Former Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, announced Tuesday that he's running for the Senate next year, eying the seat Republican John Cornyn has held for more than two decades.
Allred, a former NFL player who unsuccessfully tried to unseat Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, last year, is the first major Democratic candidate to jump into race.
In his campaign launch video, Allred seeks to flip the script many Republicans ran on last year and pin the blame for rising costs on President Donald Trump and the GOP-controlled Congress.
“Texans are working harder than ever, not getting as much time with their kids, missing those special moments, all to be able to afford less,” Allred says in the video. “And the people that we elected to help — politicians like John Cornyn and Ken Paxton — are too corrupt to care about us and too weak to fight for us.”
The GOP field for the Senate race is unsettled. Although Cornyn is a long-standing incumbent, he faces a serious primary challenge from far-right state Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Both are courting the endorsement of Trump, who has so far not weighed in. His decision to back a candidate — if he does so — could sway the outcome of the GOP contest.
While Paxton has strong appeal with the MAGA wing of the party, national Republican strategists fear he could blow the general election in Texas, a GOP stronghold. Some worry they'd have to spend heavily and detract from other Senate races to hold the seat if he's the nominee.
Several other Democrats are considering jumping into the race. And as the party out of power in Washington, Democrats are expected to have a more favorable political environment next year.
Allred is seeking to make good on a long-standing Democratic dream of turning Texas blue at the federal level. The party hasn't won a Senate race there since 1988. Last year, Trump carried the state by nearly 14 points, while Allred lost to Cruz by more than 8 points.
Democrats came closer in the 2018 midterm elections, when then-Rep. Beto O'Rourke lost to Cruz by less than 3 points.
The party faces an uphill climb to take control of the Senate in the midterm elections, needing to flip a total of four seats, including in solidly Republican territory like Texas.
