New polling shows that border security and immigration are the top two most important issues for Texas voters, and Democratic Rep. Colin Allred — who is running to challenge Republican Sen. Ted Cruz this fall — has taken notice.
Allred is following in the footsteps of other Democrats like Tom Suozzi, trying to move to the right on immigration and border security and using the issue to attack Republicans. Suozzi’s special election win in February has seemingly given other Democrats permission to pivot even as progressives fret that a rightward turn isn’t a winning strategy.
The turn for Allred has been striking. Before defeating GOP Rep. Pete Sessions in an upset in 2018, he called the border wall “racist” at a forum earlier that year, something that a pro-Cruz super PAC has already highlighted on social media. But ahead of his general election against Cruz, Allred has allied himself with moderates like Texas’ Henry Cuellar, who has advocated for tougher border security for decades. Allred and Cuellar, along with Vicente Gonzalez, were among a handful of Democrats who voted in favor of a GOP resolution condemning President Joe Biden’s handling of the border in January.