Allred himself first reached Congress by winning both a tough primary and general election campaign in 2018 in a suburban Dallas constituency that once appeared unwinnable for his party. Two years earlier, Republican Rep. Pete Sessions had secured his 11th term without any Democratic opposition—even as his 32nd Congressional District was swinging hard to the left from 57-41 Romney to 49-47 Clinton—but plenty of observers doubted that longtime GOP voters were ready to abandon their party down the ticket. Sessions was one of them, saying in October 2017 that he’d “begged the NRCC, even when I was chairman, ‘Keep the hell away from Dallas, Texas,'” and that, “We need to go in somewhere else, it’s up to me to win in Dallas, Texas. It’s not up to some other group.”
Allred was one of several Democrats who believed otherwise, but he initially struggled to raise money in a crowded nomination contest. However, he unexpectedly took first place in the primary before convincingly winning the runoff, and it soon became apparent, even to Sessions, that this was one of the most competitive races in the nation. Conservative outside groups, despite the incumbent’s earlier pleas, did indeed spend millions here, and one of their products was an infamous digital ad showing an image of a darkened hand over a white woman’s mouth. Allred ended up toppling the once-invincible Sessions by a 52-46 margin, and the former NRCC chair responded to his defeat by whining that he’d been the victim of “an incredible amount of money and an overwhelming sense of mischaracterization.”
Sessions initially considered a 2020 rematch with Allred but unexpectedly decided to wage a successful bid to return to the House 80 miles away in the dark red 17th District. Wealthy businesswoman Genevieve Collins instead stepped up to take on Allred, but major outside groups this time steered clear of a seat that was moving the wrong way for the GOP. Allred went on to turn in another 52-46 win as Joe Biden was taking this former GOP stronghold 54-44, and Republican mapmakers soon decided to make the 32nd safely blue in order to shore up their incumbents in other Dallas-area seats.
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Allred, who for once had no serious GOP opposition to worry about, soon drew attention as a possible challenger for Cruz, and he made it official Wednesday. The congressman, after recounting the incumbent’s infamous vacation to Cancun during the 2021 Texas freeze, declared in his launch video, “He’ll do anything to get on Fox News, but he can’t be bothered to help keep rural Texas hospitals open … the struggles of regular Texans just don’t interest him.”
Watch Allred’s full campaign launch video:
Jeff Singer
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