休斯顿-在最近一个热气腾腾的早晨吃着鸡蛋和熏肉，科林·奥尔雷德我采访了几十名来自德克萨斯海湾沿岸的工会成员。
早餐会是这位国会议员全州“倾听之旅”的一站，他自我介绍说，他希望-可以与之较量的正确的民主党人现任共和党参议员特德·克鲁兹将参加2024年的选举，这可能有助于决定国会的权力平衡。
Allred的“入门之旅”，正如他对ABC新闻的描述，包括他的听力会议和许多提醒，用他的话说，克鲁兹如何未能出现在德州人面前。
克鲁兹表示，他准备在这个历史上一直是共和党核心的州争取席位，尽管在一些选举中已经变得更加民主。
克鲁兹的一位发言人在给美国广播公司新闻的一份声明中说，他“将继续做他最擅长的事情——为超过3000万德州人工作并取得成果。”
这里有一些关于Allred的信息，他希望明年能和Cruz较量。
早期生活和职业生涯
出生和成长在达拉斯的单身母亲，Allred参加了贝勒大学，不久后成为美国国家橄榄球联盟的后卫，推迟法学院打职业足球。
五个赛季后，一次伤病把他带离了球场，又把他送回了教室。他于2014年获得法学学位，曾在美国住房和城市发展部总法律顾问办公室工作，并在一家跨国律师事务所担任投票权诉讼律师。
这位第四代得克萨斯人在2019年担任政治职务，作为他长大的地区的代表，在第32国会选区击败了共和党现任议员。
今年5月，Allred宣布他将在2024年美国参议院与克鲁兹的竞选中竞选民主党提名。
如果他赢得初选，与其他候选人如州参议员罗兰·古铁雷斯，Allred面临着一个重大的挑战:自1988年以来第一次翻转克鲁兹的座椅蓝色。
奥尔雷德说，他知道这不是一个简单的挑战。在最近的早餐会上，他告诉与会者，“我久经考验。我知道怎么做。这是一场势均力敌的比赛。这将以一场势均力敌的比赛开始，也将以一场势均力敌的比赛结束。”
参议员特德·克鲁兹在2023年3月2日在马里兰州华盛顿堡盖洛德国家度假村和会议中心举行的CPAC保守政治行动会议的第一天发表讲话。
贾宾·博茨福德/华盛顿邮报
他为什么要跑，关键问题
六月，在“GMA3”的一次露面中，Allred被问及他为什么要参选。他援引做父亲的经历。
“我真的不希望我的孩子们让特德·克鲁兹在接下来的六年里担任我们的参议员，”他当时说道。
Allred将攻击克鲁兹作为他竞选活动的核心，包括参议员在2021年全州范围内冻结和随后停电期间备受审视的坎昆之行，以及克鲁兹在1月6日之前攻击选举结果的言论。
奥尔雷德的参议院竞选网站上写道，“特德·克鲁兹拒绝解决德克萨斯人面临的问题;他只关心自己。”
在Allred的竞选活动启动后，克鲁兹在推特上说:“我们不能让像科林·all red这样的激进左翼分子在2024年颠覆我们的国家....帮助德州保持红色!”
“从狭长地带到西得克萨斯州，一直到南得克萨斯州，参议员克鲁兹已经访问了该州的每个角落，”他的发言人告诉美国广播公司新闻，并指责Allred“大声辱骂和兜售谎言”。
他在“GMA3”上说，Allred战略的另一个关键方面是解决非投票者的问题。
“在上次选举中,[德克萨斯州]有950万登记选民没有投票。我们必须解决这个问题。但我们也必须广泛呼吁。我认为这是我在国会任职期间一直试图做的事情:成为一个能够把人们团结在一起，找到共同点的人，”奥尔雷德说，他自称是一个两党合作的民主党人。
变化中的德州
2012年，克鲁兹以两位数的优势赢得了他的第一次参议员竞选，但仅以微弱优势击败当时的众议员贝托·奥罗克2018年。Allred希望在这一势头的基础上继续发展。
他在竞选的前两个月筹集了620万美元，而克鲁兹在整个第二季度筹集了440万美元。在上一轮比赛中，克鲁兹被奥罗克击败——但还是赢了。
Allred正在寻求与O'Rourke区分开来，他告诉美国广播公司新闻:“我想我要做的是建立在贝托产生的兴奋之上，并且有明确的证据表明，有许多德克萨斯人希望朝着与我们从参议员Cruz那里获得的领导类型不同的方向前进。”
从2018年到2024年，得克萨斯州的人口统计数据和政治倾向也发生了变化:它是美国人口增长最快的州，继新冠肺炎疫情之后，人口大幅增加。
据资料显示五点三十八分集合，德克萨斯州南部边境的县在2020年向右移动，这也是总统选举-但民主党在该州四个最大的大都市及其郊区取得了重大进展，增加了“几乎是共和党在德克萨斯州与墨西哥边境沿线或附近的28个县的选票的五倍。"
为了参加明年的大选，奥尔雷德需要赢得党内提名。明显的早期竞争对手似乎是州参议员古铁雷斯他代表圣安东尼奥及其周边地区。古铁雷斯在2022年获得了全国的关注，因为他致力于与家庭一起实施更严格的枪支限制罗伯小学大规模枪击案的受害者在他选区的一个叫乌瓦尔迪的镇上。
“作为墨西哥移民的儿子，Roland毕生致力于为德克萨斯州的社区带来真正的改变——从修复基础设施到降低医疗成本。这正是他将带给美国参议院的那种斗争，”古铁雷斯的竞选网站上说。
一位专家指出，奥尔雷德有自己的优势。
“时间会证明一切，但我确实认为，特别是奥尔雷德，具有强有力的候选人的标志，”奥斯汀得克萨斯大学得克萨斯政治项目的研究主任约书亚·布兰克告诉美国广播公司新闻。
“在竞选过程中，他有一个非常吸引人的人生故事要传达...事实上，奥尔雷德早就愿意加入这场竞选，放弃一个非常安全的国会席位，这不仅告诉我他喜欢他的机会，而且他周围的精英告诉他，他将有必要的资金在像德克萨斯州这样大的州竞争，”布兰克说。
What to know about Colin Allred, who hopes to challenge Ted Cruz in Texas' Senate race
HOUSTON --Over eggs and bacon on a recent steamy morning,Colin Allredspoke to a few dozen members of labor unions from across the Texas Gulf Coast.
