Can This NFL Linebacker Take Out Ted Cruz?...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | In recent years, bullish U.S. Senator Rafael "Ted" Cruz has taken out his Democratic Party-political opponents with ease, the last one being one Beto O'Rourke in his last campaign. Now comes Colin Z. Allred, the articulate Democrat who took out long time Republican Pete Sessions to win the 32nd Congressional District post in his last electoral rodeo.

The match will be settled in the 2024 election.

Allred is a sharp cookie (Baylor and UC Berkeley School of Law) and perhaps a better option for statewide voters than was the electric El Pasoan O'Rourke. Cruz has said nothing about his opponent as yet, but Texans know that he comes to brawl near election time. O'Rourke likely remembers every insult Cruz lobbed at him last go-round.

But 52-year-old Cruz is vulnerable (and has been). After two six-year terms in office, he has no signature legislation to point to again, and he trails a number of awful anecdotes, such as his fleeing last year's Texas Winter blizzard for the warm beaches of Cancun. Cruz also is saddled (self-saddled, btw) with being one of twice-indicted Donald J. Trump's more vigorous defenders.

Allred, though not anywhere near as experienced as the Cuban-American Cruz (shown at center in photo at right), carries no lousy baggage. The contest will be an interesting looksee at Cruz's style of being loud and brash, while also being one marred by the fact that Texans remember Donald Trump called Cruz's wife ugly during the 2016 Republican nomination campaign, when Cruz ran for president and lost. Not many Texans would stand for such an affront, but Texas Republicans let it go, as did Cruz.

Allred, shown in photo below, has one feather in his hat that would seem to strike with football-happy Texas. He played linebacker for the Baylor Bears of the NCAA's Big-12 Conference and for the Tennessee Titans in the National Football League (NFL). And he seems to be well-spoken. A debate between Cruz and Allred would be interesting. Both are lawyers, Cruz having served as Texas Solicitor General before winning his U.S. Senate seat in 2013. Since then, he has been the state's junior senator, Republican John Cornyn being the senior one.

Most observers of this particular race will tell you that Allred still has a tough road ahead of him. Before tackling Cruz, he must win the Democratic primary. State Sen. Roland Gutierrez, who represents Uvalde and has become a prominent gun-control advocate in the wake of the school shooting there, may enter the race, according to his camp. If he beats Gutierrez, Allred then must figure out how to win a general election in a state that hasn’t elected a single Democrat to statewide office in the past 28 years. The last Democrat to serve as a U.S. Senator from Texas was Bob Krueger.

Cruz may be a walking joke to many across the country, but he knows Texas and he knows Texas politics. Colin Z. Allred is not Beto O'Rourke.

But he could suffer the same fate. Unless that is, younger Allred (age 40) manages to blitz Cruz and take him down, arriving at a statewide campaign exhibiting that headstrong stubbornness to succeed he is quite familiar with in another field - the football field...

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