Getty Images / Alicia Claytor
Audio By Carbonatix
Halloween season is a time of ghosts, things rising from the dead and other phantasms, so maybe it makes sense that the two Texans running for Senate have resurrected bipartisanship in their campaigns. Didn’t we clomp that in the head with a shovel and bury it back in 2008?
Of course, Halloween is also the season of wearing masks and dressing up as things we are not … so, GOP Sen. Ted Cruz a centrist? If he can pull that off, he deserves a full-size Snickers in his trick or treat bag. No candy corn for him.
Ben Voth, associate professor of rhetoric and director of debate and speech programs at Southern Methodist University, notes that Democratic candidate Colin Allred and Cruz are certainly busy maneuvering in a certain way to be ready for Nov. 5.
“October in almost every political venue leads to a movement from the edges of partisanship toward the center,” Voth says. “Allred and Cruz are following this pattern in hopes of finding the remaining elusive undecided voters.”
When news happens, Dallas Observer is there —
Your support strengthens our coverage.
We’re aiming to raise $30,000 by December 31, so we can continue covering what matters most to you. If the Dallas Observer matters to you, please take action and contribute today, so when news happens, our reporters can be there.
In recent weeks we have seen both candidates boast of endorsements they’ve received from members of their opposing parties. That comes after Allred aired TV ads claiming he stands up to “radicals in both parties,” while Cruz has touted aisle-crossing legislation that will streamline the permitting process for bridge construction across the Rio Grande in Brownsville, Laredo and Eagle Pass.
For Allred, being able to have someone from the other side publicly express their support of him is a way to show the historically GOP-dominated Texas voting population that he’s not the extremist that Cruz has painted him to be. For Cruz, earning the endorsement of any Democrat official is his way of perhaps creating a more agreeable persona than he’s developed over a dozen years in the national spotlight. Voth says the method shared by the candidates can serve different purposes.
“For Allred there is a greater degree of anonymity that may allow him to define himself more easily away from the partisan margin,” he says. “As a Dallas-area House member, he is not a sensational congressional member. The Cruz campaign can be confident that he can count on conservatives to vote for him regardless of bipartisan brandishing efforts. Cruz had done some unusual legislative work cooperating with Bernie Sanders that might prove strategic in a possible move to the center in October.”
We are building a broad coalition of Texans around our shared values.
— Colin Allred (@ColinAllredTX) October 3, 2024
I’m proud to launch Republicans for Allred with my friend @AdamKinzinger, as co-chair.
My campaign is open and welcome to conservatives like him, and any Republican ready to turn the page on Ted Cruz. pic.twitter.com/ebJwWVM0L3
Allred has landed the bigger names as supporters in former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney and former U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who is co-chair for the newly announced “Republicans for Allred” coalition. Cruz, on the other hand, has gained the support of a number of lesser-known sheriffs and judges who make up Cruz’s “Democrats for Cruz Coalition.”
“I am a lifelong Republican. I even served Texas in the Legislature as a Reagan Republican,” said another GOP member now stumping for Allred, former state Rep. Jason Villaba, in the press release. “But our current Senator seems to be more focused on his own ambition or serving the interests of extremists than helping ordinary Texans like me.”
Although the Cheney and Kinzinger endorsements have garnered headlines, it’s not as though a prominent conservative with a loyal base of traditional GOP followers has made the unconventional jump to the other side in this case. It’s not a stretch to say that few should’ve been surprised that this pair of Republicans would be ready to publicly oppose Cruz. Cheney and Kinzinger were two of 10 GOP House members who voted to impeach President Donald Trump in 2021. Of those 10, only two remain in Congress.
“To a large extent, the Kinzinger and Cheney endorsements do not move the voting needle much for Allred,” Voth says. “The perceptions of Kinzinger and Cheney within the Texas voting population are quite negative. Allred needs Texas-styled endorsements that do not appear to utilize the national Democratic framework. Beto O’Rourke used that method to an arguable maximum in 2018 and in some ways it proved counterproductive.”
In Texas, especially over the past 18 months, we’ve become accustomed to Republicans battling with fellow Republicans, which is another reason Cheney and Kinzinger’s endorsements may not pack as powerful of a punch as Democrats might hope. Whether it’s Gov. Greg Abbott and many House Republicans scrapping over school vouchers, or Attorney General Ken Paxton and the state House waging war over his impeachment, conservatives yelling at other conservatives for not being the so-called “right kind of conservative” enough is old hat.
The March primaries proved to be more successful for the governor in ousting those Republicans who stood in his way, but Paxton has seen his share of enemies, again, from within his own party, leaving office once he set his sights on them. The notion that voters are accustomed to party-infighting could keep Allred’s GOP friends from leaving a terribly large mark.
“In the most recent set of elections, Republicans, much like [J.D.] Vance nationally, had to swear allegiance to Trump and more conservative party values in order to remain as incumbents,” Voth says. “In some important instances, Republicans were swept aside if they were not conservative enough. This does add to the problem [for Allred] of trying to use national crossover Republicans within the state. They can in fact galvanize conservatives within Texas who perceive the political effort as non-native and outsider politics.”
