DALLAS — Congressman Colin Allred, D-Dallas, is considering running for the U.S. Senate next year, challenging incumbent Ted Cruz as Cruz seeks a third term, multiple sources told WFAA Tuesday.
Allred’s team has been meeting privately with Democratic strategists for several weeks now, trying to determine how feasible a statewide campaign would be and how much such a run would cost.
“If Congressman Allred does run, he would be an amazing candidate and would be able to go toe-to-toe with Ted Cruz,” said Kristy Noble, chair of the Dallas County Democrats. “He would be able to bring more Texas values to the senate than Ted Cruz.”
Congressman Allred is widely seen as a rising star in Democratic politics, but he isn’t as well known outside of North Texas.
He currently represents the 32nd District in Dallas County. It includes the Park Cities, Lakewood, the M Streets, along with parts of Garland, Mesquite, Richardson and Southern Dallas.
Allred flipped the seat in 2018, defeating incumbent Republican Pete Sessions, the then-chair of the House Rules Committee, with 52 percent of the vote.
Allred then won re-election twice, despite the 32nd being a swing district with a number of conservative voters in it. Redistricting last year gave Democrats a comfortable lead there now.
Still, if Allred runs for the U.S. Senate, he would have to give up that seat.
And challenging Ted Cruz remains a tough feat for any Democrat.
In 2018, Congressman Beto O’Rourke, then a congressman from El Paso, brought Democrats close to defeating Cruz with tremendous energy in what was one of the most watched races in the nation that year.
Cruz still won with 50.9 percent of the vote. But that signaled to many Democrats that Cruz remains vulnerable.
O’Rourke also set fundraising records that year, raking in more than $80 million dollars for his unsuccessful run. The next Democrat to challenge Cruz would likely require as much money to mount a statewide campaign.
Senator Cruz announced in November that he planned to seek a third term in 2024.
Despite that, Cruz reintroduced a bill to impose term limits.
Cruz’s bill is a constitutional amendment that would prevent U.S. senators from serving more than two terms. It would also prevent those in the U.S. House from serving more than three two-year terms.
But like many similar pieces of legislation before it, this bill does not appear to have support in Washington.
The Texas Tribune contributed to this report.
