Dallas Congressman and United States Senate candidate Colin Allred is making his closing appeal to a voting bloc in Texas that has leaned staunchly Democratic: Black voters.
According to the Texas Tribune, Allred has been active on the campaign trail, making a pair of stops in Houston, the most notable of them alongside Vice President Kamala Harris and Houston’s most famous star, Beyoncé.
Allred also stopped at Texas Southern University on Oct. 29, where he was introduced by Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock.
At his appearance at TSU, an HBCU located in the heart of Houston’s historically Black Third Ward, Allred cast his opponent, Sen. Ted Cruz, as an absentee senator who abandoned Texans who were freezing to death in their homes to flee to Cancun.
Allred also positioned Cruz as an ardent supporter of policies that have led to a near-total abortion ban in Texas.
According to ProPublica, the restrictive laws around abortion have led to the deaths of at least two women in Texas as some doctors are afraid to treat miscarriages due to a state law that prohibits them from ending the heartbeat of a fetus.
Samantha Casino, a Texas woman who was essentially forced to give birth to a child whom doctors told her would not live longer than a day due to the laws in Texas, was also present at the rally.
Je’Von Tone, a 22-year-old student at Texas Southern, told the Texas Tribune that he was excited for Allred’s visit and that he was making a play for young, Black voters as well as having Warnock introduce him at the rally.
Allred has also been making more pointed appeals specifically targeted at Black voters. In a recent fundraising text, Allred’s campaign played up the idea that he could be Texas’ first Black senator and argued against racist voter suppression laws in the state.
“Black Americans have long faced far too many obstacles like discrimination and the racist voter suppression laws that Texas Republicans like Ted Cruz have championed,” the message reads.
Cruz has also championed anti-trans policies during his campaign. According to Texas Monthly, the senator’s advertising campaign featuring transphobic advertisements is part of a $65 million push by Republican candidates across the nation.
Although some Republican strategists think Cruz’s fear-mongering will work, some polls have Cruz ahead by only two points, which is within the three-point margin for error in either direction.
Allred’s campaign manager, Paige Hutchinson, said the 41-year-old former football player’s stances against transphobic messaging stem from his belief that there is no room for hatred and discrimination.
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