The Texas Debate

Colin Allred and Ted Cruz take Texas Senate debate stage in Dallas

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and Democratic Rep. Colin Allred will meet Tuesday, October 15, in the only debate of their Texas Senate race that could help determine which party controls the U.S. Senate.

"The Texas Debate" will take place at 7 pm in Dallas, at the WFAA/Channel 8 studio, and it will be broadcast across Texas. In addition to airing on WFAA, it will be livestreamed on the WFAA+ app, available for download on Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire, as well as on iPhone and Android, the television station says.

The debate will be moderated by WFAA political reporter Jason Whitely and Gromer Jeffers Jr. of The Dallas Morning News.

(Note: According to WFAA, the first hour of the two-hour show Dancing with the Stars will be on WFAA's 8.2 over-the-air broadcast signal. The full two-hour Dancing with the Stars episode will also be available on ABC streaming platforms starting Wednesday morning.)

Courtesy photo

Colin Allred is debating Ted Cruz.

What's at stake
Nationally, Democrats view Texas as one of their few potential pickup chances in the Senate this year, while much of their attention is focused on defending seats that are crucial to their thin majority, including in Montana, Ohio and West Virginia.

Cruz has urged Republicans to take Texas seriously amid signs that he is in another competitive race. The last time Cruz was on the ballot in 2018, he only narrowly won reelection over challenger Beto O'Rourke.

The debate presents Allred, a three-term congressman from Dallas and former NFL linebacker, with a chance to boost his name identification to a broad Texas audience. Allred has made protecting abortion rights a centerpiece of his campaign and has been sharply critical of the state's abortion ban, which is one of the strictest in the nation. The issue has been a winning one for Democrats, even in red states like Kentucky and Kansas, ever since the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in 2022 to strip away constitutional protections for abortion.

Cruz, who fast made a name for himself in the Senate as an uncompromising conservative and ran for president in 2016, has refashioned his campaign to focus on his legislative record. He portrays his opponent as too liberal. Allred has meanwhile sought to flash moderate credentials and has the endorsement of former Republican U.S. Reps. Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney.

The two candidates alone have raised close to $100 million, according to the most recent reports from the Federal Election Commission. Tens of millions more dollars have been spent by outside groups, making it one of the most expensive races in the country.

Purple state
Despite Texas' reputation as a deep-red state and the Democrats' 30-year statewide drought, the party has grown increasingly optimistic in recent years that they can win here.

Since former President Barack Obama lost Texas by more than 15 percentage points in 2012, the margins have steadily declined. Former President Donald Trump won by 9 percentage points in 2016, and four years later, won by less than 6. That was the narrowest victory for a Republican presidential candidate in Texas since 1996.

“Texas is a red state," said Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University in Houston. “But it’s not a ruby-red state."

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Politics News

Dallas narrows down field for new city manager to 4 candidates

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This is an Dallasite's sign to launch that small business they've been dreaming of.

After six months without a city manager, the city of Dallas has narrowed down the field of replacements to four semifinalists including one serving as current interim city manager, plus candidates from Fort Worth, Michigan, and Georgia.

Dallas has been without a city manager since May, when previous city manager T.C. Broadnax left to take a job with the city of Austin. Since that time, Broadnax's former chief of staff Kimberly Bizor Tolbert has served as interim city manager.

The city retained Baker Tilly, a consulting firm, to recruit and compile candidates. (Baker Tilly famously erred in the brochure it created for the position by featuring a photo of the Houston skyline instead of Dallas; they've since replaced it with Dallas.)

A spokesperson for Baker Tilly did not respond to inquiries but according to D Magazine, an email listing the candidates has been sent to the Dallas City Council.

The semifinalists include:

Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, Dallas’ current interim city manager
William Johnson, an assistant city manager in Fort Worth
Mark Washington, the city manager of Grand Rapids, Michigan
Zachary Williams, a county chief operating officer in Georgia

All have more than 25 years' of public administration experience and have worked in similar capacities in their respective cities.

Before working in Fort Worth, Johnson was Baltimore’s transportation director and Atlanta’s deputy chief operating officer and public works commissioner.

Washington worked in Fort Worth and Austin before becoming Grand Rapids’ city manager.

Williams has mostly worked in Georgia at the county level, including serving as county manager in Fulton County and chief operating officer in DeKalb County.

Tolbert began working for the city in 1998, first as the city manager’s assistant and later in the aviation department. Broadnax hired her as his chief of staff in 2017.

Unlike the Mayor and the Dallas City Council, the city manager position in Dallas is not elected but is instead appointed by the city council, and is tasked with executing policies, overseeing the annual budget, and managing staff at city hall.

The council’s Ad Hoc Committee will choose finalists, introduce them to the public, and make an offer in early 2025.

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