The candidates for one of the country’s most important Senate races of the year squared off Tuesday night in a debate in Texas. GOP Sen. Ted Cruz and his Democratic rival, U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, faced off in a tense debate as Texas prepares to begin early voting ahead of November’s election. The debate proved to be contentious, with Allred landing a number of attacks against Cruz.

‘The only position he ever played was left out’

Throughout the debate, each candidate attempted to portray himself as a bipartisan centrist and his opponent as an extremist. Allred pointed to his track record of sponsoring bipartisan legislation, while Cruz attempted to paint Allred as a close ally of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Cruz also attacked Allred over transgender rights, including the issue of trans athletes, a hot-button topic that Cruz and other Republicans have used to fire up their base and to paint Democrats as socially extreme. The exchange gave Allred, who played pro football for four years with the Tennessee Titans and has served in Congress since 2019, an opening to land a zinger against Cruz, saying that Cruz shouldn’t talk about sports because “the only position he ever played was left out.”

In discussing his own record, Cruz pointed toward work with Democrats such as Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock, while also touting his cooperation with former President Donald Trump, who has been polling more strongly than Cruz recently. The connection between Cruz and Trump gave Allred an opening to tie Cruz to the Jan. 6 insurrection. Allred recounted texting his then-pregnant wife, “Whatever happens, I love you,” and preparing to fight the invading Trump supporters while Ted Cruz, who had supported Trump’s false claims about the 2020 election, “was hiding in a supply closet.”

‘All hat and no cattle’

Allred repeatedly painted Cruz as a right-wing extremist and an ineffectual leader. He hit Cruz on abortion rights. Texas has one of the nation’s most restrictive abortion laws, which Cruz has supported, and Allred tied him to the impact that these restrictions have had on women in the state.

Allred attacked Cruz on not doing more to fix the border security problem, including rejecting a tough bipartisan border security bill that Trump opposed. He also reminded viewers of a controversial incident when Cruz left Texas for Cancún, Mexico, during a 2021 winter storm that killed over 200 people and left millions without power in Texas. “This is a pattern for him. He’s never there for us when we need him.”

Overall, Allred painted Cruz as someone who “talks tough, but he never shows up,” using a Texas phrase to describe Cruz: “All hat and no cattle.”

Texas, despite not electing a Democrat to statewide office in decades, has emerged as a battleground state that could have a huge impact on both Congress and the presidential race. The Senate contest in Texas is tight, with Cruz enjoying a narrow lead over Allred prior to Tuesday’s debate. Now that both candidates have had the chance to face off against each other, Cruz will continue fighting to hold his seat, while Allred hopes that his strong debate performance will help him pull off an upset victory in November.

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