Texas Rep. Colin Allred, a Former NFL Player, Will Challenge Sen. Ted Cruz in 2024: Report
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Allred — who won his current seat in the U.S. House after unseating Republican Rep. Pete Sessions — could announce his campaign as soon as this week
Democratic Texas Rep. Colin Allred is expected to challenge Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in his 2024 reelection bid, according to new reports by both Politico and the Texas Tribune.
Allred, 40, is a former NFL player and civil rights attorney who was elected in 2018 to represent a portion of Dallas in Congress. According to sources speaking to the Tribune, the Democrat has been considering a run against Cruz for months.
Politico reports that Allred — who won his current seat in the U.S. House after unseating Republican Rep. Pete Sessions — is planning to announce his campaign as soon as this week.
Related:Mazie Hirono Asks Ted Cruz to 'Please' Stop 'Mansplaining' Things During Spat with Jon Ossoff
Cruz is currently serving his second term in the Senate, and has seen a legislative career marked by a fair share of controversy, such as in February 2021, when he was widely criticized for traveling to Mexico while his constituents went days without water or heat during a deadly Texas storm.
In 2018, he faced a challenge from then-Rep. Beto O'Rourke, a Democrat who drew a national profile but lost to Cruz by less than 3 percentage points.
Since entering Congress, Allred — a former linebacker for the Tennessee Titans — has made headlines for his goal of instituting a paid parental leave policy in the U.S.
He became the first member of Congress to officially take paternity leave when he and wife Aly Eber welcomed their son Jordan in February 2019. When son Cameron was born in March 2021, Allred took an even longer leave — a full month. He then went on CBS This Morning with his newborn baby to make the case that paid leave for parents, including fathers, is important for healthy families and a healthy economy, and that men's voices in this fight are crucial to achieve gender parity.
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In a story penned for PEOPLE in 2021, Allred detailed why paid family leave policies are so important to him.
"We have to break down the social stigma associated with that, and if a former NFL linebacker talking about paternity leave can help crack that a little bit, then that would be a good thing, because it's not about masculinity," Allred wrote for PEOPLE. "It's about what's best for your family."
The Dallas Morning News reported in February that Allred was considering challenging Cruz for his Senate seat, with the outlet noting that a Democrat hasn't won a statewide race in Texas since 1994.
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