The fast and fiery debate on Tuesday night between Senator Ted Cruz and his Democratic opponent for U.S. Senate in Texas, Colin Allred, was something of a political throwback: a largely substantive clash over voting records and policy positions with few personal attacks.
In a back-and-forth that lasted just under 60 minutes, each candidate tried to portray the other as more extreme on issues of abortion, immigration, the economy and, in one of the longer exchanges of the night, transgender athletes’ participation in sports.
Mr. Cruz, a two-term incumbent, presented himself as defending Texas as it has long been, under decades of Republican control. Mr. Allred, a U.S. representative from the Dallas area, offered a vision of Texas that he portrayed as largely the same, but a little more inclusive, with more support for “working families,” and abortion rights restored.
Mr. Allred made sure no one forgot that Mr. Cruz fled to the beach resort city of Cancún, Mexico, during a deadly winter storm and power grid failure in 2021.
Here are takeaways from the debate:
Cruz is a talented debater, but Allred held his own.
The meeting was the first and most likely the only time the two candidates will meet face to face. Mr. Cruz, a former solicitor general for the state of Texas, is a fierce debater with a crisp delivery honed in courtrooms and more than a decade in the U.S. Senate.
Mr. Allred, a former N.F.L. linebacker and lawyer first elected to Congress in 2018, has had fewer such clashes. But he largely matched Mr. Cruz as they sparred repeatedly. Though Mr. Cruz at one point suggested that his opponent was delivering canned lines, Mr. Allred was mostly nimble in his responses, only appearing to trip up with an awkward and seemingly canned joke about how Mr. Cruz had not played sports.
Mr. Allred launched a more focused attack later, describing the difference in how the two men had responded to the rioters in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. While he texted his family that he loved them and prepared to defend the chambers, Mr. Allred said, “Senator Cruz was hiding in a supply closet.” He hastened to add, “That’s OK — I don’t want him to get hurt by the mob.”
Abortion tripped up Cruz, while Allred stumbled on the border.
Mr. Cruz refused several times to give his views on the lack of exceptions for rape or incest in Texas’s abortion ban, insisting instead that he agreed with the U.S. Supreme Court that the matter should be left to the states.
He tried to turn the tables on Mr. Allred by describing the Dallas lawmaker’s support for abortion rights as out of step with the views of Texans.
Mr. Allred responded with some of his most forceful attacks. “Senator Cruz just called himself pro-life,” Mr. Allred said. “It’s not pro-life to deny women care so long that they can’t have children anymore. It’s not pro-life to force a victim of rape to carry their rapist’s baby.”
But Mr. Cruz found his footing as discussion turned to the border, and Mr. Allred was the one avoiding a repeated question about why, after previously calling plans to build a wall along the southern border “racist,” he now supported expanding the barrier.
“Colin Allred is Kamala Harris,” Mr. Cruz said, attempting to tie Mr. Allred to the Democratic presidential candidate who polls have suggested is somewhat less popular than he is in Texas. “They voted in favor of open borders over and over and over again, and now they are desperately trying to hide that from the voters.”
Allred tried to defuse attacks over transgender athletes.
Republicans around the country have attacked Democrats over the issue of transgender rights, especially over questions of whether transgender athletes should compete in youth sports.
Mr. Allred repeated in the debate what he has said in ads released this month: “I don’t support boys playing girls’ sports.”
“Then why did you vote for it?” Mr. Cruz cut in.
While not defending his past votes in support of gay and transgender rights, which Mr. Cruz brought up and attacked, Mr. Allred tried to defuse them.
“What I think is that folks should not be discriminated against,” he said. “And what Senator Cruz should try to explain to you is why he thinks they should.”
The candidates largely agreed on support for Israel.
Both candidates offered support for Israel in the war in Gaza and Lebanon that followed the attacks by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.
“This is a war of choice by them,” Mr. Allred said of Hamas, “and Israel has a right to defend itself.” He said he supported military assistance to Israel, while adding that both Israelis and Palestinians deserved to have a future free of “this cycle of violence.”
Mr. Cruz was more categorical in his rhetoric. “Our position should be that America stands unshakably with Israel,” he said.
Neither directly addressed a question of whether Israel bore any responsibility for civilian deaths in Gaza.
A bemused Senator Cruz.
Mr. Cruz, who has struggled with polls showing high unfavorability ratings, appeared intent on projecting an affable image.
He began with a note of comity, praising Mr. Allred’s rise to Congress from humble beginnings. And during much of the verbal sparring, he fixed an amused look on his opponent, smiling as his listened and chuckling to himself at times.
“I have to say, you can’t be for the mob on Jan. 6 and for the officers,” Mr. Allred said, referring to Mr. Cruz’s frequent expressions of support for police officers — many of whom were injured during the Capitol riots.
Mr. Cruz appeared to laugh to himself.
“It’s not funny,” Mr. Allred said. “Because you’re a threat to democracy.”
Cancún. Cancún. Cancún. Cancún.
It would have made a great drinking game on a debate night at the beach: Take a sip each time Mr. Allred mentioned the Mexican resort city.
The reason is simple: Texans were not happy to learn that Mr. Cruz had taken his family to Cancún in February 2021 as a winter storm crippled the state’s electricity grid, leaving millions freezing in their homes and killing more than 200 people.
Mr. Cruz has largely avoided trying to justify the trip, after having explained, at the time, that he did it for his family.
And so Mr. Allred brought it up again and again. He did so within the first 90 seconds of the debate. Then in the context of a question about the border. He did so again when responding to attacks by Mr. Cruz on inflation. And finally, in his closing remarks.
Whether it will move votes will soon become clear. Early voting in Texas starts on Monday.
The post Fast, Feisty and Plenty of Cancún: Takeaways From the Senate Debate in Texas appeared first on New York Times.
