US SENATE
Editor's note: Colin Allred will be running against Ted Cruz for U.S. Senator in the upcoming election. This interview took place on July 14, when Allred came to the Daily Record office for a 15-minute in-person interview. It has been lightly edited for grammar and conciseness. The Daily Record reached out to Ted Cruz to schedule an interview but have not been successful as of time of press.
SMDR: An individual attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump yesterday bringing on a chorus of political figures denouncing acts of political violence. In a time of such political division and heightened tensions across the country, what can be done to try and lower the temperature of political discourse?
Allred: I think that what happened yesterday was horrific, and that it's an attack on our democracy when [a terroristic act occurs while] folks are engaging in what's the most American thing to do, which is to be involved in your democracy [and] attend a political event. I'm just thankful that the former president was not more severely injured. I'm heartbroken for the families of the individual who was killed and the two who are severely wounded and for all the folks who were there — who I think will likely be shaken for some time. I think we all have to examine our conduct — the things we've said and whether or not we can be a part of the solution in terms of bringing folks back together and trying to understand that our democracy is a contest of ideas when it comes to elections — but that it's not a fight [and] that we're all Americans in the end. We're all as John Lewis used to say, ‘We might have come here on different ships. We're in the same boat now,’ and I've always tried to keep that in mind. I hope that for every Texan, for every American, that we can make that a focus for the duration of this election but also certainly going forward. … Obviously, we'll have to learn more about the shooter and the motivations, and there'll be investigations and all that. But first and foremost … the approach for us has to be to ensure that we never come this close again to something like this happening, that any lapses in security are solved. But I think we all, in our individual capacity, have a role to play now in being a part of combating this kind of divisiveness.
SMDR: The Bipartisan Border Solutions Act, if it had been approved, was meant to have allowed the U.S. to respond more effectively to increases in arriving migrants by creating regional border processing centers, accelerating the asylum process, increasing access to legal services and providing additional resources and personnel for border processing. As you know, the bill was not passed by the Senate. Would you support that act or something similar? If not, how would you prefer to handle border security?
Allred: Well, I'm glad that you mentioned all the things that it would do. … I think there may be some folks out there who don't realize just how targeted this was... [as well as] many of the issues that we're facing on the southern border. and I put out a statement supporting it at the time; I still support it. I still think it's the right thing to do. I was disappointed that Senator Cruz did not. I think that he did not, not because he disagreed with the policy, but because he wants to have this issue to run on in November and to say that nothing has been done to address what's happening at the border. That has to be outrageous to every Texan. … My family's from the valley. … My grandfather was a customs officer in Brownsville. My mom, my aunt, grew up there. I spent a lot of my childhood visiting my grandmother there. I see our border communities as very real places where folks are trying to raise their families and trying to get ahead and in many ways. [They are] vibrant communities, but ones that need us to help respond to what is an accelerating crisis in terms of migrants who are coming. It's important to note that what we are largely seeing is an asylum crisis. [The issue] is that most of the folks who are coming across the southern border are declaring asylum, and they are hoping to be able to stay here. But six, seven, [or] eight years down the road, they're going to be rejected in that asylum claim. … About 90% of them are not going to be accepted because their asylum claim is based on an economic hardship. That's not one of the factors that falls under the asylum factors that allows you to stay. … That's what this bill was targeted at was to try and raise that threshold, so it would be rejected initially, but also to address some of the enormous backlog that we have so we can't deal with the folks who are already seeking asylum through the immigration judges that they were going to hire [and] the administrative personnel. Talking with our border patrol agents … this is a real issue for them in terms of how much time they're having to spend on this. Also, I'm increasingly worried about the Border Patrol workforce as a whole and their mental health, the overtime they're being asked to work [and] being asked to work away from home at times. So they're stationed in places where they can't get home, and it's causing increasing mental health issues within the force. This was going to help deal with that as well. To me, It was the right approach, but it wasn't the entire picture. To really address what's happening on the southern border, we also have to have a comprehensive reform to our legal immigration system. Because it's the failures of our legal immigration system, and the fact that it is so broken, [that] contributes to some of what we see at the border. So it all works in tandem. We have to have security, but we also have to have a system where folks want to come here, [so] that they can have a legal mechanism if they go through that process to be able to contribute. We're a nation of immigrants, but we're also a nation of laws. Right now, those laws aren't working, and we should fix that.
SMDR: Since the Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade decision in 2022, 21 states have an abortion ban or restrict the procedure earlier in pregnancy than the standard set by Roe v. Wade. Former President Donald Trump said in the presidential debate that he gave the decision back to the states. Do you think that the states should have the right to decide whether or not abortion will be allowed or do you think this should be a federal decision? If you believe the federal government has a role in legislating abortion, what policy do you support?
