(Julianna Frieman, Headline USA) Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, caught Democrat challenger Colin Allred red-handed on issues including illegal immigration, women’s safety and Texas jobs in a debate for Cruz’s U.S. Senate seat held in Dallas late Tuesday.
Cruz colored Allred as an extension of Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris’s policies, hitting the Democrat congressman on his voting record in favor of perpetuating the border crisis.
“Colin Allred is Kamala Harris. Their records are the same,” Cruz said.
“I served with both of them,” he continued. “They voted in favor of open borders over and over and over again—and now, they are desperately trying to hide that from the voters.”
Cruz said he believes abortion is to be decided by the states, reminding Allred he is not in the Texas state legislature, nor is he the state’s governor.
Sen. Ted Cruz says abortion should be up to the states in a debate against Rep. Colin Allred.
“I don’t serve in the state legislature. I’m not the governor.” pic.twitter.com/SHju4YHjNf
— Julianna Frieman (@JuliannaFrieman) October 16, 2024
Allred, who played in 32 games with the NFL’s Tennessee Titans, delivered his opening statement first, introducing himself as a former NFL linebacker and “the exact opposite” of his Republican opponent, who spent his youth as a top student of Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz and a clerk for then-Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist.
Cruz later evoked Allred’s sports background when he criticized the Democrat congressman’s four votes—including one for congressional Democrats’ so-called Equality Act, allowing men who believe they are women to violate women’s spaces.
In the way only a brilliant constitutional legal scholar like Cruz could do, he laid out an airtight argument, using his opponent’s defining characteristics to illustrate the fundamental problem with the act itself.
“Congressman Allred was an NFL linebacker,” Cruz exclaimed. “It is not fair for a man to compete against women!”
CRUZ: “Congressman Allred was an NFL linebacker. It is not fair for a man to compete against women!” pic.twitter.com/DPUNtwRQAD
— Julianna Frieman (@JuliannaFrieman) October 16, 2024
The debate was moderated by WFAA’s Jason Whitely and the Dallas Morning News’s Gromer Jeffers. The rules allowed for each candidate 90 seconds to answer questions and the opponent 90 seconds to respond. Candidates were granted 60 seconds for rebuttal.
When moderators moved on to the topic of in vitro fertilization, Cruz circled back to the previous topic and called out Allred for voting against Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) permits.
Allred furiously sipped water after grumbling “that’s not what the vote was about” when called out for voting in lockstep with President Joe Biden.
“There’s a difference between words and actions,” Cruz said of Allred, who responded to the LNG question by touting his own op-ed.
Rep. Colin Allred furiously sips water as Sen. Ted Cruz calls him out for voting against Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) permits.
“He voted against Texas jobs!” pic.twitter.com/QiEzXpvHxZ
— Julianna Frieman (@JuliannaFrieman) October 16, 2024
Cruz declared his strong support for IVF, mentioning a bill he drafted with Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., to safeguard embryo access for those seeking fertility treatments—an issue that has divided some in the pro-life community due to the disposal of unused embryos.
The GOP senator frequently promoted the website AllredFacts.com, which contains “THE FACTS about Allred’s All-Radical Record.”
Cruz’s campaign website includes sections combatting Allred’s stance on men in women’s sports, Texas energy, the border crisis, law and order, Israel, the Biden–Harris administration, government spending and abortion.
Sen. Ted Cruz makes closing argument in debate against Rep. Colin Allred. pic.twitter.com/4bzhqGgqcl
— Julianna Frieman (@JuliannaFrieman) October 16, 2024
“I’ve spent 12 years fighting every single day to defend jobs and freedom and security,” Cruz said in his closing arguments.
“Congressman Allred wants to destroy what we got in Texas because he shares Nancy Pelosi and Kamala Harris’s values,” he added. “I will fight to keep Texas Texas.”
Julianna Frieman is a freelance writer also published by the Daily Caller and The Federalist. Follow her on Twitter at @JuliannaFrieman.
