Rep. Colin Allred, D-Dallas, took to the stage of Sawyer Auditorium on the campus of Texas Southern University in Houston on Oct. 29.
Allred, the Democratic candidate for Senate challenging Republican incumbent Ted Cruz, was joined by Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock for a day of campaigning in the area. With stops in Houston and the Rio Grande Valley, Allred hopes to make the race competitive by garnering support from the core of the Democratic base.
In the past five days, Allred has campaigned in Houston alongside Vice President Kamala Harris, international pop star and Houston native Beyoncé, and Raphael Warnock, Georgia’s first Black senator. On Tuesday night, Allred finished a five-day swing through Houston with a rally at Texas Southern University, a historically Black college, where he was introduced by Warnock. Allred portrayed Cruz as an absentee senator who fled to Cancun during a winter freeze in 2021 and criticized his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.
He also condemned Cruz for supporting policies that led to Texas’ near-total abortion ban. Allred’s rally featured a Texas woman who had to give birth to a baby that doctors said would not live longer than a day due to a rare and fatal condition. Her daughter lived for nearly four hours after birth.
“We’ve got a senator who’s too small for our state and we’ve got one week to do something about it,” Allred told the crowd, encouraging attendees to participate in block walks and phone banks to boost voter turnout.
Allred campaigns at Texas Southern
Allred faces an uphill battle as an underdog against Cruz, a two-term Republican senator in a state that hasn’t elected a Democrat to statewide office in 30 years.
His strategy involves appealing heavily to Black voters, a significant portion of the Democratic base. Je’Von Tone, a 22 year-old student at Texas Southern University, expressed excitement over Allred’s appeal to Black and young voters. During his time in Houston, Allred shared the stage with Harris and Beyoncé at a packed event at Shell Energy Stadium, hosted a 10,000 Black Men of Greater Houston Rally, and attended roundtables with Black business leaders.
These efforts reflect a renewed urgency in Allred’s campaign to activate the Democratic base. Candice Matthews, chair of the Texas Coalition of Black Democrats, hailed Allred’s appearance at Texas Southern as a smart move to show students that they matter. She’Deja Martin, a 20-year-old student at the rally, planned to vote for Allred despite only recently learning about him, noting that his visit could boost his support among students.
In recent days, Allred has more openly appealed to Black voters, highlighting his potential to be Texas’s first Black senator in fundraising messages and denouncing the voter suppression laws championed by Cruz. During a roundtable with Black business leaders, Allred received pledges of support from former City Council Member Dwight Boykins and state Sen. Borris Miles of Houston.
Boykins noted that Allred’s current television ads and city visits would boost his name recognition at a critical time. On Tuesday, Allred also held a roundtable with women affected by Texas’s near-total abortion ban and their physicians, promising to codify Roe v. Wade into law if elected.
Allred will head to the Rio Grande Valley on Wednesday to shore up support from Hispanic voters, another key demographic for his campaign.
