Colin Allred, Ted Cruz blast one another as “extreme,” throw jabs on border and abortion in Senate debate

Join The Temporary, The Texas Tribune’s day by day e-newsletter that retains readers in control on essentially the most important Texas information.

DALLAS — U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and his Democratic challenger, U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, sparred Tuesday over immigration, abortion and transgender rights in a feisty debate that’s anticipated to be the one onstage face-off between the 2 candidates forward of the Nov. 5 election.

All through the one-hour debate, Cruz solid Allred as “radical and extreme,” repeatedly urging the viewers to think about Allred’s voting document over his efforts to painting himself as a average. He sought to tie Allred to Vice President Kamala Harris, alleging the 2 “voted in favor of open borders over and over” and had been each liable for fueling a surge in inflation underneath the Biden administration.

“We’re doing an awful lot right in the state of Texas,” Cruz opened the controversy. “Colin Allred wants to change that. I want to keep Texas, Texas.”

Allred countered by attacking Cruz as a partisan bomb-thrower with few legislative accomplishments to point out for his almost 12 years in workplace. He blasted Cruz for serving to spike a bipartisan border package deal earlier this 12 months and stated the GOP senator was “only focused on himself,” invoking Cruz’s journey to Cancún in 2021 as Texas was paralyzed by a historic winter storm.

“He’s never there for us when we need him,” Allred stated. “When the lights went out in the energy capital of the world, he went to Cancún. When a mob was storming the Capitol, he was hiding in a supply closet. And when the toughest border security bill in a generation came up in the United States Senate, he took it down.”

The talk, held at WFAA-TV’s studio in downtown Dallas, proved combative from begin to end, with Cruz and Allred buying and selling barbs on almost each subject that got here up. In his opening assertion, Allred referred to as Cruz “maybe the most extreme” member of the Senate within the final 30 years. Cruz closed with the message that Allred “wants to destroy what we’ve got in Texas because he shares Nancy Pelosi and Kamala Harris’ values.”

The talk started with a give attention to Texas’ abortion ban, which doesn’t exempt circumstances of rape and incest. Allred has made restoring abortion entry a key a part of his marketing campaign, whereas Cruz has largely averted the difficulty. Pressed Tuesday on the place he stands on the query of rape and incest exceptions, Cruz stated the matter ought to be settled on the state stage and declined to stake out a place. He went on to criticize Allred for pinning the difficulty on him in his TV advertisements.

“You know, Congressman Allred is running all sorts of ads saying that I made this decision,” Cruz stated. “I don’t serve in the state Legislature. I’m not the governor.”

Allred has leaned into the state abortion ban within the homestretch of the election, working advertisements that spotlight the tales of ladies who had been compelled to depart the state after being denied emergency medical take care of being pregnant problems. He introduced up the difficulty once more Tuesday night, disputing Cruz’s characterization of himself as “pro-life.”

“You’re not pro-life,” Allred stated, turning to handle Cruz. “It’s not pro-life to deny women care so long that they can’t have children anymore. It’s not pro-life to force a victim of rape to carry their rapist’s baby. … Understand that when Ted Cruz says he’s pro-life, he doesn’t mean yours.”

Allred was placed on the defensive later when he was requested a few sequence of advertisements run by Cruz and his allies accusing the Dallas Democrat of supporting laws that might enable males to make use of girls’s restrooms and boys to play in women’ sports activities.

The advertisements cite Allred’s vote in opposition to the Safety of Girls and Ladies in Sports activities Act of 2023, a GOP invoice that might minimize off federal funds for athletic applications that enable males, “based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth,” to compete in girls’s or women’ sports activities.

Allred characterised the assaults as a “Hail Mary” and a “desperate” try and deflect from Cruz’s stance on abortion, calling it “laughable” for the GOP senator to say he desires to guard girls.

“What I think is that folks should not be discriminated against,” Allred stated. “What Senator Cruz should try to explain to you is why he thinks they should.”

Cruz dug into Allred for supporting a 2021 invoice referred to as the Equality Act, which might have barred gender discrimination in public locations, together with based mostly on if an individual is transgender. He additionally blasted Allred for just lately signing onto a letter, together with dozens of different Home Democrats, that urged GOP lawmakers to strike from an annual protection coverage invoice provisions that embrace “restricting medically necessary care for transgender service members” and limiting the usage of delight flags on bases.

“You know what he argued for? Military bases should have drag shows and should be able to fly a transgender flag above it,” Cruz stated. “Call me old-fashioned — I think the only flag that should fly above our military base should be the American flag.”

Cruz additionally confronted questions on the debate over his feedback concerning the assault on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Cruz at first referred to as the occasions a “violent terrorist attack,” earlier than strolling again the remark, calling it “sloppy” and “frankly dumb.” Cruz, requested about his altering stance, turned the difficulty round on Allred.

“Congressman Allred is happy to talk about those who committed acts of violence on Jan. 6, but you don’t hear him talking about the Antifa and Black Lives Matter riots that burned cities across this country,” Cruz stated, referring to protests within the wake of George Floyd’s demise by the hands of a Minneapolis police officer. “If you commit an act of violence, you should go to jail, and there should be no political favoritism in that regard.”

Allred sought to refocus the dialogue on Cruz’s position surrounding certification of the 2020 election, wherein he urged colleagues to object to the certification of ends in some states and referred to as for a 10-day audit to probe unsubstantiated voter fraud claims within the disputed states. Allred stated Cruz was “a threat to democracy” and recalled the harrowing occasions of the day, when members of Congress had been instructed to “look under our feet for gas masks.”

After the controversy, Glen Whitley, a Republican and former Tarrant County decide who just lately introduced his assist for Allred, stated Cruz’s method to the 2020 election was a part of why he’s supporting the Democratic nominee. He argued that Allred carried out particularly properly on the subject of Jan. 6, and on immigration.

“It’s a heck of a thing when you see the Democrat winning the discussion on the border over a Republican,” Whitley stated.

Cruz strategist Sam Cooper stated his candidate “pushed forward a positive vision for the state of Texas,” citing Cruz’s arguments in favor of a restricted regulatory surroundings for oil and fuel and different industries, and his “record of bringing jobs” to the state.

“Congressman Allred is Kamala Harris. Their record is no different,” Cooper stated. “When the congressman was pressed on his record, time and time again he refused to answer.”

Most up-to-date polling has proven Cruz main Allred by round 3 to five proportion factors, although a number of surveys have discovered the race to be even tighter. Allred is hoping to shut the hole within the ultimate weeks after marketing campaign finance experiences confirmed he had outpaced Cruz in fundraising over the previous couple of months.