Former Texas Rep. Colin Allred pinned his Democratic Senate campaign on hopes of beating back corruption in politics during a new interview.
“We’ve seen outright corruption, the kind that we’ve just never really experienced in the modern era in this country,” he told Newsweek in remarks published Sunday. “And working people are noticing this. And I think we have to speak directly to them. That’s how we win, but I think it’s also how we bring the country to a better place.”
Allred launched his 2026 Senate bid earlier this year, months after losing a similar bid challenging Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) by 8.5%. As he eyes another chance to run for higher office, Allred is now fielding a primary challenge from Texas state Rep. James Talarico, as both men face the thorny challenge of ousting Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and flipping the Lone Star State’s senate seat blue for the first time in decades.
Allred has sought to maintain a general appeal to voters in the red state, including through his campaign platform of fighting corruption. After releasing a 12-point anti-corruption plan weeks ago, the Senate candidate detailed specific efforts to end gerrymandering and impose stock trading bans for members of Congress during his latest interview. Of efforts to crack down on stock trading by congressmembers, Allred targeted Cornyn with claims of corruption.
“I feel really strongly about this: that corruption is not just bad, it’s not just wrong, but that it also hurts people, that it hurts working people in particular,” he said. “It comes in many different forms, but this is the first of actually a multi-part plan that we’ll be putting out. It’s about fixing our elections and also trying to fix what I think is a broken Congress.”
Allred also said he “never took a single dime of corporate PAC money in my time in Congress because I didn’t want anyone to think that I was making a decision based on some kind of donation.”
“It’s an inherent conflict of interest. Trying to get secret money out of our politics, stop the revolving door that we have going on with elected officials and lobbyists. And also just seeing and showing to folks that this corruption shows up in the bills that are passed that are then creating loopholes for special interests while you’re getting screwed,” he continued. “That’s what we’re seeing from folks like John Cornyn for years. So, to me, for us to unrig what I consider to be a rigged economy, we also have to unrig what I consider to be a rigged system, and that means taking on corruption as well.”
Allred also spoke to his efforts to ban gerrymandering. Such redistricting efforts to boost the GOP were recently passed by the Texas legislature, sparking counter-efforts from Democrats in states such as California to boost the party’s presence in the House.
“I was a voting rights lawyer before I ever ran for Congress, and I hate gerrymandering. I think it leaves us with more extreme elected officials who are responsible and responsive to only a very small sliver of their primary electorate,” Allred said.
“I think if you look at the House of Representatives and wonder why it’s so broken, you can point a lot of that to gerrymandering,” he continued. “Regardless of party, and I do talk to a number of Republicans about this, folks don’t think it’s right that elected officials are picking their voters. I think it should be the other way around. I think this is also something that, you know, it’s good politics that we should be talking about, but this is inherently corrupt.”
Before Allred makes it to the general election, where he would face either Cornyn or Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on the Republican side, the Democratic Senate candidate must beat Talarico in the primary election.
The progressive 36-year-old, who is studying to become a Presbyterian minister, attracted the country’s notice for his religious overtones and bipartisan call for unity during a recent interview with podcaster Joe Rogan. Talarico launched his campaign earlier this month, threatening to split Democratic support for Allred, who was seen as the front-runner until his rival’s campaign announcement.
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As he faces a grueling campaign season, Allred said over the weekend that his focus remains “on the people.”
“It has to be from a perspective, and the focus has to not just be on the party or things like that — it has to be on people that you’re trying to serve,” Allred said. “I think when you keep that as your main focus, I think it’s better politics, but I also think it leads to better policy. That, when you’re in the office, then you’re doing things for the right reason. That you’re not corruptible.”