Colin Allred is in a tight race with Ted Cruz. Here’s how he’s planning to become Texas’ first Democratic senator in decades.

O’Rourke’s campaign that year worked to energize Democratic voters — with a focus on young and progressive voters — and his town hall events became a signature part of his campaign.

Allred’s campaign approach is a bit different than the one pursued by O’Rourke, who represented the El Paso area in Congress from 2013 until 2019. He’s seeking to maximize Democratic turnout as well, but he’s conducted serious outreach to independents and Republicans to be a part of his moderate-minded campaign.

“I have a record of being the most bipartisan Texan in Congress,” he told me during our conversation.

It’s the sort of ethos that Allred takes with him on the campaign trail across Texas, a behemoth of a state that contains huge cities and scores of medium-sized and smaller cities and towns in between. It can take around thirteen hours to drive across Texas from the east to the west.

“This is a massive state, and what happens in one part of the state is not always known in the other part of the state,” Allred told me, adding of his experience: “I don’t come across any Texans who are looking for a handout, but I come across Texans who are looking for somebody who’s going to be on their side.”

Democrats in Texas already perform strongly in cities like Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. But in the Trump era, Democrats have also increasingly won over more suburban voters, a phenomenon that has helped the party immensely in other Sun Belt states like Arizona and Georgia. And if Allred is to defeat Cruz, he’ll have to put up extremely strong numbers with suburban voters across the board.

Mark P. Jones, a political science professor at Rice University, told me in a interview that Cruz is in a tougher spot compared to other Texas Republicans because he lacks substantial “crossover” support. Republicans for decades have flexed their political muscle in the state based on their strong support from the party faithful and conservative-leaning independents.

But Cruz, a onetime GOP presidential candidate, has cut a polarizing profile both in Texas and on the national stage.

“He doesn’t have much appeal to the sort of soft Republicans, independents, and moderate-to-conservative Democrats in the same way that Gov. Greg Abbott or Sen. John Cornyn do,” Jones said. “And it’s not a large amount, but he starts off at a disadvantage in that he needs to pretty much win all of the Republican vote and make sure that Republicans turn out.”

Cruz ‘too small’ for Texas

On the campaign trail, Allred has targeted Cruz’s infamous 2021 trip to Cancún, Mexico, which occurred while many Texans were without power due to a severe winter storm.

During our conversation, Allred depicted Cruz as someone who doesn’t have a broader vision for one of the fastest-growing states in the country, which now boasts over 30 million residents.

Business Insider has reached out to the Cruz campaign for comment.

“Texas is incredibly diverse and dynamic, but we have been governed by extremists who I think have put at risk all of the positives about our state,” Allred told me. “Ted Cruz, in particular, is someone who I think is just too small for Texas. His vision is too small for us. And to me, it’s kind of the opposite of the Texas that I know.”

Allred, who would be the first Black senator from Texas should he defeat Cruz, also spoke about the difficulties of change in a state where Republicans have long held a firm grip on power.

“When you have a one-party rule state for so long, you can get an impression that there’s no changing it,” Allred told me. “There’s always a sense that we should have change. But can we break through?”