Ted Cruz and Colin Allred clash over abortion, trans athletes and Jan. 6 in feisty Texas Senate debate

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and Democratic Rep. Colin Allred traded quippy one-liners and clashed over policy Tuesday at their first and only debate in a Texas Senate race debate that both candidates agree is up for grabs.

Cruz presented himself as a conservative who “will fight to keep Texas Texas,” while Allred cast Cruz as a do-nothing extremist who has not delivered for the state in his 12 years in the Senate.

“When the lights went out in the energy capital of the world, he went to Cancún. On Jan. 6, when a mob was storming the Capitol, he was hiding a supply closet. And when the toughest border security bill in a generation came up in the United States Senate, he took it down,” Allred said, repeatedly mentioning Cruz’s trip to Mexico during a 2021 winter storm in Texas. “We don’t have to have a senator like this.”

Cruz appeared bemused by Allred’s zingers.

“Congressman Allred has memorized his lines well,” he said with a grin, saying there’s “difference between words and actions.” Cruz said Allred’s “words sound good” but don’t match his voting record.

While Cruz has the advantage in Texas, a Republican stronghold, polling shows the race is close: Cruz leads by 4 points in a University of Houston poll and by 5 points in a recent Marist College poll.

Democrats control 51 Senate seats. They are all but certain to lose in deep-red West Virginia and are trailing in recent polls of Montana. If those two seats change hands to the Republican Party, Democrats will face long odds of keeping control of the chamber. Some Democrats see a tantalizing opportunity in Texas for an upset victory because of Cruz’s polarizing image.

Cruz has sounded the alarm about the race, warning that his victory isn’t assured and that he needs more resources to secure it.

Cruz went on offense over energy and blamed Democrats for inflation. He grew particularly animated when he attacked Allred on the issue of transgender athletes, saying Allred has backed measures that could lead to boys’ playing in girls’ sports.

“Congressman Allred was an NFL linebacker. It is not fair for a man to compete against women,” Cruz said.

“I don’t support boys playing girls’ sports,” Allred replied, calling it “laughable” for Cruz to present himself as “the protector of women and girls” when he “thinks it’s perfectly reasonable that if a girl is raped by a relative of hers, a victim of incest, that she should be forced to carry that child to term and give birth to it.”

Allred used his opening remarks to call himself “the most bipartisan Texan in Congress” and said he’s “the exact opposite of Sen. Cruz, the most extreme senator,” who he said is “only focused on himself.”

Allred said Cruz has sought to “transition” his image from a radical to a reasonable senator for the election while also seeking to press his advantages on health care and abortion. He vowed to support legislation that would restore the rights of Roe v. Wade.

Cruz, who is staunchly anti-abortion, didn’t directly say whether he favors exceptions for rape and incest, while he sought to soften his rhetoric on the issue and said abortion law in Texas should be “a decision that will be made by the state Legislature.” He said Democrats’ support for a sweeping abortion-rights measure without restrictions was the real extremist position in the debate.

Cruz, asked whether he’d support pardoning rioters who stormed the U.S Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, sidestepped and said he favors prosecuting criminals, also invoking “the antifa and Black Lives Matter riots that burned cities across this country.”

Allred, looking directly at Cruz as he criticized his objections to certifying the 2020 election, said: “You’re a threat to democracy.”