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Senator Ted Cruz was brutally shut down by Democratic Senate challenger Representative Colin Allred during their heated debate on Tuesday, when the Republican laughed at a comment about the January 6 2021 Capitol riots.
In what marks their first – and only – Senate debate ahead of Election Day in less than three weeks’ time, the Texas lawmakers exchanged barbs on the debate stage over abortion, the southern border and the economy.
Allred also threw a jab at Cruz’s 2021 Cancún holiday controversy – the incident one pollster predicted could hinder his 2024 reelection chances.
Cruz, a one-time Donald Trump enemy-turned-firm fixture of the MAGA crowd, was pressed particularly hard over his embrace of Trump’s election interference claims which have been accused of fomenting the Capitol riots.
“You can’t be for the mob on January 6, and for the officers. You can’t,” Allred said as the candidates stared one another down.
Cruz’s response was to laugh, a reaction that prompted Allred to snap that his remarks were “not funny.”
“You’re a threat to democracy,” the Democrat added, leaving the senator staring at the floor.
Allred spoke of the moment that he was in the joint session of Congress for the certification of the 2020 election results when the Capitol was stormed by pro-Trump rioters trying to overturn the former president’s defeat to President Joe Biden.
“I was on the House floor when we went through the votes. I remember when you objected to the results in Arizona,” Allred recalled.
That day, Cruz shared his “objections” to the election results in Arizona. His actions led to calls for him to resign ahead of the 2024 GOP presidential primaries in January.
Continuing his blistering critique, Allred added: “On January 6, when a mob was storming the Capitol, he was hiding a supply closet,” an incident which Cruz himself wrote about in his 2022 book, Justice Corrupted.
Allred also addressed Cruz’s controversial trip to Cancun, where the senator abandoned his state in the middle of a winter storm that killed 246 Texans and left millions without power and running water in February 2021.
The scandal, which left the senator with the nickname “Cancún Cruz”, was exacerbated when Cruz attempted to justify his actions by claiming he was just trying to be “a good dad” to his daughters.
“When the lights went out in the energy capital of the world, he went to Cancún,” Allred added.
The debate comes as Allred appears to be hot on Cruz’s heels with the gap between the candidates for the seat in the traditionally red stronghold continues to narrow.
Cruz, who is looking to retain his seat for a third consecutive term, is still tipped to be narrowly ahead in the race, despite Allred closing the gap to just 2.8 percent, according to The Hill’s polling.
If he wins, Allred, a former NFL linebacker, will become the first Democrat elected to statewide office in Texas since 1994.
The race could be critical to determining which party controls the upper chamber.
Democrats currently have a two seat advantage over Republicans in the Senate – 51 to 49 – thanks to four independents who caucus with them.
But pollsters have warned that a few crucial races could flip the Senate majority into the GOP’s hands. Jon Tester’s Democratic Senate seat in Montana appears to be slipping away, while GOP Senator Rick Scott has garnered a large lead over his Democratic challenger Debbie Mucarsel-Powell.
