Adam Zuvanich/Houston Public Media
Voters line up outside the Tom Reed Library in Pearland, Texas, October 22, 2024.
Early voting is underway in the competition for the US Senate between the current Republican president, Senator Ted Cruz, and his Democratic challenger, Congressman Colin Allred. Journalists in Houston, Cruz’s hometown, and Allred’s congressional headquarters in Dallas, asked voters what they thought of the candidates and what issues were most important to them.
Greater Houston
If there’s a common theme behind some Houston-area voters casting their ballots for Sen. Ted Cruz, it’s immigration and border security. That’s the message from Republican voters at the Trini Mendenhall Community Center in west Houston.
“The big topic he was talking about was borders,” David Bracken said. “We have a lot of illegal immigrants coming here trying to take over our country, and he’s fighting, and whoever’s red – what’s his name, and the other guy trying to take over his place? No.”
Sharon Kane, who used to live along the Texas-Mexico border, also considered border security her main concern. But she added that Allred’s commercials attacking Cruz’s stance on abortion were getting on her nerves.
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“The Supreme Court has returned the abortion issue to the states, and Cruz is a member of the Senate, the federal Senate,” Kaine said. “So how can he necessarily control what the state legislature does? So, I think that’s a false narrative there.”
Kane added that she doesn’t trust Allred because of his voting record. “I don’t think Allred was very honest about a lot of the things he did,” she said. “I voted for (former House Speaker Nancy) Pelosi 100% of the time. And I oppose a lot of the things that Democrats have pushed.”
For Kelly Holmes, support for Cruz came down to a simple matter of partisanship. “I think he was a good supporter of (former President Donald) Trump, because I think the whole thing was weaponized against Trump,” Holmes said. “I know it’s not everyone’s favorite flavor, but…I like it in Texas. I like that it’s conservative.”
Jason McClure, of Tom Reed Bookstore in Pearland, south of Houston, said a major factor that influenced his vote for Cruz was the senator’s commercials attacking Allred’s record on voting for transgender rights.
“Some of the things I’ve been hearing about Allred — and I believe what I’m hearing from the Cruz campaign about transgender this, that, and the other thing, which is pro-men in girls’ sports, I’m not for that,” McClure said. Biologically on my daughter’s sports team or whatever, I would have a heart attack.”
Reed Library voter Gabriel Jackson said he was skeptical of Allred’s record, and wondered where Allred gets his funding. “I’m not a big Cruz fan either,” Jackson said. “I think he’s bragging. I’m right in the middle, but I know what Colin Allred can do with voting, so (voting for Cruz) was an easy decision for me.”
But for others, it was Cruz who was too extreme. Keith Davis was the rare pro-Allred voter at the Trini Mendenhall Community Center in west Houston. “We need new leadership,” Davis said. “Just like a lot of people who leave (Texas) come. And that has to signify something. Texans like me, who were born and raised in Texas, should stay and should grow up here in Texas. That’s not happening.”
Natalie Weber/Houston Public Media
Vijay Kane says he’s taking time to learn more about the candidates and listen to them speak this election season.
Vijay Kane, who spoke at a Diwali celebration in Sugar Land, southwest of Houston, didn’t seem particularly enthusiastic about Allred’s record. But he felt that Cruz lacked a mind of his own. “He basically endorses everything Trump does,” Vijay Kane said. “The guy is a brilliant, highly educated guy, and some of the things that come out of his mouth, I wonder, did this guy really go to law school?”
While some Houston voters are willing to believe Cruz’s arguments that abortion is a decision of the state legislature, others remember the senator’s record of votes and speeches dating back long before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
“I think it’s just a waste,” said Yolanda Brown, who voted at the Tom Reed Library in Pearland. “It’s more than just abortion. Reproductive rights — we have women dying here, black women in particular. I think that’s so wrong.”
There are plenty of voters who still hold Cruz’s actions during Winter Storm Uri against him, like Nicole and Michael McCarthy, who voted at the Baker Ripley Center on Houston’s east end.
