Ted Cruz-Colin Allred debate: Candidates spar in closely watched Texas race for US Senate
The pleasantries were short-lived in a Tuesday night debate between two-term Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and Democratic U.S. Rep. Colin Allred as they met face-to-face at WFAA studios in Dallas for their only scheduled debate this election cycle.
The candidates are in a tight race for the U.S. Senate, with polls showing single-digit margins. The contest is getting national attention — and drawing in tens of millions of dollars — as Democrats in Washington grapple to retain their razor-thin majority in the upper chamber.
The breakneck one-hour debate touched on everything from the border, inflation and abortion access to foreign policy and transgender students’ participation in sports. The stakes couldn’t have been higher for either candidate: Allred is still trying to introduce himself to Texans just days before early voting begins, while Cruz sought to cast his opponent as a radical whose victory Nov. 5 would lead to a cascade of blue across the state.
Throughout it all, Cruz repeatedly tried to link Allred to the Biden-Harris administration and attack the congressman on his voting record, saying viewers should go to his campaign’s online fact-checker.
Allred attempted to portray Cruz as ineffective in the Senate and someone who tried to look tough when visiting the Texas border. At one point, he described Cruz as “all hat and no cattle.” He accused Cruz of lying to Texans and circled back multiple times to the idea that Texas should move on from the incumbent senator.
On the topic of Jan. 6, 2021, Cruz said Allred voted to “defund the police” while Allred called Cruz “a threat to democracy” for his actions on that day.
When the moderators asked about inflation, Allred brought up the child tax credit, said he’d “cut tax for the middle class” and make housing more affordable. He also blamed supply chain issues from the pandemic. Cruz said Trump’s tax credits led to “real results” during his term and accused the Biden administration of undermining Texas farmers and ranchers and waging a “war” on the Texan oil and gas industry.
Here are some key takeaways from the Tuesday, Oct. 15 debate.
Cruz, Allred outline how they want voters to see them
The candidates introductions were brief – and they wasted no time going on the attack – but the themes introduced in the candidates opening remarks appeared time and time again throughout the debate.
Allred spoke to his upbringing as a fourth-generation Texan raised by a single mother. He recalled his rise to becoming a NFL player and then a U.S. representative before touting his bipartisanship.
“I’m the exact opposite of Sen. Cruz,” Allred said, calling his opponent the most “extreme” senator in Congress. Cruz is focused on himself, Allred said, recalling the senator’s trip to Cancun during the February 2021 winter storm.
Cruz highlighted his upbringing as a child of a Cuban migrant who came to the states penniless and called it incredible that both he and Allred have the opportunity to represent Texans in Washington.
Then called on viewers to listen to the difference between words and action – a point he made throughout the debate, including when talking about abortion and border security, the first two topics up for discussion Tuesday.
“Colin Allred is going to try to say an awful lot of words that sound reasonable, but what he’s not going to talk about is his own record or my record,” Cruz said.
Cruz skirts question on abortion exceptions
Cruz was asked about exceptions for abortions in cases of rape and incest early in the debate, but didn’t directly answer the question after repeated questions from the moderators. He repeatedly returned to the idea that the issue was up to state legislatures.
Texas’ abortion law is among the strictest in the nation. It bans nearly all abortions without exceptions for rape and incest. There are exceptions for medical emergencies, but there’s been a push for clarity on what that means and when an abortion can be performed.
Cruz has expressed opposition to a national abortion ban on the campaign trail, advocating that abortion policy should be left to the individual states. In 2021 however, he introduced a federal bill in 2021 with South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham — the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act — proposing making it a crime to perform an abortion 20 weeks or more after fertilization.
“What the law should be in Texas — that’s a decision that will be made by the state legislature,” Cruz said. “Congressman Allred is running all sorts of ads saying saying that I made this decision. I don’t serve in the state legislature. I’m not the governor. The folks that make the laws here of the state legislature, the governor. He knows that.”
Allred called for the standards under Roe v. Wade to be the “law of the land again.”
Allred has made abortion access a campaign center point, including in a new ad Tuesday that features Kate Cox, a Dallas-area woman who had to leave the state to get an abortion during a high-risk pregnancy.
“Ted Cruz says this abortion ban is ‘perfectly reasonable,’” Cox says in the ad. “There’s nothing reasonable about what my family went through.”
Does Allred support a border wall?
A moderator asked Allred about his position on a border wall, citing differing stances Allred has held, calling it “racist” at one point and the later supporting President Joe Biden’s border wall plan.
Allred pivoted, criticizing Cruz for “doing nothing to help” and turning the subject to Cruz’s trip to Cauncun, Mexico, and Jan. 6, before saying he supports “physical barriers as part of a comprehensive strategy to secure the border.”
When it was his turn to talk, Cruz said Allred has voted against a border wall multiple times before tying Allred to Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Understand at home, Collin Allred is Kamala Harris,” Cruz said. “Their records are the same,” adding that both support “open borders.”
Candidates clash on transgender athletes
Back-to-back ads in the minutes before the debate signaled what would be another hot-button issue for the candidates.
Cruz released an ad about transgender athletes playing sports on teams that align with their gender identity— the latest in a series of ads on the subject from both candidates. Tuesday’s ad was responding to one from Allred where the congressman said he doesn’t want “girls playing boys sports,” also airing before the debate.
Cruz’s ad accuses Allred of lying about his position, pointing to votes in Congress including Allred’s vote against a bill that would have generally prohibited “school athletic programs from allowing individuals whose biological sex at birth was male to participate in programs that are for women or girls.”
When the back-and-forth played out on the debate stage, Allred said Cruz is trying to distract from the issues.
“You don’t have to be a former NFL linebacker to recognize a Hail Mary when you see one,” Allred said. “This is a desperate, last second attempt by Sen. Cruz to distract you because he can’t defend his own record. Listen, I’m a dad. I’m a Christian. Of course I don’t support this ridiculous thing that he’s talking about. “
Cruz rebutted: “Once again, in that answer, he said not a word about his own record,” and likened him to Harris.
This story was originally published October 15, 2024 at 7:14 PM.
