For the past few months, watching television in central Texas has felt like tuning into the Colin Allred Channel. Practically every sponsored show on cable and broadcast channels have drenched viewers with ads for the Democrat challenger to Ted Cruz in the Senate race. If I had a dime for every time I've heard Allred talk about his Baylor football days or Cruz' Cancun cock-up, I'd have enough dimes to get Slim Pickens' entire posse through the Gov. William J. LePetomaine Thruway.

Clearly, Democrats have showered a s***load of dimes on Allred, and it appeared to be working. Allred has not yet led in any poll of Texas voters, but he'e getting close in a state that should be a safe bet for the GOP. The current RCP aggregate average is Cruz +4.0, and it has been nearly two months since Cruz had a lead of more than five points. Until this week, Cruz hadn't hit 50% in any general election poll, where incumbents in safe states expect to be -- although now the University of Houston has him up 50/46 and Marist 51/46. 

In large part, that's because Cruz has mainly been AWOL on the air. Cruz has certainly done his share of campaigning, but he hadn't bought ad time on anywhere near the flood-the-zone approach from Allred. That changed a couple of weeks ago, but Allred still gets more time on TV and uses a message that gives him a softer persona. Allred has also gone all-in on abortion, clearly aiming at winning via women, by weirdly blaming Cruz for the heartbeat bill passed by the Texas state legislature.

Last night, however, the two finally faced off on stage in a debate. I missed this due to other commitments, but checked in with the Dallas Morning News to see how it turned out. The paper endeavored to remain as neutral as possible in its reporting, laudably but perhaps tellingly:

“I’m the exact opposite of Sen. Cruz,” said Allred, who also criticized Cruz for vacationing in Cancun during deadly 2021 blackouts in Texas. “The truth is, we don’t have to be embarrassed by our senator. We can get a new one.”

Cruz urged voters to listen for the difference between Allred’s words and actions and promised to expose his opponent’s “radical” record, saying Allred would seek to obscure it.

“We’re doing an awful lot right in the state of Texas,” Cruz said. “Colin Allred wants to change that. I want to keep Texas, Texas.”

In a fast-paced back and forth on abortion, immigration, inflation and other hot-button issues, the candidates sought to portray themselves as aligned with Texas values and their opponent as dangerous and out of touch.

The El Paso Times account of the debate suggests that the outcome was more one-sided, with most of the notable pull quotes coming from Cruz. Fortunately, our Red State colleague Bonchie did watch the debate, and has a much different take. Allred might be good on TV ads, Bonchie suggests, but he got blitzed by a superior debater -- and by his own record:

In a race too close for comfort, with everything on the line, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) delivered a masterful debate performance on Wednesday night. Facing off against Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX), the current senator pummelled his opponent on issue after issue. Allred wasn't ready for primetime, contradicting himself at multiple points and walking right into numerous receipt-laden traps set by Cruz. 

Cruz came into the debate planning to expose Allred for the radical he is, not the moderate he claims to be. I think it's safe to say he succeeded.

Bonchie also provides some receipts, and they look pretty good for Cruz. Even conceding a selection bias, Cruz' rhetoric and Allred's expressions certainly give an impression of who came off more impressively -- and you don't need a s***load of dimes to figure it out, either. I won't reproduce them all, but a couple are worth noting. First off, Cruz slammed Allred for his transgender activism, leaving him mumbling while Cruz nailed him on his record:

Ted Cruz DEMOLISHES Colin Allred with his voting record in which Colin supported boys in girl’s sports and girl’s bathrooms, s*x change surgery for minors, and taxpayer funded drag shows and se*x change surgeries for military members pic.twitter.com/azxZI1ulPV

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) October 16, 2024

CRUZ: He's said not a word about his own record. I have to admit that at the beginning of it, it reminded me of Kamala Harris in the debates answering everything, "Look, I was born in the middle class." It's some lines that sound nice that ignore his record. Let's just talk about his voting record. Again, you can go to allredfacts.com, you can see the actual votes. Four times, he has come out for men playing in women's sports and boys playing in girl's sports. He is a co-sponsor and he voted for a law called the Equality Act. The Equality Act mandated that boys be able to go into girl's bathrooms, locker rooms, and their changing rooms. 