Allred: I think we need to go back to the standard that we've had for the last 50 years — which is the one that existed under Roe v Wade — which did have some flexibility for States after the point of viability but that fundamentally left this choice up to a woman, her doctor and her faith. And that, to me, is what we should go back to. What we're experiencing here in Texas is what a near total ban on abortion looks like. It's actually quite horrific. It looks like 26,000 Texas women, according to the Houston Chronicle, who've been forced to give birth to their rapists’ child since this law came into place. It looks like mothers of two like Kate Cox, who is a friend of mine in Dallas, who has a much wanted third pregnancy, and who gets the news that we all hope we don't get. My wife and I have had two healthy pregnancies in Dallas in the last five years. But you know, we all hope we don't get that news that the pregnancy is not going to be viable. She got that horrific news, and instead of being able to get the care she needed close to home — she had to leave our state. Or my friend, Lauren Miller who is an eighth generation Texan and lives a few streets over from me in Dallas. She's already a mom. She's pregnant with twins. One of the twins wasn't going to make it, and it was killing the other twin. Her and her doctor at Presbyterian Hospital — which is actually where I was born, in Dallas — told her at one point, just threw his hands up and said, ‘You have to leave the state.’ She did, and she went to Colorado and had a 15 minute procedure that she should have been able to get close to home, and it cost her $3,000 and all kinds of heartache on top of what she's already experiencing in terms of a much wanted pregnancy not going the way she'd hoped. … Ted Cruz is directly responsible for much of what we are seeing here in Texas. He has supported these judges who have taken away this right. He supported state legislators who have put in place these laws at the state level to try and restrict this right, and he has called for and supported the ban that we are now experiencing, including personhood amendment — when he was running for president in 2016 — that would impact things like IVF and certain forms of birth control. We have to have a Senator who understands that women can make these … decisions for themselves but also that this is fundamentally an issue of freedom and that we should restore freedom to Texans and Americans across the country.
SMDR: The U.S. government has financially supported Ukraine and Israel through their current military conflicts. Trump has supported an ‘America First’ agenda that doesn’t appear to be in favor of sending money to foreign governments in the same manner. Where do you stand on the US financial support for Ukraine and Israel?
Allred: Well, I think we're the leader of the free world, and that comes with certain responsibilities, and one of those responsibilities is that we assist democracies that are at risk. In the recent legislation that we passed to support Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, what we were doing there was providing them with the means to protect themselves or to defend themselves. And then it's up to them, of course, and that is our role as the United States. But it's also true that much of the aid that we provide to Ukraine is actually spent in the United States, and including in my district, creating jobs through building up our own industrial base. It's important for Texans to know that, and that when we are helping a fledgling democracy hold off a dictator who wants to overthrow their government and reconstitute the Soviet Union, that we're also helping our economy here at home. I think it's the right thing to do on both fronts. Now, obviously, there's always going to be some limits to what we can do. We've not put American troops on the ground in Ukraine, and that's the right thing. We've given them the tools to defend themselves, and they've done so incredibly bravely. I think in terms of our leadership around the world, it's really important that we continue to show that because the world does look to us. I'm a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee in Congress; what I can tell you is I've traveled the world in that capacity. Everyone looks to the United States for leadership. And if we allow dictators to roll tanks into a neighbor and take over their country, then we will see more of that, and other countries will take their clues from that as well. It's the right thing to do, both in terms of the moment, but also for our own future [and] our own security. Because let's be very clear, what starts in some of these far away places can always end up on our doorstep as well. We are a member of NATO. Ukraine has a number of NATO allies of ours along their borders that Putin has his eyes on. Should he be successful in Ukraine, he will not stop there. He will roll into Poland or one of the Balkan states, and then we will be drawn into a military conflict. I think it's important that we stand up to dictators and we stand up for democracies, and I always have in my time in Congress. And I will if I have the chance to serve in the Senate.”
SMDR: As a former Baylor Bear and NFL football player, you should be familiar with what may be the greatest game in college football history when Texas State beat Baylor 42-31 last season. Ted Cruz, who has been accused by sports fans in the state of Texas in a lighthearted fashion as being a curse on teams he is rooting for in person, was in attendance at the game in a Baylor suite. Do you think the Ted Cruz curse is real? Is there anything you can do if elected as Senator to support Texas State University on or off the field?
Allred: I have a lot of friends who went to Texas State. And for the record, when we played Texas State, when I was at Baylor, we beat them. … [There] is no animus behind that … always just doing my best. I have noticed that Ted Cruz, particularly for Houston sports, that he seems to have a pretty negative effect on their outcomes. I don't know if it's a curse or just his appearance has some kind of effect, but a lot of people talk to me about that, and it's so consistent that there's something to it. I do think that Texas State is part of this great network of universities that we have here in Texas. I was fortunate to get a scholarship at Baylor. My mom went to UT, and I had a lot of friends who went to Texas State. I think this network of schools that we have provides so many people with a chance to get a good education and to get good training [in order] to get into good jobs. It's one of the envies of the world. A lot of people come to Texas from around the world, from around the country, because of this university system that we have and these great institutions that are all providing different opportunities. I want to keep that strong. One thing I am concerned about is … our growing reputation that we've been experiencing for kind of a political extremism, [which] has made some folks tell me that they don't want to send their kids to school in Texas. That worries me because I think that these universities of ours have both brought in a lot of talented people, but then they've also decided to stay and become Texans. That's helped us a lot, and it's helped attract a lot of great businesses. I want to continue to support the research efforts that are going on at our universities, the athletics that I think everybody enjoys so much — and certainly that I took part in — the faculties that I think have helped us train up so many great workers in our state and that to do great things for Texas and to keep that system strong. I don't have the pleasure of being someone who's a Texas State alumni, but a lot of my high school classmates did go there, and you can count on me that when I'm in the Senate, I'll always try and support our universities.