The breakfast was one of the congressman's stops on his statewide "listening tour," introducing himself as -- he hopes --the right Democrat to take on and contrast withincumbent Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in the 2024 election, which could help determine the balance of power in Congress.
Allred's "introductory journey," as he characterized it to ABC News, includes his listening sessions and a whole lot of reminders of how, in his words, Cruz failed to show up for Texans.
Cruz, for his part, says he is ready to fight for his seat in a state that has historically been at the heart of the Republican Party, even as it has shifted more Democratic in some elections.
A Cruz spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News that he "will continue doing what he does best – working and delivering results for over 30 million Texans."
Here's what to know about Allred, who hopes to take on Cruz next year.
Early life and career
Born and raised in Dallas by a single mom, Allred attended Baylor University and shortly after became a linebacker in the NFL, deferring law school to play professional football.
After five seasons, an injury took him off the field and sent him back to the classroom. He graduated with his law degree in 2014 and worked at both the general counsel's office in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and as a voting rights litigator at a multinational law firm.
The fourth-generation Texan assumed political office in 2019 as a representative for the area where he grew up, defeating the Republican incumbent in the 32nd Congressional District.
In May, Allred announced he was running for the Democratic nomination in the 2024 U.S. Senate race against Cruz.
If he wins the primary, against other candidates likestate Sen. Roland Gutierrez, Allred has a significant challenge ahead of him: Flip Cruz's seat blue for the first time since 1988.
Allred said he knows it will be no easy challenge. During the recent breakfast event, he told attendees, "I'm battle tested. I know how to do this. This is a close race right now. This is gonna start with a close race and it's gonna finish with a close race."
Why he's running, key issues
During an appearance on "GMA3" in June, Allred was asked why he's running. He invoked being a dad.
"I really do not want my boys to have Ted Cruz as our senator for the next six years," he said then.
Allred has made attacking Cruz central to his campaign -- including the senator's much scrutinized trip to Cancun during part of the 2021 statewide freeze and subsequent power outage and Cruz's comments attacking the election results before Jan. 6.
Allred's Senate campaign site reads, "Ted Cruz refuses to tackle the problems facing Texans; he only cares about himself."
After Allred's campaign launch, Cruz tweeted, "We can't let a radical leftist like Colin Allred flip our state blue in 2024 .... help keep Texas red!"
"From the Panhandle, to West Texas, and all the way down to South Texas, Senator Cruz has visited every corner of the state," his spokesperson told ABC News, going on to accuse Allred of "barking insults and peddling lies."
Another key aspect of Allred's strategy is addressing nonvoters, he said on "GMA3."
"We had nine and a half million registered voters [in Texas] who didn't vote in the last election. We have to address that. But we also have to appeal broadly. And I think that's something that I've tried to do in my time in Congress: Be somebody who can bring people together, find common ground," said Allred, who describes himself as a Democrat with a bipartisan approach.
A changing Texas
Cruz won his first race for the Senate, in 2012, by double digits butonly narrowly beat then-Rep. Beto O'Rourkein 2018. Allred hopes to build on that momentum.
He raised $6.2 million in the first two months of his campaign, while Cruz raised $4.4 million in his entire second quarter. In the last cycle, Cruz was outraised by O'Rourke -- and still won, however.
Allred is seeking to differentiate himself from O'Rourke, telling ABC News: "I think what I'm looking to do is build on the excitement that Beto generated and, also, the clear evidence that there are many Texans who want to move in a different direction from the type of leadership we've gotten from Sen. Cruz."
Texas' demographics and political leanings have also shifted from 2018 to 2024: It's the fastest-growing state in the nation, with a significant population increase following the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to datagathered by FiveThirtyEight, counties along Texas' southern border moved to the right in 2020, which also saw a presidential election -- but Democrats made significant strides in the state's four largest metropolitan cities and their suburbs, adding "almost five times as many votes as Republicans' gains in 28 counties along or near Texas's border with Mexico."
To make it to the general election next year, Allred will need to win his party's nomination. A clear early competitorseems to be state Sen. Gutierrez, who represents San Antonio and its surrounding areas. Gutierrez garnered national attention in 2022 for his dedication to implementing stricter gun restrictions alongside families ofthe victims of the Robb Elementary School mass shootingin Uvalde, a town in his district.
"The son of Mexican immigrants, Roland has spent his whole life fighting to create real change for communities across Texas – from fixing infrastructure to lowering the cost of healthcare. That's exactly the kind of fight he'll bring to the U.S. Senate," Gutierrez's campaign website states.
Allred has advantages of his own, one expert noted.
"Time will tell, but I do think that Allred, in particular, has the markings of strong candidate," Joshua Blank, research director of the Texas Politics Project at University of Texas at Austin, told ABC News.
"He has a very attractive life story to convey on the campaign trail ... The fact that Allred was willing to jump into this race, as early as he was, to give up a very safe congressional seat to do it, tells me not only that he likes his chances, but that there are elites around him who are telling him that he will have the funding necessary to compete in a state as large as Texas," Blank said.
