Texas Congressman Colin Allred flipped on his previous support for Medicare for all during Sunday night’s Democratic primary debate for the U.S. Senate.
During the debate, Allred (D-TX) was asked if he supported single-payer Medicare for all.
“Well, listen, I don’t support that, but I believe that every Texan deserves quality, affordable healthcare, and that’s what I’ve been fighting for my entire time in Congress,” Allred said, adding he has worked to protect the Affordable Care Act.
The statement is an apparent reversal from his previous position on Medicare in his prior campaign.
“I believe in Medicare for all,” Allred tweeted in 2018. “Access to quality and affordable healthcare is a right, one that too many of our fellow North Texans have been denied for too long.”
The link in the tweet goes to a broken page on his campaign website.
Allred, who represents Texas’ 32nd congressional district in the U.S. House, is running in the Democratic primary to challenge Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).
Philip Letsou, a spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said the congressman is only expressing more moderate options to boost his chances at election.
“Colin Allred is just a poor imitation of Beto O’Rourke — a diehard D.C. liberal playing moderate now that he wants a promotion,” Letsou told The Dallas Express. “Texans soundly rejected Schumer’s hand-picked candidate in 2018, and they’ll do the same with Allred.”
Allred’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Cruz defeated O’Rourke in 2018 by 2.6% as the Democrat raised $70 million in a highly anticipated election.
Allred similarly backtracked on his previous policy positions this month when he voted to condemn President Joe Biden for his handling of the border, as reported by The Dallas Express. He was one of three Democrats to vote for the resolution, along with Reps. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) and Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX). His previous votes on immigration had been consistently in line with his party.
