Texas Democrat who lost to Ted Cruz jumps into 2026 Senate race

Former Texas Rep. Colin Allred is making another run for the U.S. Senate after the Democrat lost to Republican Sen. Ted Cruz just eight months ago.

Allred is looking to challenge for the seat of Republican Sen. John Cornyn, who is facing his own challenge from within the Republican Party from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Allred announced his return to the political arena with a campaign video released Tuesday, in which he took shots at both Cornyn and Paxton, describing them as “too corrupt to care about us and too weak to fight for us.”

A former NFL linebacker and attorney, Allred retold the story of how he went undrafted in the NFL but worked hard enough to eventually turn pro and buy his mom a house.

“The truth is you shouldn’t have to have a son in the NFL to own a home,” Allred said.

“Everything is backwards,” he continued. “Folks who play by the rules and keep the faith just can’t seem to get ahead. But the folks who cut corners and cut deals — well, they’re doing just fine.”

Allred pledged to run on an “anti-corruption plan.”

“I know Washington is broken,” he said. “The system is rigged. But it doesn’t have to be this way. In six years in Congress, I never took a dime of corporate PAC money, never traded a single stock.”

Allred’s announcement comes just eight months after he lost by nearly 9 percentage points to Cruz. That race was one of the most expensive in the country last cycle, with Democrats spending more than $130 million trying to unseat Cruz.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks during a watch party on election night, Nov. 5, 2024, at the Marriott Marquis in Houston. Cruz defeated Allred to retain his Senate seat. (LM Otero/AP)

Allred played four seasons in the NFL, all with the Tennessee Titans, after being undrafted out of Baylor University. He entered Congress by flipping a Republican district in Dallas in 2018.

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Former astronaut Terry Virts also entered the U.S. Senate race as a Democratic candidate.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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