AUSTIN, Texas — Two high-profile Texas Democrats are running for Sen. Ted Cruz's seat in the 2024 election.
It's shaping up to be a highly competitive primary between Dallas-area Democrat Colin Allred and current Sen. Roland Gutierrez, who represents Uvalde.
Allred, a former NFL player, has been in the race for a few months and is considered a rising star in Texas and Washington D.C. He gave up his US House seat to try to unseat Cruz.
"Our campaign is laser-focused on beating Ted Cruz, and we are happy to welcome anyone who shares that mission into this race," Allred's campaign manager said in a statement.
Gutierrez is centering his campaign on the response to the Uvalde school shooting that left his community torn. Since the shooting, he has been critical of the police and state response to the massacre.
"I’ve been in this race for a matter of hours, and Ted Cruz is already attacking me. Let’s be very clear: the only thing that man has passionately defended is the gun lobby, himself, and his corporate donors. It’s time for a change," Gutierrez said.
Democrats are hoping that whoever their candidate ends up being, they will take Cruz down, but that will be a challenge.
"It’s helpful to have a competitive primary, in particular, a primary between two people who I don’t think are going to get nasty (and) who represent what is the base and the future of Texas: non-white voters particularly Hispanic voters," KHOU 11 political analyst Bob Stein said.
Both Allred and Gutierrez will have to sell themselves to Democratic primary voters.
Cruz's campaign responded to the growing Democratic field with a statement: "We welcome Senator Gutierrez to the race. Texans will now get to watch Colin Allred and Roland Gutierrez slug it out for who can be the most radical leftist in the state. Meanwhile, Sen. Cruz will continue passionately defending Texas and delivering real results for 30 million Texans."
Political experts said the disadvantage for a Democrat in Texas right now is being in a state that shows it's red -- leading both candidates to start spending money to increase name recognition.