Former Democratic Texas Rep. Colin Allred announced on Monday that he dropped his Senate bid to run for a seat in the House.
Allred was one of the top Democrats running to unseat Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) in 2026. However, he suspended his campaign amid buzz around Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s (D-TX) possible entry into the race.
He will now run for Texas’s 33rd Congressional District, competing against Rep. Julie Johnson (D-TX) in the Democratic primary. He said he made the decision to prevent a “bruising” Democratic primary.
“In the past few days, I’ve come to believe that a bruising Senate Democratic primary and runoff would prevent the Democratic Party from going into this critical election unified against the danger posed to our communities and our Constitution by Donald Trump and one of his Republican bootlickers, Paxton, Cornyn, or Hunt,” Allred said. “That’s why I’ve made the difficult decision to end my campaign for the U.S. Senate.”
Allred was set to face off against Texas state Rep. James Talarico, who energized Democrats with his Joe Rogan podcast appearance. He faced an uphill battle for the nomination, as he was out-fundraised by Talarico and expected a campaign launch from Crockett.
Crockett is expected to announce whether she will run for Senate before the 6 p.m. filing deadline on Monday.
Allred’s decision to drop out to avoid a contentious primary comes as Texas Republicans are headed straight for one. Cornyn will face off against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX) in a fierce three-way battle for the nomination.
Allred’s new campaign for the 33rd District comes as it was recently redrawn in the state’s Republican-driven mid-decade redistricting. The district is viewed as one of the winnable seats in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro after the redistricting. It’s currently represented by Rep. Marc Veasey (D-TX).
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Allred accused Trump of racially gerrymandering the district where he grew up.
“The 33rd district was racially gerrymandered by Trump in an effort to further rig our democracy, but it’s also the community where I grew up attending public schools and watching my mom struggle to pay for our groceries,” he said in a statement.