U.S. Representative Colin Allred won the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate on Tuesday and is now ready to challenge Senator Ted Cruz.
Allred defeated his closest opponent in the race, state Sen. Roland Gutierrez of San Antonio, who conceded the victory. According to the Associated Press, Allred won the race with 59.1% of the vote to Gutierrez’s 17%, with 95% of the votes counted.
“Thank you, Texas! I am honored to be your Democratic nominee,” Allred wrote in a Twitter/X post. “Together, we are going to beat Ted Cruz and give all Texans the leadership we need in the U.S. Senate.”
Allred, a civil rights lawyer and a former N.F.L. linebacker focused all of his victory rhetoric on his ability to defeat Cruz in the upcoming general election.
During the campaign, Allred presented himself as a moderate who could work with Republicans and appeal to a wide range of voters, despite his support for abortion and gun control.
“Democrats are willing to nominate a moderate if they think that they can beat somebody who they really dislike,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston.
And there are real odds that Allred could defeat Ted Cruz, as a January poll by Emerson College Polling and Nexstar Media found that both Allred and Gutierrez had a statistical tie with Cruz, who is considered one of the weakest Republican seats in the Senate. In the last 2018 election, Cruz narrowly defeated former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke.
However, Allred doesn’t have an easy path, as Texas hasn’t elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in more than 30 years.
Allred also had a huge cash advantage over his primary opponents. According to the Dallas Morning News, Allred had raised $21.4 million, while Gutierrez managed to raise $1.3 million.
Gutierrez gained national attention for his advocacy on behalf of the victims of the Uvalde school shooting, one of the deadliest in the state. He took a strong stance on gun control and criticized Allred for his moderate positions.
Allred has also stood on the side criticizing President Joe Biden for his handling of immigration and the border, and has vowed for bipartisan immigration reform.
“We’ve had enough of me guys,” Allred said after his victory, referencing Ted Cruz’s individualism. “We is much more powerful than me. We can do this together.”
While Cruz is deeply unpopular among Democrats, he still has a lot of support on the Republican side, having authored several books and hosted a podcast.
