Background information
Earlier this month, the long-awaited senatorial debate between Colin Allred and Ted Cruz took place at the WFAA studios in Downtown Dallas. Allred, the U.S. Representative from Texas’ 32nd congressional district, is a former NFL linebacker and the Democratic nominee for a six-year term in the U.S. Senate. On his left stood the incumbent Cruz, two-term Republican U.S. Senator and former 2016 presidential candidate. Broadly speaking, the debate covered nine topics and lasted one hour. Below are highlights and thoughts of the Trinitonian’s News/Sports and Opinion Editors.

Opening statement quotes

Allred: “That’s how you can go to Cancún when millions of Texans need you and hundreds are dying.”

Diya: Ted Cruz went to Cancún like three years ago. He’s done way worse than that since. I wonder how many times Allred’s going to bring that up.

Colin: It’s always kind of annoying to me when politicians harp on one talking point incessantly during a debate, but the Cancún thing is a good talking point so I can’t blame Allred for that.

Cruz: I wanna keep Texas, Texas.

Diya: I want to leave Texas-Texas.

Colin: Ted, you’re Canadian.

Abortion
Cruz: “We [Texans] overwhelmingly agree that late-term abortions in the eighth and ninth months, that’s too extreme.”

Diya: I researched this after Trump commented on it in the presidential debate. It sounds absolutely ridiculous because I don’t think people are aborting babies in the eighth month of pregnancy — that’s literally 32 weeks pregnant. Late-stage abortions (a political term, not a medical term), which Cruz is referring to, happen after 21 weeks and occur in fewer than 1% of all abortions nationwide. The legal definition of when a fetus is “viable” is after 24–28 weeks, or when it can survive outside of the uterus. It is incredibly unlikely that someone would get an abortion after 28 weeks unless they are experiencing life-threatening symptoms like preeclampsia.

Colin: Ted Cruz’s answer to the abortion question was interesting because it’s an example of a shift in Republicans’ rhetoric surrounding abortion. Before Roe v. Wade got overturned it was incredibly inflammatory, but now Republicans are playing defense because everyone’s mad that Roe v. Wade is gone and abortion is one of their least popular issues in the polls. Cruz hit harder on the idea of democracy and states’ rights regarding abortion than he did on abortion as a social issue, which indicates he knows how unpopular the pro-life camp is right now.

Border security

Allred: “Let me be very clear. I believe in physical barriers as part of a comprehensive strategy to secure the border.”

Diya: The border “crisis” is something that politicians and I have different understandings of. For instance, I think that the U.S.-Mexico Border being considered the world’s deadliest migration route due to the over 8,000 deaths it has hosted since 1998 is an appalling failure on the part of humanity. On the other hand, Donald Trump and his minion Ted Cruz see it as the only card they have left to play. Also, to quote a guest column published on Oct. 10, “Trump appears to think that a family who has trekked on foot from southern Chile would turn around and walk home at the sight of a mere wall,” and the same thing applies here. It’s made of concrete, not fire. Immigrants built this country and we can’t keep letting them die at our borders, refusing to let them in and blaming all our problems on them. They’re not responsible for all the crime in the world. I’m the child of immigrants (who are here legally, Ted Cruz) who have lived in this country for over 30 years now. Trust me when I say they came here and are still here for a better life and a better future and not to steal jobs and do crime.

Colin: Colin Allred tows the Democratic Party line of completely capitulating to Republicans’ fascist framing on immigration. Let me be clear on this, the Republicans’ rhetoric surrounding immigration and the Mexican border is fascist, as is their plan to commit genocide by conducting mass deportations. That’s literally what they’re saying they want to do. The Democrats’ response to this is to completely concede the issue to Republicans and push the right-wing lie that illegal immigrants are a massive problem that needs to be dealt with. It’s disgusting, and I think it makes the Democrats fascists too.

Jan. 6
Cruz: “Congressman Allred is happy to talk about those who committed acts of violence on January 6. But you don’t hear him talking about the Antifa and Black Lives Matter riots that burn cities across this country.”
Allred: “You can’t be for the mob on January 6 and for the officers. You can’t.”

Colin: I actually think Cruz responded as well as he could’ve to the Jan. 6 question, in a strategic sense anyway. He said that people who commit violent offenses should go to jail, that Biden is persecuting some people for exercising free speech and that Allred wants to defund law enforcement and supports Antifa and Black Lives Matter. He didn’t make himself look worse than he already did, which was a real risk here. Instead, he just turned it into an opportunity to push one of his culture war talking points. Allred insists that he was going to personally fight the Jan. 6 rioters on the house floor while Cruz hid in a supply closet, which is an incredibly funny visual that I am very grateful to Allred for planting in my brain.