ALLRED: (mumbling) That's not true, that's not true

CRUZ: He voted for it. That is his record. Number two, there was a bill, it was a very simple bill, it was narrowly defined. It was protecting women and girl's sports. He voted no. The only issue on that bill was whether biological boys should compete against our daughters. Congressman Allred was an NFL linebacker. It is not fair for a man to compete against women.

The third time, he signed onto something called the Transgender Bill of Rights. The Transgender Bill of Rights explicitly, and he cosponsored it, mandated that boys compete against girls in sports. And just two weeks ago, Congressman Allred joined a hundred radical Democrats in demanding that our military allow drag shows on military bases, pay for soldiers to have sex changes using taxpayer money, and pay for children to be sterilized and have sex changes on military bases. Again, that's extreme. That's not Texas, but that's his voting record. 

The Cruz campaign followed that up by sending out the letter Allred signed demanding transgender surgeries for military members and their families. Allred joined Progressive Caucus leader Pramila Jayapal on this demand, siding with the most radical faction in Congress outside of The Squad:

FACT CHECK: Colin Allred sent a letter urging the Department of Defense to fund sex change surgeries for minors. pic.twitter.com/F4DiRsQya1

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) October 16, 2024

Bonchie also embeds a couple of clips in which Cruz links Allred to anti-Semitic radicals, specifically a Dallas imam that called Zionists "monsters." But the more important issue to Texas voters is border security, and Cruz absolutely laid out Allred on this issue -- again, based on Allred's record in the House:

Colin Allred called the border wall racist, and he pledged to tear it down personally.

He voted against the border wall not once, not twice, but three times.

Every time there is a serious measure to secure the border, he votes no. pic.twitter.com/gITthSyvcX

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) October 16, 2024

CRUZ: In his entire answer, Congressman Allred makes zero reference to anything he's actually done in office. As Gromer Jeffers rightly noted in his question, Congressman Allred has said publicly that if you believe border security matters, he thinks you're a racist. He calls the border wall quote, "That racist border wall," and he has pledged to tear down that "racist border wall" personally, and he said quote, "We will not have that wall in this country." 

And by the way, that's been his consistent voting record. He's voted against that wall not once, not twice, but three times. Every single time there's a serious measure to secure the border, Colin Allred votes no. Look, it's a pattern we've seen at the presidential level because it's what Kamala Harris does as well, and understand at home, Colin Allred is Kamala Harris. Their records are the same. I've served with both of them. They've voted in favor of open borders over and over and over again, and now they are desperately trying to hide that from the voters. 

Now at the end, Congressman Allred said, "Well gosh, Cruz hasn't done anything on that," but let's talk about my record. When Donald Trump was president, I worked hand-in-hand with President Trump to secure the border and we achieved incredible success. We produced the lowest rate of illegal immigration in 40 years. That's what Joe Biden and Kamala Harris inherited. It's what Colin Allred inherited, and they deliberately broke it and opened the border, and Texas is paying the price.

I may not have lived in Texas long, but I've lived here long enough to understand the cultural/political concerns of voters outside of Austin. Texans have watched the influx of relocations from blue states, especially California, with a great deal of trepidation. They do not want to see their state "Californicated," as it is put here on occasion. (I didn't coin that word, although I'd love to take credit for it.) Texans want abortion restricted, the border secured, and the woke elites to stay on the coasts. 

Allred represents the forces looking to Californicate Texas, both on policy and culture. The Academia elites are likely providing the lion's share of funding his campaign, as they did Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke's six years ago. Cruz won a narrower-than-necessary victory six years ago by pointing this out, and it looks as though he drove that point home over and over again in last night's debate. At least from these clips and others Bonchie includes, Cruz took advantage of his opportunities to make that choice clear. "Keep Texas Texas" is a powerful finishing theme in this state, and maybe even in Austin. 

Now Cruz needs to follow up over the next three weeks with a robust ad campaign on that theme and on these issues. If he allows Allred to dominate the airwaves, he'll be, er ... Californicated. And so will the rest of us in Texas, and the country.