U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, D-Dallas, has fresh bipartisan bragging rights after former Republican colleague Liz Cheney announced Friday she’s supporting his challenge to U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
“You might not agree on every policy position, but we need people who are going to serve in good faith,” Cheney said during an on-stage interview at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin. “We need people who are honorable public servants, and in this race that is Colin Allred, so I’ll be working on his behalf.”
Cheney criticized Cruz’s objections to certifying President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.
Allred joined Congress in 2019, two years after Cheney was elected in Wyoming. The pair cosponsored more than 50 bills, including proposals to support veterans and first responders, Allred’s campaign said in a news release.
“Though we may not agree on everything, we’ve been able to find common ground by putting our country over political parties,” Allred said in the release. “Importantly, we both believe in protecting our democracy, our constitution and the foundational promise of our great country.”
Allred has put his ability to work with Republicans at the center of his campaign as recent polling shows him within striking distance of Cruz.
The Cruz campaign, referring to Cheney as the “poster child of flip-flopping,” expressed surprise at the endorsement.
“Two years ago, the voters of Wyoming overwhelmingly rejected her, just like the voters of Texas will overwhelmingly reject Colin Allred this November,” the campaign said. “But hey, misery loves company.”
Allred and Cheney were serving in the House on Jan. 6, 2021, when a crowd of President Donald Trump’s supporters fought their way into the Capitol as lawmakers prepared to certify Biden’s victory.
After Senate Republicans blocked the formation of a commission to investigate the attack on the Capitol, the House voted to form its own committee. Then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., rejected two Republican selections for the panel, saying their past actions and statements would have threatened the integrity of the investigation. The rejection of U.S. Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Jim Banks of Indiana, who voted against certifying the election, prompted GOP leaders to boycott the enterprise.
Pelosi picked two high-profile critics of Trump from among the House Republicans, including Cheney.
The Wyoming representative’s willingness to break with Trump cost her a spot in House GOP leadership. She later lost her 2022 primary, with many fellow Republicans backing the challenger, including U.S. Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Frisco, who traveled to Wyoming in the closing stages of the campaign.
Cheney made headlines earlier this week when she announced she would work to help Vice President Kamala Harris defeat Trump in November.
Speaking Friday at TribFest, she talked about the danger posed by a potential Trump second term and said her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, also supports Harris.
Dick Cheney is a former Dallas resident who was CEO of Halliburton before being tapped as George W. Bush’s running mate in 2000.
Many Democrats had little love for members of the Cheney family and their conservative politics but have welcomed Liz Cheney’s outspoken criticism of Trump.
During Friday’s interview, Liz Cheney also criticized candidates up and down the ballot who she said have “embraced election denialism.”
Leading up to Jan. 6, Cruz had argued for blocking certification of Biden’s victory to allow time to investigate allegations of election fraud made by Trump and his supporters. On the day of the Capitol riot, Cruz organized a group of senators in an effort to block Congress from certifying the election results.
Liz Cheney said Friday there’s no basis for Congress to act as the “court of last resort” on election challenges after governors certify their states’ election results.
Taking questions from the audience, Cheney was asked what message she had for Texans discouraged by Texas Republican leaders who embrace Trump.
“Vote for Colin Allred,” she said.
