(Bloomberg) -- Republican Senator Ted Cruz clashed on border security, abortion and the economy with his Democratic challenger, US Representative Colin Allred, in the sole debate in their race to represent Texas in the Senate.
Cruz, a debate champ in college, depicted Allred as out of touch with the state’s conservative values and assailed his support in Congress for Democratic policies. Cruz praised former President Donald Trump’s border crackdown and sought to tie Allred to immigration under President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Every single time there’s a serious measure in the House to secure the border, Colin Allred votes no,” Cruz said in the televised debate Tuesday evening in Dallas.
Allred accused Cruz of not caring about ordinary Texans, repeatedly slamming the senator’s family trip to Cancun, Mexico, in 2021, when the state power grid failed during a winter storm and left millions of people freezing in the dark. Allred also played up his support for abortion rights in a state that has a six-week abortion ban with few exceptions.
“To every Texas woman at home and every Texas family watching this, understand that when Ted Cruz says he is pro-life, he doesn’t mean yours,” he said.
The two candidates also traded barbs on inflation, transgender issues, support for Israel and the events of Jan. 6, 2021, when Trump’s supporters stormed the US Capitol in a bid to block the certification of Biden’s victory.
Cruz, 53, narrowly won reelection in 2018 against liberal darling Beto O’Rourke, and he’s again relying on his strong conservative base to return him to the Senate for a third term. Allred, 41, who played in the National Football League before going to law school and running for Congress, is trying to buck 30 years of Texas history in which no Democrat has won statewide office.
Recent opinion polls have given Cruz an edge over Allred, although the race has been tightening since the summer and the senator’s advantage has been within the margin of error in a few surveys. Cruz’s lead has generally been smaller than Trump’s margin over Harris among Texas voters.
Allred outraised Cruz by almost $9 million in the last fundraising period. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee recently announced a multimillion-dollar investment in Texas and Florida. Cruz raised less money than O’Rourke six years ago but still triumphed in the election.
Some of the tensest exchanges in this week’s debate occurred over Jan. 6, when both Cruz and Allred were in the Capitol. Cruz objected to the certification of some electoral results before the building was overrun.
The moderators of the debate asked the candidates about Trump’s vow to pardon the rioters.
“You can’t be for the mob on Jan. 6 and for the officers,” Allred said. “The folks responsible have to be held accountable.”
Cruz sought to distinguish between peaceful protesters and anyone who engaged in violence.
“The Biden-Harris administration has persecuted some engaged in peaceful speech, and if you are being persecuted for peaceful speech, absolutely you should be pardoned,” he said. “If you engaged in violence, absolutely you should not be pardoned.”
(Updates with Jan. 6 comments in 10th paragraph.)
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