ICYMI: In the RGV, Allred Calls Out Ted Cruz for Using Border Communities as Props for His ‘Political Safaris’

McAllen, TX — This weekend, the McAllen Monitor ran a front-page story on Colin Allred’s campaign stops this week in the Rio Grande Valley. The article features a sit-down interview with Allred in between his stops meeting with community leaders and activists from across South Texas, and hitting the campaign trail with his newest endorser (and endorsee), TX-15 Democratic congressional candidate, Michelle Vallejo.

In their conversation with the McAllen Monitor, Allred spoke on the border crisis, calling out Ted Cruz for his “hyper-partisanship and a penchant for using the Valley as a political prop.” 

Congressman Allred campaigns with endorser and endorsee, TX-15 Democratic congressional candidate Michelle Vallejo, in McAllen on Friday. (Photo: The McAllen Monitor)

Key quotes:

• “I think [Ted Cruz has] used the Valley as a place to go on what I call ‘political safaris’ where he gets on his outdoor clothing and he goes and stands on the river … and he pretends like that is how you secure a border…I reject that entirely. I know that it’s possible for us to both secure our border and make the immigration system better meet the needs of our economy.”
•  “I think that’s one of the things that sports teaches you, is that we’re not as different as we think we are. And if we can find those common values then we can work towards a common goal.”

Allred’s visit to McAllen comes after several other stops on his statewide Lone Star Listening Tour, including El Paso, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Houston, and Austin. 

See here for the full story or see below for excerpts from Friday’s article in the McAllen Monitor – and click here to watch a sit-down interview Allred held with KRGV in Weslaco.

MyRGV.com: Ted Cruz challenger Colin Allred visits the RGV to campaign, endorses Michelle Vallejo

[Dina Arévalo, 8/25/23]

McALLEN — Colin Allred, the North Texas congressman who is hoping to unseat U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz next November, was in the Rio Grande Valley this week to lend his support to another campaign hopeful, Michelle Vallejo.

The pair officially endorsed each other’s campaigns on Friday while Allred was in the region making campaign stops, and visiting family in Brownsville.

[…]

“I think it’s very important to unseat Ted Cruz and to unseat Monica De La Cruz because I think that when we have politicians who are out for their own personal gain over representing the people of our home, our communities and our state, we have big problems,” Vallejo said.

[…]

Nonetheless, both Democratic candidates similarly criticized their respective opponents over what they called hyper-partisanship and a penchant for using the Valley as a political prop.

“(Ted Cruz is) one of the most extreme politicians in the country. He’s proud of that. And I think he’s used the Valley as a place to go on what I call ‘political safaris’ where he gets on his outdoor clothing and he goes and stands on the river … and he pretends like that is how you secure a border,” Allred said.

“I reject that entirely. I know that it’s possible for us to both secure our border and make the immigration system better meet the needs of our economy,” he added a moment later.

[…]

Allred said Cruz has lacked accountability and that was ultimately what spurred him to try to unseat the two-term senator.

“Whether it’s leaving our state to go to Cancun during the (2021) freeze, or being one of the architects of the insurrection, or voting against legislation that helps us and then claiming the credit, in many ways, for the benefits of it, he’s not had any accountability,” Allred said.
[…]

“I’ve been a workhorse in the United States Congress, not a show horse,” he said.

However, one of the biggest takeaways he’s learned about public service has come not from his experience in government, or even in the private sector, where he worked as a civil rights attorney, but rather from sports.

Allred played Division-1 college football at Baylor University before putting law school on hold while he spent five years as a linebacker in the NFL. And it was being part of a team that taught him the lessons that have since guided his public service.

“I think that’s one of the things that sports teaches you, is that we’re not as different as we think we are. And if we can find those common values then we can work towards a common goal,” Allred said.