Former Rep. Colin Allred on Tuesday launched his second run for the Texas Senate in Democrats’ ongoing push to turn the state purple.
The Texas Democrat jumped into the already high-profile Senate race, just a mere eight months after losing to incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is already challenging longtime Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) in a heated GOP primary.
“And the people we elected to help? Politicians like John Cornyn and Ken Paxton are too corrupt to care about us and too weak to fight for us,” Allred said in his campaign launch video.
“I know Washington is broken. The system is rigged, but it doesn’t have to be this way,” he added.
Allred’s campaign launch comes after The Dallas Morning News reported a meeting between well-known Texas Democratic names eyeing the run — Allred, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, Rep. Joaquin Castro, and Texas State Rep. James Talarico — late last month.
He leaned into affordability and cutting costs for working families, while highlighting his clean record free of scandals, unlike Paxton. The attorney general has faced many charges, such as bribery, abuse of office, and security fraud, leading to his impeachment in the Texas House, which was later acquitted by the state senate.
“In six years in Congress, I never took a dime of corporate PAC money, never traded a single stock, never had a hint of scandal, because at heart I’m still that undrafted kid fighting for what’s right,” Allred said.
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With Allred as the current clear Democratic nominee, given that the other three in the meeting don’t jump into the race, Cornyn will have to overcome a restive primary electorate as polls show Paxton with an early lead. Party leaders had been hoping to clear the field on what could be a nine-figure race.
Allred launched his first Senate campaign in 2023, as he was serving his third term in Congress. Texas remained red, with Cruz winning his 2024 race against Allred by more than 8 points, but could be put further in play with a protracted primary.