Texas Democrat Colin Allred is making another run for the Senate following his loss last year in a race against Sen. Ted Cruz.
Allred, a civil rights attorney, a former congressman and a former NFL linebacker, faces Texas State Rep. James Talarico in the Democratic primary.
Texas Republican John Cornyn currently holds the seat and is facing a primary against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
While Allred lost the 2024 Senate race, he did outperform Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris in Texas.
“Well, I think we face really tough headwinds in a presidential year that went the wrong way,” Allred told Here & Now’s Robin Young. “And as you mentioned, we outperformed the ticket across the state, including in some places where Democrats have really struggled, particularly in South Texas; in the valley and in some areas, it was north of 10 points, you know how we overperformed. But I think that what we have to do now is show, not tell.”
4 questions with Colin Allred
Quick elevator pitch: Who are you? Why are you running?
“I’m the product of a big community. I was raised by a single mom in Dallas who’s a public school teacher. I had a lot of help growing up, going to public schools in Dallas, and it’s really, I think, because of them that I had a chance to play in the NFL and become a civil rights lawyer in the Obama administration, and serve in Congress.
“And listen, I think we have a lot of work to do in the Democratic Party to speak to the same working people that I grew up around. And who grew up, who are living through the same way that I grew up, which is paycheck to paycheck, folks who are working harder and harder for less.
“I think a lot of things are upside down right now. Folks are spending less and less time with their kids. They’re working harder and not seeing that come home, but they are seeing a level of outright corruption to where if you’re willing to cut corners or if you’re connected and you can get ahead just fine. And I think that’s the exact opposite of the American dream that’s made a story like mine possible. I think we have to reverse it.”
You outperformed Kamala Harris in 2024, but you didn’t beat Sen. Ted Cruz. What do you think you needed to do more of to win?
“Well, I think we faced really tough headwinds in a presidential year that went the wrong way. And as you mentioned, we outperformed the ticket across the state, including in some places where Democrats have really struggled, particularly in South Texas; in the valley, and in some areas, it was north of 10 points how we overperformed.
“But I think that what we have to do now is show, not tell. And so I’ve been working in restaurants. I’ll be working on one later this afternoon. I’ve been working on construction sites. I’ll be going to barbershops, talking to working people about what’s going on in their lives and how we can address what I consider to be a rigged system that’s preventing them from getting ahead.
“And so to me, that has to be the focus. My story was made possible by ordinary working folks, teachers, coaches, counselors at the YMCA who poured themselves into me. That’s why I’ve been able to be a productive citizen and do the things that I’ve done. I want to make sure that we get back to them, but also that we center them in our policy. I think you do that by showing up and doing it in person.”
What is your view on the response in California to redistricting in Texas? You seemed hesitant on it.
“Well, I’m not hesitant on it. I’m a voting rights lawyer by training, and I hate gerrymandering. I hate it when it’s done by either party.
“I think it has destroyed the United States Congress. I think if you want to know what’s wrong with the House of Representatives right now, you can zero in on gerrymandering as being one of the largest culprits. And I think that it leaves us with more extreme elected officials who are responsible to a very small segment of their primary electorates and who are not then having any interest in getting things done when they get into the Congress.
“That being said, what they’ve done in Texas is so outrageous, and it’s so in your face that we do have to respond to it to prevent them from rigging an election, because they’re trying to rig the election so that we cannot unrig this process.
“And let me be very clear: When I was in the House, we passed legislation to ban gerrymandering nationwide, to require every state to have nonpartisan independent commissions drawing their districts. That’s what I want to see us do.
“But if they’re going to go around from state to state stealing seats — and to be honest with you, stealing Black and brown seats where Black and brown communities are being silenced — then we have to respond in a way to make sure they can’t rig the entire process.
What do you do about that? Why have Democrats lost so many brown voters in particular?
“Well, listen, I think it’s a multi-factor, of course, like so many things. But in the last election, there was an incredible amount of frustration in South Texas around what was happening at the border. My family is from Brownsville, the very tip of Texas, where my grandfather was a customs officer after fighting in the Navy in World War II. I spent a lot of my childhood there. I recognized that frustration and I spoke to it, and I think that’s part of why we did so well there.
“But I think, also, this is about the economy. I think there are a lot of folks who their first order of business and maybe second and third is putting food on the table and keeping a roof over their kids’ heads and being able to provide. And if we’re not speaking directly to their ability to provide, and some of these other concerns that are important and that I do know folks care about can sometimes almost seem secondary.”
This interview was edited for clarity.
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Jill Ryan produced and edited this segment with Robin Young. Michael Scotto adapted it for the web.
Editor’s note: Here & Now reached out to Sen. John Cornyn, and his office declined an interview due to his schedule.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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