FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — We’re bombarded with ads during every TV break. Campaign funds are pouring in. And on a sunny Saturday, a crowd reached through the door for a campaign rally at Tulips, a popular nightclub in Fort Worth. This time it’s for Democratic state Rep. Colin Allred, a former NFL linebacker who is trying to unseat a Republican senator. Ted Cruz.
It’s October like that again in Texas.
Democrats hold twice as many Senate seats as Republicans, and Allred’s bid could be their best chance to flip seats next month and maintain a thin Senate majority. Cruz is pleading with Republicans to take the challenge seriously, six years after his narrow victory over Beto O’Rourke exposed the fault lines in a Republican Party that has been dominant in Texas for decades. .
But Allred, who would go on to become Texas’ first black senator, is doing things his own way. Seeking more than just the moral victory Texas Democrats have sought since 1994, when they last won a statewide election, Mr. Allred is moving away from Mr. O’Rourke’s blueprint for trolling and rule-breaking. I ran towards the road. Although some Democrats are dissatisfied with the apparent difference, Allred is sticking to his scenario amid signs of a close race with less than a month left until the race.
“Beto didn’t win, but he succeeded," said Ryan Armstrong, 21, who was registering to vote outside a tulip store with a clipboard with a “Beto for Texas” sticker on it. “I have high hopes for (Allred) to win, but I honestly don’t know if he did enough.”
Abortion rights and a trip to Cancun
Mr. Allred, a three-term congressman from Dallas, was essentially a far cry from Mr. O’Rourke, an electric orator who traveled to all 254 counties, jumping on tables at a moment’s notice to stir up crowds. They are different candidates. Allred bills himself as someone who “keeps a level head” and a bipartisan problem solver. Winning with that low-key approach will require the enthusiasm generated by Vice President Kamala Harris, who is at the top of the Democratic field, albeit in a state that is expected to be easily won by former President Donald Trump. It will be.
“Colin has to outdo Harris, so it’s a little more delicate for him than it is for us,” O’Rourke College’s top advisor David Wysong said during the 2018 Cruz fight.
Allred has boosted his moderate credentials by touting support from prominent Republicans, including former Reps. Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney.
Other factors could also work in Allred’s favor. Most notable is the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision that stripped constitutional protections against abortion, paving the way for Texas to outlaw nearly all abortions. Since then, the issue has become a winning issue for Democrats, even in red states like Kentucky and Kansas.
Allred campaigned on abortion rights and focused on the personal story of Texas woman Kate Cox. She was forced to flee the state in order to have an abortion after doctors determined that her unborn child had a fatal disease that is not exempt under Texas law.
He also didn’t give up on Cruz’s family trip to Mexico during the deadly winter storm that crippled the state’s power grid, and he spoke out during the Oct. 15 candidate debate. likely to remind voters of that again.
Cruz goes on the offensive
Mr. Cruz, on the other hand, has set himself apart from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and other Democrats by pitching himself as an unapologetic partisan who showed little interest in governing when he first arrived in Washington. , transformed into a Republican who gets things done. He remains combative, attacking Allred as a “radical leftist” and linking him to immigration and transgender rights.
What you need to know about the 2024 election
“I’m telling you, Chuck Schumer and the communists have their sights set on Tarrant County,” Cruz told a packed crowd of supporters at Outpost 36, a barbecue restaurant in the Fort Worth suburb of Keller. .
“They can’t have it,” he said, drawing cheers from people waving Cruz placards that read “Keep Texas Texas.”
Tarrant County, which includes Fort Worth and its surrounding rapidly growing suburbs, is the kind of place where Allred needs to win big. The race here has been close in recent days, with O’Rourke leading Cruz by less than 1 percentage point. President Joe Biden won the county by a similar margin in 2018 and four years ago.
“Six years ago it was a real battle, and this year it’s a real battle,” Cruz said. “It’s not complicated. If you’re a hard-core partisan Democrat, after Donald Trump, there’s no one in this country you’d want to defeat more than me.”
And while Mr. O’Rourke’s 2018 campaign for the Senate may have provided Democrats with a statewide roadmap of sorts, two years ago he tried to oust Gov. Greg Abbott by 10 percentage points. They lost by a much larger margin.
Campaign spending in Texas exceeds $120 million
The amount of money spent by both sides suggests the national importance of the race.
The $120 million spent by both parties in the Texas Senate race was paid or withheld in the Florida Senate race, another top Democratic target, according to AdImpact, which tracks ad spending. It is expected to exceed approximately $40 million. But that pales in comparison to races in Montana and Ohio, where Democrats are spending more than $700 million to defend seats in red-leaning states.
Part of the big spending in Texas is due to the state’s size, with 20 separate TV markets, including two of the nation’s largest and most expensive TV markets in Dallas and Houston.
“This is partly a reflection of the fact that Mr. Allred has been a very successful fundraiser, spending a significant portion of that money on TV ads,” said Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University. I think so.” “The NDP have not yet shown the same enthusiasm and optimism as the Allred camp, and part of that may be that they are still trying to figure out the difficult calculus of combining attack with defense, which they are much more focused on. I can’t.”
Allred: From NFL to Congress
Allred’s resume appears to be a perfect fit for the Lone Star State. A high school star from Dallas, he played linebacker and captain of the football team at Baylor University in Waco. After his NFL career, he worked as a civil rights attorney.
He also defeated a high-profile Republican in 2018, defeating Rep. Pete Sessions, who had spent more than 20 years in Congress. The campaign drew considerable energy from Mr. O’Rourke’s efforts to unseat Mr. Cruz, the former Jerusalemite. The difference with Paso is less than 3 percentage points.
Still, running a successful statewide campaign comes with a higher degree of difficulty, and Allred’s approach has some Democrats scratching their heads. For example, in Laredo County, a fast-growing county along the U.S.-Mexico border, some Democrats wonder where he has been.
“He’s done absolutely nothing, nothing to appeal to voters,” said Webb County Democratic Party Chair Sylvia Bruni. “As far as he’s concerned, it doesn’t seem worth our time.”
Allred defends his strategy, saying the political landscape has changed.
“I’m a different candidate and this year is going to be very different,” he said. “Since 2018, various issues have arisen.”
——
Lozano reported from Houston. Leah Askarinam of the Decision Desk contributed from Washington.