“I don’t think Ted Cruz has the best interests of anyone from Texas at heart. I think Ted Cruz is running for Ted Cruz. And honestly, I know that three years ago he went to Cancun during the ‘Snowfeed,’ but that’s really saying a lot,” Nicole McCarthy said. .
“We still remember the cold in our apartment, and seeing the pictures of Ted Cruz going to Cancun,” Michael McCarthy said. “I know there are bigger issues at stake, but I don’t think he’s a leader for Texas.”
Cassandra Combray, who voted at Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church in Houston’s 3rd Ward, made a similar observation. “First of all, when I’m cold, don’t go to Cancun and act like you really care about my interests, which I personally don’t,” Kuemper said.
Fellow Wheeler Avenue voter Linda McGee said the most important issues to her are abortion, voting rights and immigration. She had a simple message for Cruz: “Go home. This is what I would like to see him do. Go home and stay home. He hates women. He hates minorities. I don’t agree with anything, none of his policies.”
Dallas Fort Worth
Dallas voters who said they supported Allred consistently raised character and a desire for more bipartisan cooperation among lawmakers in Washington.
Kate Cavanaugh lives in Highland Park. On the day of Cruz’s one-on-one debate with Allred, she was shopping at the Trader Joe’s next to Hillcrest High School, Allred’s alma mater.
Kavanaugh says her ideal candidate should have a “broad personality, including decency and honesty.”
Something she said she didn’t see in Ted Cruz.
“No one is perfect,” Kavanaugh said, “someone who is not characterized by character assassination, who is not characterized by dehumanization, who is not characterized by self-serving decisions masked by policy-making decisions.”
Zach Thomas was inside the store grocery shopping, and was having the same thoughts. Like some people in Houston, he also talked about the 2021 winter storm.
“We’re good at Ted Cruz. Colin Allred is spot on,” Thomas said. “Don’t leave your state in a panic. He has been in office for over a decade and has nothing to show for it.”
Colleen Logan was heading to a hair salon located a few shops away. She also said she would vote for Allred.
“I’ve known Colin Allred since he was a footballer. He’s always been, in my view, a man of values, a man committed to, again, lifting people up, not tearing them down,” Logan said.
But, of course, having a candidate from the city you call home doesn’t outweigh party loyalty. Take Frank Campis. He is a Republican voter who cast his ballot for Cruz earlier this week at Lochwood Library in East Dallas. Campisi likes Cruz’s hard-line stance on borders, his most important issue this election.
Lochwood Library in East Dallas is a polling location.
“My grandfather came to this country from Italy, so I get it but there is a process and I think you have to go through that process,” Campis said. “You can’t open the door because you don’t know what’s coming to you. But I support people coming into the country the right way.”
Maddie Sipsik, a Republican who was shopping near Hillcrest High School, said she planned to vote for Cruz and had not even heard of Colin Allred.
“For me, it’s always been easier — because I lean more on that side and I think more of their interests are aligned with my interests — that it’s easier for me to go out and vote for all Republicans.”
Celia Napoli, who said she has been a Dallas resident for 12 years, also voted in East Dallas and cast her ballot for Allred.
“He was the representative (in the U.S. House) and he’s a great guy. He works hard. He works across the aisle. I don’t think we could ask for a better senator,” Napoli said.
When it came to more specific issues, Jaime Rodriguez said that the most important issue for him was abortion.
“Well, I have a daughter, so I’m aware of the changes that abortion brings,” Rodriguez said. He added, “I think the other thing the United States needs is to change policy again to be more cooperative. It’s okay to disagree, but we don’t have to be us versus them. We are all truly one country.”
However, whoever wins, Cruz voter Frank Campis had this closing thought.
I hope there are better candidates on both sides. “I think that’s what it really comes down to,” Campis said.
Of course, this is just a sample of voters in Dallas and Houston. In 2020, more than 11 million Texans cast ballots, and polls show Cruz leading.
