Democrat Colin Allred Launches New Senate Bid, Vying For John Cornyn's Seat After Losing To Ted Cruz

Former Democratic Rep. Colin Allred announced on Tuesday he is launching a new run for the Senate next year, this time trying to unseat Republican incumbent John Cornyn, who is already facing a tough primary challenge from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

In a launch video, Allred claims the Trump administration has been increasing costs for Texans and blaming Cornyn for his role in enabling the scenario. "Texans are working harder than ever, not getting as much time with their kids, missing those special moments, all to be able to afford less," Allred says in a passage of the video.

"And the people that we elected to help, politicians like John Cornyn and Ken Paxton, are too corrupt to care about us and too weak to fight for us," Allred adds, acknowledging that he could end up running against the Texas attorney general.

In fact, a June poll shows Cornyn is trailing Paxton by 22 points in a race pitting two factions of MAGA Republicans against each other. The study, released by the Educational Freedom Institute and conducted by pollster Robert Blizzard, showed Paxton leading Cornyn 50% to 28% among Republican primary voters.

More specifically, the attorney general expanded his lead among voters described as "very conservative GOP primary voters," leading Cornyn 60% to 22%. The poll also showed Paxton leading Cornyn by 35 points among "MAGA voters" and by 12 points among senior voters. President Donald Trump has not endorsed either candidate, with both seeking a decision that could sway the outcome.

Allred appeared to mount a serious challenge for Cruz last year, with the race becoming the most expensive in the country. Combined, they raised $193 million, with Allred getting the upper hand: he racked in over $100 million compared to Cruz's almost $92.5 million, according to data published by the Texas Tribune got from the Federal Ethics Commission. Polls also showed the Democrat within striking distance of Cruz, even taking a slight lead at times.

However, it wasn't enough. Cruz easily won the election by more than eight percentage points, getting 53.1% of the vote compared to Allred's 44.5%. Libertarian Ted Brown, on his end, took less than 2.5% of the votes.