(Texas Scorecard) – For the first and only time before the election, Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and his Democrat rival U.S. Rep. Colin Allred met to debate on Tuesday night.
Hosted by WFAA, issues in the debate ranged from abortion to the border crisis, and allowing boys in girls’ sports.
On abortion, Cruz said he supported Texas’ pro-life laws while acknowledging that other states would make different decisions.
“In Texas, we overwhelmingly support that parents should be notified and have to consent before their child gets an abortion. In Texas, we overwhelmingly agree that late-term abortions in the eighth and ninth months, that’s too extreme. And I’ll tell you, in Texas, we overwhelmingly agree that taxpayer money shouldn’t pay for abortions,” said Cruz.
He went on to attack his opponent’s position on abortion as extreme, noting that Allred “voted in favor of striking down Texas’ parental notification law. He voted in favor of striking down Texas’ parental consent law. He voted to legalize late-term abortions, including the eighth and ninth months.”
Allred, meanwhile, said he would fight to “restore a woman’s right to choose” and to “make Roe v. Wade the law of the land again.”
“It’s not pro-life that our maternal mortality rate has skyrocketed up by 56 percent,” said Allred. “So, to every Texas woman at home, every Texas family watching this, understand that when Ted Cruz says he’s pro-life, he doesn’t mean yours.”
On the issue of the crisis at the southern border, Cruz pointed to his work with President Donald Trump to help secure the border.
“When Donald Trump was president, I worked hand in hand with President Trump to secure the border, and we achieved incredible success,” said Cruz, contrasting his position with Allred’s.
“Congressman Allred has said publicly, if you believe border security matters, he thinks you are a racist. He calls the border wall ‘that racist border wall.’ And he has called to tear down ‘that racist border wall’ personally,” he added.
Allred, meanwhile, attacked Cruz for opposing a “bipartisan border security bill” earlier this year.
“Time and again, he comes down [to the border] and puts on his outdoor clothes, tries to look tough. He goes back to Washington and does nothing to help. In fact, he does worse than nothing. When the toughest border security bill in a generation came up in the United States Senate—$20 billion for border security—he said, ‘We don’t need a border bill.’”
Notably, the $20 billion for border security that Allred cited was part of a package deal that Republicans rejected over the inclusion of an additional nearly $75 billion for Ukraine and Israel.
One of the biggest issues playing out in the campaign thus far has been Allred’s position on allowing boys in girls’ sports. The issue has been the target of Cruz’s campaign ads and led to Allred denying the accusations, despite voting against legislation to protect girls sports.
“I know a lot of y’all at home, for example, saw two biological men competing in women’s boxing at the Olympics,” said Cruz. “That was wildly unfair. You know, my youngest daughter plays volleyball. It’s not fair for a biological boy or man, a teenage boy, to spike the volleyball at her, and he has voted repeatedly in favor of that.”
Pressed repeatedly to clarify his position on the issue, Allred said he “wouldn’t support these ridiculous things that he’s talking about,” but added, “What I think is that folks should not be discriminated against.”
Early voting begins on October 21. Election Day is November 5.