Democrat Texas Rep. Colin Allred (left) and Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (right). (Getty Images)
However, a possible general election matchup against Cruz will likely pose a tougher challenge considering the border and illegal immigration are among the top issues that concern voters in the Lone Star state, which continues bearing the brunt of the migrant crisis that's worsened under the Biden administration's watch.
During his first run for Congress in the 2018 midterm elections, Allred was a leading crusader against S.B. 4, a bill passed by the Texas legislature that effectively banned sanctuary cities by requiring local law enforcement "to comply with federal immigration laws and detainer requests," as well as creating criminal penalties for not enforcing the law.
"Following this national trend trying to act tough on immigration is not the Texas way," Allred said in a 2017 interview with Medium, adding that the bill was "misguided and discriminatory," and that it would "be a stain" on Texas history.
A few days after the interview was published, Allred continued raling against the bill in a lengthy Facebook post, calling it "cruel" and "inhumane."
"It is an insult to the generations of Latinos and others who built this state. I condemn this law, and call for its immediate repeal," he wrote.
Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, and members of the Congressional Black Caucus address the media on the House steps of the U.S. Capitol about alleged verbal abuse by Rep. Harold Rogers, R-K.Y., toward Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, on Tuesday, February 8, 2022. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Both bills passed the Republican-controlled House, but currently sit stalled in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
Additionally, Allred referred to the border wall as "racist," and called for it to be torn down, according to a report published last year by the Daily Caller citing video footage of Allred from 2018.
"I’ll tell you what, if they build that racist wall, my generation is the one that will tear it down. We are not going to have a wall in this country," Allred said.
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In another video cited by the outlet, Allred said, "I wanna briefly talk about this racist wall. The symbol of this country cannot be a fence with barbed wire on top of it. It has to remain the Statute of Liberty. I’ll tell you what. If they build that wall, my generation will be the one that tears it down. We will not have this in this country. We will not have this wall in our country."
"We are not going to waste billions of dollars on a racist campaign promise, and we are not going to turn the symbol of this country into a wall with barbed wire on top of it," he added.
When reached for comment, Allred told Fox News Digital, "Our immigration system is broken, and to fix it we need real solutions that secure our border, surge resources to Border Patrol and our border communities, create a pathway to earned citizenship for Dreamers and reform our system to better meet the needs of our economy."
"When given the opportunity to actually do something, Ted Cruz put politics over a bipartisan border security bill backed by the Border Patrol Union," he added.
Fox News Digital has also reached out to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for comment.
Brandon Gillespie is an associate editor at Fox News. Follow him on X at @BGillespieAL.
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