U.S. Representative Colin Allred, a Democrat from Dallas, is set to deliver a speech at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday, where he will express his support for Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, according to his campaign. Allred is in a competitive race against Republican Senator Ted Cruz in Texas, which is seen as a key target for Democratic Senate candidates this election cycle.
Throughout his campaign, Allred has maintained a degree of separation from national Democratic figures, focusing instead on issues specific to Texas. During an earlier address to the Texas delegation, he emphasized his criticisms of Cruz without directly referencing Harris.
“I want to both run for this office the way I plan on serving in it, which is that I’m focused on Texas,” Allred stated in a Thursday interview. He pointed out that voters have a distinct choice for who will represent them for the coming six years, extending beyond the tenure of the next president.
Allred’s speech will take place alongside other House Democrats who are also running in tough Senate races, such as Elissa Slotkin from Michigan and Ruben Gallego from Arizona. He is scheduled to speak just before Harris addresses the convention.
Additionally, U.S. Representative Veronica Escobar from El Paso will chair the convention, with Kim Mata-Rubio, whose daughter lost her life in the Robb Elementary School shooting, also slated to speak.
Allred’s relationship with Harris’s campaign presents a complex dynamic. While her historic candidacy potentially boosts enthusiasm among Democratic voters, he has been cautious in demonstrating overt support in an effort to attract independent voters in a predominantly red state.
Consequently, Allred has distanced himself from Harris’s appearances in Texas and has not issued a formal endorsement, although his campaign has informed the media of his backing for her.
In his Thursday interview, Allred recognized that the independent voters he is targeting might not favor Harris, who previously took a more progressive stance as a senator. He has also diverged from party lines on certain issues, including border policy.
“What I’m trying to do in this campaign is make sure that the Texas I know gets the representation that it deserves, and so yes that, of course, will mean that we’re going to try to be reaching out to folks who maybe won’t be the same targets as some other campaigns,” Allred said.
A recent poll by the University of Houston’s Hobby School of Public Affairs revealed Allred trailing Cruz by two percentage points, signaling a tighter race than Cruz’s 2018 reelection, which he won by just under three points.
Despite the competitive landscape, the Harris campaign is not treating Texas as a battleground and does not plan to mobilize resources there, focusing instead on states with a higher likelihood of winning electoral votes.
Allred is not concerned about the lack of focus from Harris’s campaign in Texas, asserting that his Senate strategy does not depend on significant support from the presidential campaign. Texas Democrats have initiated a coordinated campaign effort, the first major one led by a Senate candidate in decades, to support candidates across various races.
“There are important things that will be happening up and down the ballot, especially at the presidential level, I understand that. But for us, we have a very singular choice, which is who’s going to serve us for the next six years,” Allred said.