Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) faced off against his challenger Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas) in a debate Tuesday night, just three weeks before Election Day.
Staged at WFAA’s Dallas studio, an ABC local affiliate, the two Texan lawmakers battled it out on hot-button issues such as abortion, transgender athletes, and Israel.
Without an audience present, Cruz, who is seeking his third term, described himself as a defender of Texan values..
“I wanna keep Texas, Texas,” said Cruz in his opening statement.
Allred, a former NFL player with the Tennessee Titans and a three-term congressman, criticized Cruz for being too much of an extremist to represent the state.
The candidates were questioned several times about their views on abortion.
Cruz was asked to clarify whether he supports or opposes exceptions for rape and incest. The Senator replied saying that there is a consensus among Texans that late-term abortions are too extreme, abortions shouldn’t be funded by taxpayers, and parents should be notified and have to give consent for their child to have an abortion. He also said he believes in democracy and federal legislators don’t pass laws in Texas.
Allred said he supports “the protections and the restrictions under Roe [Roe vs. Wade]” and criticized Texas’s law, and Cruz’s support for it, that has zero exceptions in its abortion ban. Allred cited examples of women who couldn’t get treatment they needed in Texas.
Cruz went on the offense, trying to get Allred to answer why he voted against legislation aimed to prohibit boys from unfairly competing against girls in sports.
“Congressman Allred was an NFL linebacker. It is not fair for a man to compete against women,” Cruz said.
Allred said he doesn’t support boys playing girls sports or condone discrimination.
No House Democrats, including Allred, voted for The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, which passed the House in April 2023. The bill sought to prevent federally funded education programs from allowing “individuals of the male sex” to participate in activities designated for women or girls.
On the topic of Israel, the lawmakers expressed different views, with Cruz being staunchly pro-Israel, while Allred was noncommittal.
Cruz praised Israel’s military action, saying, “There is no country on earth that fights a more humane, a more targeted, a more just war, than the people of Israel” and accused the International Court of Justice of being “full of anti-Semites.”
Allred denounced Hamas. He did not say he supported Israel, and focused on the need to provide aid to Gaza.
FiveThirtyEight’s polling average has Cruz beating Allred by 4 points and former President Donald Trump beating Vice President Kamala Harris by nearly 6 percent.
Texas has the second-most Electoral College votes with 40 and is generally considered non-competitive for Democrats in statewide races. Cruz successfully fought off a surprisingly close 2018 challenge from Democrat Beto O’Rourke, winning that race by only 2.6 percentage points.
The one-hour debate on Tuesday is the only one scheduled between the two candidates before Election Day on Nov. 5.
Early voting begins in the state on Monday.