Joe Reed, father of a Marine veteran who was being held captive in Russia, said he is endorsing U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, because Sen. Ted Cruz did nothing to help free his son.
“When my son Trevor Reed was detained by the Russian police, he was given nine years. We were frantic. We tried to stay focused and not just break down every day crying,” Joey Reed said in an ad for Allred. “The first politician we called was Ted Cruz. They basically said, ‘Oh we’re not going to be able to help you.’ Ted Cruz didn’t lift a finger for us when everybody else in the state did.”
Trevor Reed is a Marine veteran from Granbury who was arrested in Russia in 2019. According to the Dallas Morning News, Russian authorities said he assaulted a police officer. He was imprisoned for three years, until he was freed in a prisoner swap in 2022.
When Joe Reed asked Cruz for help, the senator said at the time that his involvement could make things worse because of his fight to stop the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. He also said Administration officials told him taking a public role in the case would be counterproductive.
However, other Texas Republicans that were also fighting against Russian operations like Sen. John Cornyn and Rep. Michale McCaul agreed to work with Reed to help free his son.
“He didn’t do anything,” Joey Reed said of Cruz to The Dallas Morning News in 2022. “He’s an embarrassment to the state of Texas, let me just say that. I don’t care what or who runs against him, I will work for their campaign to defeat that son of a bitch.”
Reed worked with members of both parties, including with members of both Trump’s and Biden’s administrations, he also expressed he likes Allred.
“The thing I like about Colin is he listens, he can relate to almost everyone. He’s willing to reach across the aisle,” Joey Reed said in the ad. “Our elected officials, they’re accountable not only for their actions but for their inactions. Ted Cruz is not here for Texas. Ted Cruz is here for Ted Cruz.”
In a statement to the Texas Tribune, Cruz spokesperson Macarena Martinez said the senator has worked for the returning of American hostages from Lebanon and Venezuela and that he is “fighting daily to secure the release” of Mark Swidan, a Houston Resident held in China for over a decade on drug charges.
