With less than one week until early voting begins in Texas, the one-hour event was the only scheduled debate in the tight race. Cruz leads Allred by four percentage points, according to a University of Houston poll released Oct. 15.
Cruz, who is seeking a third term as Texas’ junior senator, presented himself as a seasoned lawmaker who will uphold conservative values.
“We're doing an awful lot right in the state of Texas,” Cruz said in his opening statement at WFAA-TV’s studio in downtown Dallas. “Colin Allred wants to change that. I want to keep Texas, Texas.”
Allred called himself “the most bipartisan Texan in Congress” and said his opponent was “only focused on himself.”
“When the lights went out in the energy capital of the world, he went to Cancún,” Allred said, highlighting Cruz’s trip to Mexico during Texas’ February 2021 freeze. “On Jan. 6, when a mob was storming the Capitol, he was hiding a supply closet. And when the toughest border security bill in a generation came up in the United States Senate, he took it down.”
What you need to know
Moderators kicked off the debate by asking the candidates about Texas’ near-total abortion ban, which does not include exceptions for rape or incest. When pressed about his personal views on abortion, Cruz did not commit to a position and said he agreed with the U.S. Supreme Court that the issue should be decided at the state level.
“Congressman Allred is running all sorts of ads saying that I made this decision,” Cruz said of Texas’ abortion law, which was approved by state lawmakers in May 2021 and took effect in August 2022. “I don't serve in the state legislature. I'm not the governor.”
Allred has made abortion access a cornerstone of his campaign, running ads featuring women who left the state to receive emergency medical care for severe pregnancy complications.
“I trust Texas women to make their own health care decisions,” Allred said during the debate. “I can’t imagine the doctor coming in and saying there’s a problem with the baby or a problem with [the mother], but there’s nothing [they] can do because Ted Cruz thinks he knows better.”
Allred contested Cruz’s characterization of himself as “pro-life,” stating that “it's not pro-life to deny women care so long when they can't have children anymore. It's not pro-life to force a victim of rape to carry their rapist's baby.”
“To every Texas woman at home and every Texas family watching this, understand that when Ted Cruz says he's pro-life, he doesn't mean yours,” Allred added.
More details
The candidates also discussed the role of transgender athletes in women’s sports. Texas law requires athletes in public schools across the state—from kindergarten through college—to compete on sports teams based on the sex they were assigned at birth.
Cruz’s campaign has attacked Allred on the issue in recent ads, including one released Oct. 15, citing Allred’s vote against a 2023 bill that would create similar requirements nationwide.
“Congressman Allred was an NFL linebacker,” Cruz said. “It is not fair for a man to compete against women. ... My youngest daughter played volleyball. It's not fair for a biological boy or man, a teenage boy, to spike the volleyball at her, and [Allred] has voted repeatedly in favor of that.”
Allred said Cruz’s ads were “a desperate, last-second attempt” to distract voters from the Republican’s record on abortion and other issues.
“I don’t support boys playing girls’ sports,” Allred said. “What I think is that folks should not be discriminated against. And what Sen. Cruz should try to explain to you is why he thinks they should.”
Also of note
Moderators asked Allred why he had changed his position on how to best secure the U.S.-Mexico border, pointing out that Allred had called a proposal to expand the border wall “racist” while former President Donald Trump was in office, but began supporting expansion under President Joe Biden.
Allred dodged the question, accusing Cruz of opposing bipartisan border security measures and only pretending to care about border communities.
“Time and again, Sen. Cruz treats our border committees like he's going on some kind of safari,” Allred said. “He comes down, he puts on his outdoor clothes, he tries to look tough. Then he goes back to Washington and does nothing to help.”
Cruz said he worked “hand-in-hand” with Trump to reduce illegal border crossings, arguing that “every single time there's a serious measure in the House to secure the border, Colin Allred votes no.”
“It's what Kamala Harris does as well,” Cruz said of the vice president and Democratic presidential nominee. “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.”
After the debate, Republican former Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley said he was concerned that Cruz cared more about himself than his constituents. Whitley recently announced his support for Allred.
“It's a heck of a thing when you see the Democrat winning the discussion on the border over a Republican, and I think [Allred] did that tonight,” Whitley told reporters.
One more thing
Cruz also brought up the border in response to a question about housing affordability.
“Nothing is driving up housing costs as powerfully as the 11.5 million illegal immigrants that Congressman Allred and Kamala Harris have let in with their open borders,” Cruz said.
Allred said Texas and the United States should focus on building affordable homes to combat a housing shortage.
“This has been a need for us for a long time, but we haven't addressed it fully,” Allred said. “But when I’m in the Senate, we'll make sure that we move a bill to try and build a new generation of affordable housing across Texas and across the country that will help lower costs for folks.”
According to the state comptroller, Texas’ population growth has outpaced homebuilding since 2020, resulting in a widespread housing shortage. Up For Growth, a national housing policy organization, reported in 2023 that Texas needs about 306,000 more homes to meet demand.
Sam Cooper, a strategist for Cruz’s campaign, told reporters after the debate he thought the Republican senator has “pushed forward a positive vision for the state of Texas.”
“I think the Senator is unique. ... Outside of Donald Trump, he's the No. 1 target for Democrats across this country,” Cooper added. “We feel good about where the race is—feeling better after tonight.”
At the polls
Early in-person voting begins Oct. 21 and ends Nov. 1. Learn more about the statewide races on Texans’ ballots here, and check out Community Impact’s Q&A with Texas’ U.S. Senate candidates here.
For more election coverage, visit www.communityimpact.com/voter-guide.
