ICYMI: Allred Lays out Vision for Texas in Nexstar Statewide Election Special

Allred: “I don’t see us so much as Democrats and Republicans or Independents… I see us as Texans, and I always have”

DALLAS – In a Nexstar election special that ran statewide in primetime last week, Congressman Colin Allred detailed his plans for addressing the key issues facing Texans in his campaign for U.S. Senate to defeat Ted Cruz. During the interview with KXAN’s Daniel Marin, Allred laid out his commonsense approach to solving the border crisis, fighting for Texans’ freedoms against the state’s extreme abortion ban and lowering costs for Texas families.  

Allred shared his story as a fourth-generation Texan and the importance of bringing Texans together. This was in sharp contrast to Ted Cruz who spent his time promoting his podcast, admitting he’d love to go to the private sector and “earn some money,” dodging questions on IVF and saying other strange things.  

Watch the special here and Allred’s full sit-down interview here. 

Allred on his Leadership Style and Vision for Texans

• “I think I know who we are as Texans and we are not who Ted Cruz says we are, or my story really wouldn’t have been possible. What I want to make sure is that every Texan knows who I am and how I want to bring us together as Texans, because the way I’ve served in Congress shows that it’s possible to serve while not pitting folks against each other.” 

• “Becoming a father and having two young children has fundamentally changed me in the way that every parent, I think can say the same, because it has extended my view into the future…I want to make sure that they…inherit a state and a country that’s not destroyed by divisions…but that fundamentally understands, as John Lewis used to tell us that we might have come here on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now. We’re all Americans, we’re all Texans.” 

• “When I see Ted Cruz, I see somebody who…sees everything in such stark terms, it’s either black or it’s white, and he’s always going to be fighting. And to me, that’s not my experience of life, and I don’t think it is most Texans either.” 

• “I don’t see us so much as Democrats and Republicans or Independents… I see us as Texans, and I always have.” 

On the Border:

• “I’ve got a personal story with this because my family is from Brownsville, and my grandfather was a customs officer… I spent a lot of my childhood there. I’ve always seen our border communities as not just places where you go to point out problems but as places where real folks are living and trying to raise their families and where I think they expect us to have responsible responses to what’s happening.” 

• “We have to respond with smart policy. And this is where I get really frustrated, because I see Ted Cruz with a bipartisan effort in the United States Senate to bring billions of dollars to this issue… And he’s saying no…That, to me, has to be so outrageous to every single Texan.” 

• “We’re the United States of America, we’re Texans. This is not beyond our capacity to have a secure, fair border where we treat people in a humane way…We can do this, but we have to have leaders who actually want to.” 

On Lowering Costs for Texas Families:  

• “I know what it’s like to go through the checkout line and have to put things back because you couldn’t afford that this week. And I know what that feeling is, and as a parent now, I certainly understand how devastating that would be, to do that for my kids, and so that’s why I’ve always been so focused on lowering folks’ costs everywhere I can… Ted Cruz is somebody who I don’t think is interested at all in lowering folks’ everyday costs, who really is only looking out for the wealthiest and the best connected.” 

• “To me, when you want to talk about how can we best support families here in Texas we have to have a comprehensive system…It’s really hard, in Texas, to have a child and to be working and to keep providing for your family and that’s also costing us in terms of our economy. We’ve seen time and time again that when you have policies that are pro-family like early childhood care, like universal pre-K, like access to paid family leave, that it also has more of an economic impact.. and so to me, that’s the holistic approach that we have to take. 

On Reproductive Rights: 

• “…this is a law that has gone way too far, and this is the predictable outcome of what extremists like Ted Cruz have been saying for decades and now have made into a reality here in Texas… [We need to make] sure that women can make their own health care decisions about their bodies, in consultation with their doctors and with their faith.” 

• “We need to have a more fulsome conversation about how we can both protect life consistent…also with protecting individual rights…You have to have leaders in place who want to take that approach.”