Colin Allred believes he can get along well with the Republicans

By all accounts, U.S. Rep. Colin Allred is the underdog in this year's U.S. Senate race. After all, Texas hasn't elected a Democrat to statewide office in nearly three decades. But Allred, who was born and raised in Dallas to a single mother and played football at Baylor University and in the NFL, says his “uniquely Texan” story will resonate with voters. He also emphasizes his willingness to take on the Democratic establishment — as he did in January when he joined congressional Republicans and a handful of Democrats in supporting a resolution condemning President Biden's handling of the nation's southern border. But what's really buoying his campaign, he says, is the sentiment he keeps hearing from voters: They're ready to break away from his opponent, two-term Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.

Texas monthly: What aspect of your background prepared you for the Senate?

Colin Allred: I have a uniquely Texan story. I'm a fourth-generation Texan, and I carry so many of the contradictions that make us Texans. I have a distant relative who was the 33rd Governor of Texas – and I have relatives who were slaves here.

TM: Are you related to the 33rd Governor of Texas?

CA: James V. Allred [who served from 1935 to 1939] was my grandfather's third cousin.

TM: Allred was an ardent supporter of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal. Did your family talk about what kind of governor he was?

CA: When the governor was a federal judge in South Texas and my grandfather was chief inspector at the Gateway Bridge in Brownsville, they would meet for lunch and talk about the old days. So yes, I was always aware of Governor Allred's positions. He was also an ardent opponent of the Ku Klux Klan, and my family was always proud of that.

TM: Has his example inspired you as a politician?

CA: I always felt that there was a tradition of Texas leaders like Governor Allred, Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn and LBJ who were real Texans, conscious of their humble beginnings, and who passed some of the most consequential legislation in American history to help working people.

TM: Your mother is from Brownsville and your grandfather worked for US Customs. Did that influence your view of the border?

CA: Too often our border communities are treated as a place where people go on a political safari. They go to see the sights and point out the problems. But then they don't give back to the communities, they don't try to solve those problems, and they often don't see the benefits of our border.

That's one of the problems I had with Cruz. Yes, we need a secure border. But we also need to support our border communities.

TM: Did your grandfather ever tell you about his time at the border?

CA: My grandfather died before I was born. But I grew up hearing stories about him. According to my mom and aunt, he and I have a lot in common – we both lost our hair at an early age, we were both very athletic. He worked very hard and treated people with dignity. I think he would understand how I approach immigration and border security: While we talk about a secure border and the safety of our communities, we also have to treat people with dignity. That's the Texas I know.

TM: Why did you switch to politics in 2018 after working as a lawyer?

CA: I always planned to study law. I come from a very practical family – my mother and her sister, who raised me, were teachers. My uncle worked at the FDA [Food and Drug Administration]. That's why I wanted to make sure I had a career that no one could take away from me.

I served in the Obama administration under then-Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro, also a Texan, and then ran for Congress in the 32nd Congressional District, where I was born and raised. I wanted to give back to the community that had given me so much, and I thought we had a congressman who didn't reflect the community I knew. I feel the same way about Ted Cruz. He doesn't reflect the state I know.

TM: After Biden's performance in the debate, you were pretty tight-lipped about whether he should resign. Your fellow Democrat Lloyd Doggett was the first Democrat in Congress to call on him to resign. Did you think he went too far?

CA: I think Lloyd has served our state with dignity for a long time, and I think he has a right to express his opinion. That was his decision, and I respected it.

TM: Kamala Harris has faced a lot of criticism for her tenure as Biden's so-called border czar. And you have distanced yourself from Biden's border policy. Are there differences between her stance on the border and yours?

CA: A secure border must go hand in hand with an improvement in our legal immigration system. In the past, I have sometimes been disappointed by the lack of urgency on this issue, particularly from the Democratic Party. I hope we don't see that in Harris' campaign.

TM: Do you think a Harris administration would be tougher on the border than Biden?

CA: I know that when I am in the U.S. Senate, I will make sure that the border is a priority. I am quite confident that [Republican] Senator John Cornyn and I can agree on a bipartisan effort to secure the border and reform our immigration system. There was a bill in the Senate earlier this year that would have provided billions of dollars to support our border communities. No state would have benefited more than Texas, but Cruz and other Republicans rejected that proposal because, in my opinion, they wanted an issue to run on in November.

This bill would have provided billions of dollars for additional immigration judges and administrative staff and made changes to our asylum policies. I believe if I am elected, we can take this bill back and get it passed.

TM: It seems like Democrats in Texas always think that the Texas Republican Party will move so far to the right that it will spark a backlash. The last session of the House passed some pretty extreme legislation—banning gender-affirming care for transgender children, eliminating DEI positions in higher education, and limiting cities' ability to pass local laws—but I don't see any significant shift to the left. Is the state still very conservative, at least when it comes to statewide politics?

CA: I don't see it that way. Texans are facing a very tough choice: the most bipartisan Texan in Congress is running against one of the most extreme senators in the country. And I know one thing about us Texans: we are not extremists. Ordinary Texans are the ones crying out for leadership that will bring us together, not someone like Cruz, who I think is trying to turn us against each other.

I plan to beat Cruz, and I plan to bring us together as a state and use this as an opportunity to show the country who Texans really are. I talk to people all the time who have been embarrassed by Cruz, and my message to them is: You don't have to be embarrassed by your senator. You can get a new one.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

This article originally appeared in the October 2024 issue of Texas monthly with the headline “Colin Allred wants to show the country who Texans really are.” Subscribe today.