“The danger of legislation, either in the interests of a privileged class or for the promotion of particular religious opinions, we may fairly assume to be over.”
— T. H. Green, 1881
The sole debate between incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and his Democratic challenger, U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, went down in Dallas last night and was broadcast in San Antonio KENS 5. Held in a studio without an audience, the contentious exchange ended in less than an hour despite the election’s vital importance to the balance of power in the U.S. Senate.
“The two candidates alone have raised close to $100 million,” the Associated Press reported, based on Federal Election Commission filings. And that’s not counting the tens of millions more spent by political action committees ostensibly unaffiliated with the campaigns.
Debate moderators Jason Whitely of North Texas’ WFAA-TV and Gromer Jeffers of the Dallas Morning News broached topics ranging from reproductive rights to border security, with questions about transgender student athletes and in vitro fertilization capturing a considerable amount of time.
“Senator Cruz just called himself pro-life. You’re not pro-life,” Allred retorted on the subject of abortion, which has proven a winning issue for Democrats recently, even in red states. “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. It’s not pro-life that our maternal mortality rate has skyrocketed up by 56%. So to every Texas woman at home and every Texas family watching this, understand that when Ted Cruz says he’s pro-life, he doesn’t mean yours.”
Allred cited a study published earlier this year by the Journal of the American Medical Association that estimated “more than 26,000 rape-caused pregnancies may have taken place in Texas” after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago. Texas’ abortion ban remains one of the strictest in the nation, permitting no exceptions for rape or incest.
Turning to the subject of inflation, Cruz’s rhetoric was similarly focused on the hardships of everyday people.
“If you’re a senior on fixed income, you’re finding it harder and harder to pay your bills,” Cruz said. “If you’re a working couple just buying your first home, you’re discovering a 7% mortgage is very different than 2.5%. If you’re trying to fill your tank with gas or you’re a single mom worried about getting braces for your daughter, the inflation caused by Kamala Harris and Colin Allred’s spending binge is hurting Texans across the board.”
Although gas hovers around $2.50 a gallon in San Antonio and consumer prices rose a mere 2.4% last month, the smallest increase since February 2021, cost burdens on retirees and first-time homebuyers continue to hinder the post-pandemic recovery. More than three-quarters of Texans said it’s become harder to afford groceries over the last twelve months, according to survey data from No Kid Hungry, a nonprofit dedicated to ending childhood food insecurity,
How the tax cuts for wealthy corporations favored by the GOP would help matters is, of course, debatable.
The zinger of the night belonged to Allred, a former NFL linebacker.
“You know, when Ted Cruz starts talking about team sports, you gotta watch out because the only position he ever played was left out,” the congressman said.
Joking aside, Texas anti-trans legislation Cruz trumpets in a series of recent campaign ads has a real impact on the state’s LGBTQ+ youth. In states that have passed such laws, rates of attempted suicide among transgender teenagers increased by as much as 72%, according to one recent study.
While Allred has run on a record of middle-of-the-road bipartisanship, Cruz’s apparent goal in the debate was to kick up enough dust to confuse moderate Republicans and independents. For example, he repeated debunked conspiracies about noncitizens voting in droves.
“If Congressman Allred is elected, we will see the Democrats grant immediate voting rights to every illegal alien in America,” Cruz claimed.
Those who truly fall for an assertion that outrageous — like the John Birch Society members of old who believed President Dwight Eisenhower was a Soviet spy — are perhaps more deserving of pity than scorn.
Neither candidate mentioned climate change, despite the damage done by increasingly severe hurricanes, nor the gruesome school shooting in Uvalde, which left 19 students and a pair of teachers dead two years ago, nor would either call out the Israeli military’s indiscriminate bombing raids in Gaza as an atrocity.
Allred’s most strident criticism was to label Cruz “a threat to democracy” for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection and his attempts to obstruct the electoral certification of the Biden administration.
Comedian Bill Maher, who performed at the Majestic Theatre last week, might have given Allred some tips on how to send this point home.
“Republicans think they’re the tough guys, that they’re macho,” Maher told the Current‘s Kiko Martinez. “But watch the end of a football game. What does the losing coach do? Coaches live and breathe football. It’s their whole life. It’s all they care about. But when a coach loses a game … he puts on a grim face, and he walks across the field, and he finds the other coach, and he shakes his hand [and says], ‘Good game, and best of luck next week against the Packers.’ That’s what real men do, not like the whiny little bitch who’s running for the Republicans.”
Early voting begins Monday.
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This article appears in Sep 25 – Oct 15, 2024.