Diya: Allred interrupting Cruz with an astonishing “It’s not funny” has been trending on social media and might be one of my favorite moments thus far. Allred became SO former NFL linebacker core here, I loved it.

Transgender Athletes

Allred: “This is a desperate last second attempt by Senator Cruz to distract you because he can’t defend his own record.”

Colin: Allred is correct in his assessment that transgender athletes’ participation in sports is a complete non-issue that Republicans have made up out of whole cloth. I completely agree with his refusal to address it whatsoever. Ted Cruz continues to spread inflammatory rhetoric about trans people, saying that Allred wants men to play women’s sports and use women’s bathrooms. Allred wisely continues to refuse to engage with this, but finally does address it somewhat after a couple more insane responses from Cruz. I wish he didn’t address the issue at all, but overall I think Allred responded well here. Ted Cruz responded like an insane person, which is politically stupid because discrimination against transgender people is incredibly unpopular. Cruz has to tow this line, however, because he represents a Christian nationalist and fascist party.

Diya: Colin (Houston, my co-commenter, to be clear) is absolutely right in saying that this is such a complete non-issue. School sports are supposed to be about inclusivity and having fun with a team. According to an interview with Dr. Eric Vilain, pediatrician and geneticist who studies sex differences in athletes, higher levels of the male hormone ‘testosterone’ are only associated with advantage in a small number of sports like pole vaulting and hammer throwing. That’s mostly irrelevant in elementary, middle and high school sports which Cruz is so valiantly defending.

Economy/Insurance
Colin: Ted Cruz alleges that Colin Allred spent trillions of Chinese dollars on unspecified government stuff, personally caused inflation, hates gas engines and wants to forcibly put an electric car in every American’s garage. Cruz also alleges that Allred voted to take $300 billion from Medicare to be put directly towards health insurance for illegal aliens. What am I even supposed to say about this?

Diya: As long as the electric car in my garage isn’t a Tesla, I’m game. I actually agree that health care shouldn’t exist on a federal level because we don’t have a federal ‘level,’ we have a string of old men pretending to be alive. Until the presidency isn’t up for grabs by whatever idiot has enough money to take it, let’s not entrust them with more power — even though the system isn’t great as it is. Total Catch-22.

Foreign Policy
Colin: Colin Allred and Ted Cruz both vehemently voice their support for Israel. I concluded earlier that the Democrats may be fascists due to their stances on immigration, and they do not help their case by supporting the fascist colonial state that is actively murdering Palestinians in Gaza. Allred wouldn’t even acknowledge that Israel has committed war crimes in Gaza or that what Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is doing might be wrong. He voiced the most tepid support possible for aiding civilians in Gaza, but his priorities are clear.

Cruz: “Congressman Allred has consistently lined up against Israel [since] the beginning of the Biden Harris administration. He urged them to send money to Gaza even though it would go to Hamas. He has supported Kamala Harris and Joe Biden flowing over $100 billion to Iran.”

Colin: Ted Cruz is an open fascist, so his support for Israel is unsurprising, as is his insistence that Allred wants to funnel money to Hamas through humanitarian aid. Every time the Democrats capitulate to right-wing framing on an issue, such as Israel and immigration, they get completely dunked on by Republicans who just say the same things about Democrats they would say anyway. Thus, the Democrats gain no right-wing supporters while hemorrhaging support from the left.

Housing
Colin: Colin Allred states a generally popular desire to build more affordable housing and stupidly turns it into an economic argument instead of a humanitarian one. Allred talks about housing being a smart investment that will bring in jobs, rather than talking about the millions of desperate people it would help. I am not really convinced that building affordable housing will be a priority for Allred.

Cruz: “[N]othing is driving up housing costs as powerfully as the 11 and a half million illegal immigrants that Congressman Allred and Kamala Harris have let in with their open borders, and they want to keep letting in.”

Colin: Ted Cruz blames the entire housing crisis on 11.5 million illegal immigrants, and refuted Allred’s allegation that he’s lazy and doesn’t pass laws by saying he authored and passed 101 laws and created thousands of jobs for farmers and ranchers. I don’t know how relevant that is, but that’s nice Ted.

Final thoughts

Colin: Colin Allred’s campaign pitch is that he’s super moderate, sensible and chill. He’s committed to shared values, whatever that means I’m honestly not sure. Ted Cruz says that the Democrats are trying to take over the government through a simple four-step process: rig every election, annex Washington DC and Puerto Rico as states, give every illegal immigrant voting rights and pack the Supreme Court (which the Republicans already did). Ted Cruz is describing a version of the Democratic Party that is way more awesome than the one we actually have, so honestly my main takeaway is that I wish I lived in Ted Cruz’s imagination. It sounds like a pretty cool place. There are a lot of transgender illegal immigrants who hate Jesus in there.