Texas Democrat Colin Allred is reportedly planning to challenge U.S. Senator Ted Cruz for his seat in the upcoming 2024 election, according to sources who spoke with Politico and the Dallas Morning News.
Allred, a former NFL player and civil rights attorney, is currently serving in the U.S. House after unseating Rep. Pete Sessions in 2018. Though 2020 redistricting made the seat solidly blue — meaning Allred “could likely hold his current seat for as long as he chooses,” as Politico reported — Allred vying for the senate seat would “raise his political cachet,” even if he loses.
Though no Democrat has won a state-wide race in Texas since 1994, as Newsweek reported, Cruz defeating Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke by only a slim margin in 2018 has led Democratic Party strategists to believe the right candidate could end the party’s decades-long losing streak.
Currently, poll forecasting outlet Race to the WH — which most accurately predicted the outcome of the 2022 midterm elections — rates Cruz with a 74.8 percent chance of retaining his seat in a head-to-head matchup against Allred in 2024.
Since the start of his tenure in January 2019, Allred has been the sponsor of four bills that were enacted into law. For comparison, very few proposed bills ever become law, and most legislators only sponsor a handful that get signed into law, according to GovTrack.
He currently ranks in the 80th percentile among all House representatives for laws enacted.
Allred also sits on the foreign affairs, transportation and infrastructure committees, as well as the subcommittee on the weaponization of the federal government.
According to federal campaign finance records for the one-year period ending December 31, 2022, Allred raised more then $3.3 million, spent just over $1.5 million, and has more than $1.9 million cash on hand.
His top five donors are Democracy Engine, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, pro-Israel lobbying firm J Street, the University of Texas, and American Airlines.
Allred, who worked during the Obama administration at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, is likely to face a primary challenge from State Sen. Roland Gutierrez, according to the Houston Chronicle.
