Public Domain / Ike Hayman
U.S. Rep. Colin Allred was elected to office in 2018 by defeating a Republican incumbent in a GOP-leaning district.
While Allred faced a total of nine opponents in the primary, his toughest was state Sen. Roland Gutierrez of San Antonio. Gutierrez, whose district includes Uvalde, was catapulted into the national spotlight after he fought for gun-control legislation in the wake of the 2022 Robb Elementary School shooting.
"I want every Texan to know, whether you're a Democrat, an independent or a Republican that I want you to be involved in this campaign and I want to serve you in the United States Senate," Allred said at his election night party, according to the Texas Tribune.
Allred had 59.1% of the vote to Gutierrez's 16.9%, according to the Associated Press at 8 a.m. Wednesday. During last night's victory speech, Allred thanked Gutierrez for running a "classy" and issues-focused campaign, the Tribune reports.
If elected this fall, Allred — a civil-rights lawyer and former NFL linebacker — would be Texas' first Black U.S. senator.
Allred gained his House seat in 2018 after defeating a Republican incumbent in a GOP-leaning district. After announcing his intent to challenge Cruz, he quickly emerged as the fundraising frontrunner, pulling in $21 million for the most recent fundraising cycle, compared to Gutierrez's $1.3 million, according to the Tribune.
Pointing to Cruz's unpopularity among non-Republican voters, Democrats see the incumbent's seat as a potential pick-up in November. To that end, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has pumped money into Texas in hopes of hanging onto the party's narrow majority in the upper chamber.
No Democrat has won a statewide office in Texas since the 1990s, although former Democratic El Paso congressman Beto O'Rourke came close in 2018 when he came within three points of defeating Cruz.
Allred began airing autobiographical TV spots in January and has also run digital ads targeting Cruz over the senator's support of Texas' abortion ban. Democrats widely view abortion as an issue that will drive voters to the polls in November.
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