On that day, Allred said in the video, he texted his wife to say, “Whatever happens, I love you.” He slammed Cruz for voting against the certification of election results that day and for hiding in a storage closet during the attack.
“I’m running for U.S. Senate because Texans deserve a Senator whose team is Texas,” Allred wrote on Twitter. “Ted Cruz only cares about himself.”
Allred, a lawyer and former professional football player who was a linebacker for the Tennessee Titans, was first elected to Congress in 2018, defeating incumbent Pete Sessions (R-Tex.) in an upset. In November, Allred won reelection to his third House term by more than 30 percentage points.
“I’ve taken down a lot tougher guys than Ted Cruz, but I can’t do this without your help,” Allred added on Twitter on Wednesday, a reference to his former football career.
Allred, 40, is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus and serves on the House transportation and foreign affairs committees, as well as the newly GOP-formed select committee on “the weaponization of the federal government.”
Cruz, 52, was first elected to the Senate in 2013. He won reelection in 2018 by fewer than 3 percentage points, fending off a challenge from Democrat Beto O’Rourke. Cruz also ran for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, ultimately suspending his campaign after losing the Indiana primary and later endorsing his chief primary rival, Donald Trump.
The 2024 Senate map is a brutal one for Democrats, who must defend eight of their seats in states that voted for Trump or just narrowly backed Biden in 2020. Texas, while still decidedly a long shot, represents the Democrats’ best opportunity to pick up a seat, given that Cruz has faced lagging approval ratings, according to University of Texas polling.
