Rep. Colin Allred won the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate race in Texas on Tuesday against eight others vying to take on Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.
Allred (D-Texas) won with 59 percent of the vote in the Super Tuesday race, and Texas state Sen. Roland Gutierrez was a distant second with 17 percent.
Meanwhile, Sen. Cruz (R-Texas) won his re-election race with 88.3 percent. His two main rivals gained about 5 percent each.
Now Cruz and Allred will face off in the Texas Senate general election in November.
Democrats are hopeful they can flip the seat blue even though Texas is the largest red state with a predominantly pro-Trump Republican base.
Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas) won the Democratic Senate primary in Texas on Super Tuesday over eight other competitors vying for the nomination.
After Sen. Ted Cruz also easily clinched a new nomination, he is set for a showdown with Allred in the November general election.
Cruz easily cruised to victory with nearly 89 percent of the vote in the Republican primary on Tuesday, March 5.
Several Democrats and left-wing voters in Tuesday’s primary told DailyMail.com they hope Allred can oust Cruz from the seat he has held since 2013.
Meanwhile, more than a handful of pro-Trump voters in Texas, when asked if any of the Democrats could beat Cruz, said, “I hope not.”
Democrats rallied Tuesday for Allred, a former NFL player and three-term U.S. congressman.
In 2018, Cruz narrowly defeated Democrat Beto O’Rourke in a general election that was too close for comfort. The current president obtained 50.9 percent of the votes compared to 49.3 percent for his rivals.
Democrats are hoping this will be the year they take the seat from Cruz.
Gene Schillaci, 66, told DailyMail.com as he left his polling place in Dallas, Texas, after casting his vote in the Super Tuesday primary, that he supports Allred because “he has a positive attitude toward him” who contrasts with “Ted Cruz’s negativity.” ‘
Rep. Allred and his wife Alexandra Eber kiss as they celebrate their victory in the Democratic Senate primary in Dallas, Texas, Tuesday, March 5, 2024.
Allred was a linebacker for the NFL team, the Tennessee Titans. He is pictured on the sidelines of a preseason game on August 11, 2007.
Gene Schillaci, 66, told DailyMail.com as he left his polling place in Dallas, Texas, after casting his vote in the Super Tuesday primary, that he voted for Allred. Of Cruz, he said, “I can’t conceive how… they dug up this guy, you know?”
“I just can’t conceive how they came up with…where they dug up this guy, you know?” added the Democratic voter.
Republicans are confident that Texas won’t turn blue anytime soon, and with 40 Electoral College votes at stake in the Lone Star State, the GOP can’t afford to lose them to Democrats.
Roger Kelso, 78, of Dallas, told DailyMail.com that he preferred Texas state Sen. Roland Gutierrez’s platform more than Allred’s, but voted for the man he believes has the best chance of unseating Cruz in the election. November generals.
“I think the main thing we need to do is get rid of the guy I call ‘Turd Cruz.’ He hasn’t been good for the state, he hasn’t been good for the country,” Kelso said after voting Tuesday. “And I think Colin Allred would step in and he would be the right person.”
Voters went to the polls in Texas on Tuesday to cast their ballots in the Super Tuesday primaries, which included the presidential and senatorial races, among others.
The pro-Cruz Truth and Courage PAC ran an ad targeting Allred before polls closed in Texas on Tuesday.
Texas State Senator Roland Gutierrez came in second against Allred with just under 17 percent of the vote. Pictured: Gutiérrez campaigns near a voting center in San Antonio, Texas, on Tuesday, March 5.
Allred and Gutierrez are joined in the race by state Rep. and former DeSoto Mayor Carl Sherman; Meri Gómez, tax accountant for the mission area; former Nueces County District Attorney Mark Gonzalez; Katy businessman Robert Hassan; law professor and retired Navy captain Steve Keough; Heli Rodríguez Prilliman, Fort Worth businesswoman; and Thierry Tchenko, a political organizer in Houston.
Artist Joe Brock, 55, said he also voted for Allred in the Senate Democratic primary.
‘I definitely want Cruz to go. He’s a snake,” Brock said, adding of Allred: “I think he’s a good politician. He is strong. We need fresh blood.’
One Republican expressed confidence that Cruz will not be unseated by a Democrat and simply said “no” when asked if there is any concern that he will lose his seat.
One thing Texas Democrats and Republicans seemed to agree on is that immigration is at the forefront of their minds when voting in primary elections.
Democrats say Republicans are obstructing any real progress on the issue, while Republicans say the opposition party wants open borders and mass illegal immigration.