Vice President Kamala Harris and Beyoncé on Oct. 25.
The race became the most expensive Senate campaign in the nation this year, with the two campaigns spending more than $154 million.
