Colin Allred, Ted Cruz do battle in Texas Senate debate

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DALLAS — U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and his Democratic challenger, U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, sparred Tuesday over immigration, abortion and transgender rights in a feisty debate that’s anticipated to be the one onstage face-off between the 2 candidates forward of the Nov. 5 election.

All through the one-hour debate, Cruz forged Allred as “radical and excessive,” repeatedly urging the viewers to think about Allred’s voting report over his efforts to painting himself as a reasonable. He sought to tie Allred to Vice President Kamala Harris, alleging the 2 “voted in favor of open borders time and again” and have been each chargeable for fueling a surge in inflation beneath the Biden administration.

“We’re doing an terrible lot proper within the state of Texas,” Cruz opened the talk. “Colin Allred needs to alter that. I wish to hold Texas, Texas.”

Allred countered by attacking Cruz as a partisan bomb-thrower with few legislative accomplishments to indicate for his almost 12 years in workplace. He blasted Cruz for serving to spike a bipartisan border bundle earlier this 12 months and stated the GOP senator was “solely centered on himself,” invoking Cruz’s journey to Cancún in 2021 as Texas was paralyzed by a historic winter storm.

“He’s by no means there for us once we want him,” Allred stated. “When the lights went out within the power capital of the world, he went to Cancún. When a mob was storming the Capitol, he was hiding in a provide closet. And when the hardest border safety invoice in a technology got here up in the US Senate, he took it down.”

The talk, held at WFAA-TV’s studio in downtown Dallas, proved combative from begin to end, with Cruz and Allred buying and selling barbs on almost each subject that got here up. In his opening assertion, Allred referred to as Cruz “possibly probably the most excessive” member of the Senate within the final 30 years. Cruz closed with the message that Allred “needs to destroy what we have in Texas as a result of he shares Nancy Pelosi and Kamala Harris’ values.”

The talk started with a give attention to Texas’ abortion ban, which doesn’t exempt circumstances of rape and incest. Allred has made restoring abortion entry a key a part of his marketing campaign, whereas Cruz has largely averted the problem. Pressed Tuesday on the place he stands on the query of rape and incest exceptions, Cruz stated the matter ought to be settled on the state stage and declined to stake out a place. He went on to criticize Allred for pinning the problem on him in his TV advertisements.

“, Congressman Allred is working all types of advertisements saying that I made this determination,” Cruz stated. “I don’t serve within the state Legislature. I’m not the governor.”

Allred has leaned into the state abortion ban within the homestretch of the election, working advertisements that spotlight the tales of ladies who have been compelled to depart the state after being denied emergency medical look after being pregnant problems. He introduced up the problem once more Tuesday night, disputing Cruz’s characterization of himself as “pro-life.”

“You’re not pro-life,” Allred stated, turning to handle Cruz. “It’s not pro-life to disclaim ladies care so lengthy that they will’t have youngsters anymore. It’s not pro-life to pressure a sufferer of rape to hold their rapist’s child. … Perceive that when Ted Cruz says he’s pro-life, he doesn’t imply yours.”

Allred was placed on the defensive later when he was requested a few sequence of advertisements run by Cruz and his allies accusing the Dallas Democrat of supporting laws that might enable males to make use of ladies’s restrooms and boys to play in women’ sports activities.

The advertisements cite Allred’s vote in opposition to the Safety of Girls and Women in Sports activities Act of 2023, a GOP invoice that might lower off federal funds for athletic applications that enable males, “primarily based solely on an individual’s reproductive biology and genetics at delivery,” to compete in ladies’s or women’ sports activities.

Allred characterised the assaults as a “Hail Mary” and a “determined” try to deflect from Cruz’s stance on abortion, calling it “laughable” for the GOP senator to say he needs to guard ladies.

“What I believe is that folk shouldn’t be discriminated in opposition to,” Allred stated. “What Senator Cruz ought to attempt to clarify to you is why he thinks they need to.”

Cruz dug into Allred for supporting a 2021 invoice referred to as the Equality Act, which might have barred gender discrimination in public locations, together with primarily based on if an individual is transgender. He additionally blasted Allred for lately signing onto a letter, together with dozens of different Home Democrats, that urged GOP lawmakers to strike from an annual protection coverage invoice provisions that embody “limiting medically crucial look after transgender service members” and limiting the usage of pleasure flags on bases.

“ what he argued for? Army bases ought to have drag exhibits and may have the ability to fly a transgender flag above it,” Cruz stated. “Name me old school — I believe the one flag that ought to fly above our navy base ought to be the American flag.”

Cruz additionally confronted questions on the debate over his feedback concerning the assault on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Cruz at first referred to as the occasions a “violent terrorist assault,” earlier than strolling again the remark, calling it “sloppy” and “frankly dumb.” Cruz, requested about his altering stance, turned the problem round on Allred.

“Congressman Allred is completely happy to speak about those that dedicated acts of violence on Jan. 6, however you don’t hear him speaking in regards to the Antifa and Black Lives Matter riots that burned cities throughout this nation,” Cruz stated, referring to protests within the wake of George Floyd’s demise by the hands of a Minneapolis police officer. “When you commit an act of violence, you need to go to jail, and there ought to be no political favoritism in that regard.”

Allred sought to refocus the dialogue on Cruz’s function surrounding certification of the 2020 election, by which he urged colleagues to object to the certification of ends in some states and referred to as for a 10-day audit to probe unsubstantiated voter fraud claims within the disputed states. Allred stated Cruz was “a menace to democracy” and recalled the harrowing occasions of the day, when members of Congress have been informed to “look beneath our toes for fuel masks.”

Each candidates have portrayed themselves as moderates prepared to work throughout the aisle, every touting crossover help from politicians within the opposing celebration. Allred’s GOP supporters embody former U.S. Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, each of whom are amongst their celebration’s main critics of former President Donald Trump. Cruz, in the meantime, has garnered the endorsement of Harris County District Legal professional Kim Ogg, who was defeated within the Democratic main earlier this 12 months. Ogg is probably the most distinguished member of the “Democrats for Cruz” coalition assembled by the GOP senator to melt his repute as a partisan bomb-thrower.

Cruz likened Allred’s solutions to Harris and his voting report to that of former U.S. Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi. In response, Allred accused Cruz of constructing a “current transition to making an attempt to be somebody who needs to truly get issues executed.”

Allred famous that he’s a previous recipient of the Jefferson-Hamilton Award for bipartisanship from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which Cruz famous has endorsed him within the Senate race.

After the talk, Glen Whitley, a Republican and former Tarrant County decide who lately introduced his help for Allred, stated Cruz’s method to the 2020 election was a part of why he’s supporting the Democratic nominee. He argued that Allred carried out particularly effectively on the subject of Jan. 6, and on immigration.

“It is a heck of a factor once you see the Democrat successful the dialogue on the border over a Republican,” Whitley stated.

Cruz strategist Sam Cooper stated his candidate “pushed ahead a constructive imaginative and prescient for the state of Texas,” citing Cruz’s arguments in favor of a restricted regulatory surroundings for oil and fuel and different industries, and his “report of bringing jobs” to the state.

“Congressman Allred is Kamala Harris. Their report isn’t any totally different,” Cooper stated. “When the congressman was pressed on his report, time and time once more he refused to reply.”

Most up-to-date polling has proven Cruz main Allred by round 3 to five share factors, although a couple of surveys have discovered the race to be even tighter. Allred is hoping to shut the hole within the ultimate weeks after marketing campaign finance experiences confirmed he had outpaced Cruz in fundraising over the previous couple of months.