4 July 20-26, 2023 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents CRUZ CONTROL A former NFL player, U.S. Rep. Colin Allred lines up as the latest Dem to try tackle culture warrior Ted Cruz. BY SIMONE CARTER U .S. Rep. Colin Allred had traded his suit for a casual T- shirt one sweltering Sunday afternoon in June. He’d ar- rived just ahead of the Dallas Pride parade at Fair Park, where rainbow flags and rainbow floats dotted the expan- sive parking lot. Allred, a former NFL linebacker, towered over most people there. But imposing stat- ure — physically, politically — didn’t seem to ding the approachability of the high-profile Democrat who had recently announced his bid for U.S. Senate. Excitement filled the air of the Pride Month celebration. So did tension. Texas lawmakers were behind one-fifth of the nation’s anti-LGBTQ+ legislation this year. Throughout the 88th Legislature, LG- BTQ+ Texans fought against measures that sought to erase them from school library books and ban gender-affirming care. And the Pride event was held less than a month after a self-described white suprem- acist gunned down shoppers at an Allen out- let mall some 28 miles away from Fair Park. The broader cultural backdrop of creep- ing queerphobia tinged parade-goers’ tech- nicolor revelry with pallid trepidation. Allred’s presence seemed to soothe some of that worry. As booming bass from pop songs blared throughout the fairgrounds, a man walked up to Allred. He thanked the congressman for showing up and at some point started to cry. For several minutes, Allred listened at- tentively, unhurried. The two hugged. Allred then stepped into the shade of a mature tree adjacent to the sun-soaked parking lot to talk with the Observer. “I’ve always come to Pride, and I think it’s really important. But I do think that this year, it’s probably taken on even greater im- portance,” he said, furrowing his brow. “I was just talking to one of the folks here … who was saying that he didn’t put out a Pride flag this year because he was worried about somebody attacking his house. And I hear that a lot.” The way he sees it, Texas can’t afford an- other six years of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, the much-reviled Republican and self-ap- pointed general of the conservative culture wars. Allred adopted a tagline arguing as much in his campaign’s announcement video. “We don’t have to be embarrassed by our senator,” he says in the ad that announces his entry into the 2024 Democratic primary. “We can get a new one.” He makes it sound simple, but Allred knows that winning in red meat-hungry Texas will be tough. The last time a Lone Star liberal served in the U.S. Senate was three decades ago, in 1993. Democratic wunderkind Beto O’Rourke came pretty close, inching within 2.6 points of defeating Cruz in 2018. Lots has hap- pened in the years since. Cruz has continued to make enemies and further cement himself as a torchbearer of the GOP’s MAGA wing. Donald Trump, whose unlikeability among Democrats un- deniably boosted O’Rourke’s Senate cam- paign, is no longer president (although he’s again gunning for the White House). Trump’s Democratic successor will be up for reelection next year, and he isn’t exactly popular either. While Allred is no longer a mainstay on the football field, he’s currently in training for the match of his life. The congressman’s wife was seven months pregnant when he sent the text he feared could be his last. It was Jan. 6, 2021, and a swarm of rioters — emboldened by then-President Trump’s bogus claims of a stolen election — had be- gun to overwhelm police at the U.S. Capitol. The mob erected makeshift gallows and threatened to hang the vice president. They wanted to hunt down Democrats, too, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi chief among them. When news of the insurrection first broke, Allred was on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, a practically sa- cred secular space. But any illusion of secu- rity soon shattered. “Whatever happens, I love you,” Allred texted his wife. He then took off his jacket and prepared to defend the door. Luckily he didn’t have to. Allred and his fellow lawmakers were able to escape, but the country’s reputation has suffered in the years since, he said. When Allred travels in- ternationally for work, he’ll get asked whether U.S. democracy will be OK. The insurrection is “something that shook the whole world,” Allred said. “And Ted Cruz was one of the main architects.” Cruz is a shrewd lawyer, a masterful actor of political theater. He led a chorus of con- gressional Republicans in objecting to the certification of President Joe Biden’s win, falsely claiming that the 2020 election was rigged against Trump. Allred recalls wondering to himself: Why was the Texas senator refuting results in Ar- izona, “a different state that he knows noth- ing about”? January 2021 was a bad-press month for Cruz. He suffered another self-inflicted black eye in the weeks to come. That February, Winter Storm Uri left mil- lions of Texans without power and under boil-water notices amid plunging tempera- tures. Reports of fatalities vary, but some outlets put the number as high as 700. Cruz was the target of the state’s ire when he was caught flying to Cancun while his constitu- ents froze. In the years following the thaw, it’s become the subject of countless jokes. Cruz himself has since tried to capitalize on that punchline. Allred isn’t laughing. Two men in his district died from carbon monox- ide poisoning while trying to warm them- selves with a gas-powered generator. “I didn’t think it was funny at all, because I was on the phone at the same time with FEMA, things like state relief agencies, try- ing to direct resources to help people who were in real danger,” he said. “I couldn’t imagine representing 30 million Texans and thinking that was a good time to go on vaca- tion. “And that attitude, as much as the action, told me he was somebody who shouldn’t be in office anymore.” The LeNoirs did their best to shield them- selves from the brutal heat at the Dallas Pride parade. Standing beneath the branches of the large tree, they offered to share their sunscreen with the Observer’s photographer before the conversation turned to Allred, who’d yet to arrive. Jasmine LeNoir said the congressman has been “good for our community. He’s done things around Dallas, too, for | UNFAIR PARK | U.S. Rep. Colin Allred at the Dallas Pride celebration. Alicia Claytor “Insurrection architect” Ted Cruz spreading his hateful message to the Young Latino Leadership Conference in 2021. Gage Skidmore/CC by-SA 2.0 >> p6
