While the goal among those running in the U.S. Senate Democratic primary is to defeat incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz, the two leading Texas Democrats battling for the nomination are working to differentiate themselves from each other.
This week, candidates U.S. Rep. Colin Allred of Dallas and Texas Sen. Roland Gutierrez of San Antonio sparred over the merits of the new federal immigration proposal put forth by the Senate.
Allred, who could not be reached by El Paso Matters, backed the policy on Monday, according to his interview with the Austin-American Statesman.
“While there is more to do, including finally securing a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, this bipartisan agreement is a much-needed step,” Allred told the Austin American-Statesman. “It will secure our border, reform our asylum and visa systems and surge resources to the border where they are needed to address this crisis.”
Gutierrez, who was in El Paso on Monday as part of his campaign tour, told El Paso Matters that the proposed immigration bill is worthless mostly because Democrats were catering to Republicans.
“Number one, we all know it is not going to pass and number two, it pays short shrift to communities of interest like El Paso, the Rio Grande Valley and other communities,” Gutierrez said. “You didn’t have Latinos at the table, it ignored Dreamers all together and it ignored comprehensive immigration reform.”
The immigration bill stalled Wednesday as Senate Republicans voted against it.
Gutierrez and Allred are considered the frontrunners for the Democratic nomination because they have raised the most money and are currently in elected offices.
Seven other candidates are on the Democratic ballot: A. “Robert” Hassan, Meri Gomez, Carl Oscar Sherman, Steven J. Keough, Thierry Tchenko, Mark Gonzalez and Heli Rodriguez Prilliman.
The winner will face Cruz in the November general election.
Rodriguez Prilliman was also in El Paso on Monday seeking the endorsement of the Eastside Democrats.
Rodriguez, who campaigns on the fact that she is a Fort Worth mom who had to quit her job because of costly daycare, said she is criss-crossing the state to give women a voice in this race.
“The situation is extremely dire in this state for women and young people,” Rodriguez told El Paso Matters, referring to the lack of reproductive health care services in Texas and the lack of help with daycare. “We need to have women in office that can speak to these issues, that can speak to childcare, that can speak to a cease-fire in Gaza.”
Early voting for the March primary starts Feb. 20.
The money, the issues
Allred, who raised $4.8 million from October through December, has outraised all of the candidates, including Cruz. Allred is a former NFL linebacker who is now a civil rights attorney. Gutierrez, an attorney who lives in San Antonio, has raised the second-highest amount of contributions, $433,000.
“Our campaign doesn’t have all the money in the world, it doesn’t matter, we don’t need it,” he said. “We are marching across this state everyday talking to people about the issues they care about.”
One of those issues is gun control.
Gutierrez’s Senate district includes Uvalde, Texas, where 19 elementary students and two teachers were killed by an 18-year-old carrying an AR-15 style rifle designed for military use.
“I own a whole lot of guns. I don’t own an AR-15 and I don’t need one,” Gutierrez said. “We need to have an assault weapons ban with certain exceptions, we need background checks and, overall, an 18-year-old should not be allowed to have access to that kind of weapon.”
Efforts to get stricter gun laws in Texas and throughout the U.S. have continuously failed, including Gutierrez’s bill during the 2023 Legislative session.
The other key issues for Gutierrez during this campaign are helping Dreamers, immigration reform and fixing the visa program for migrants.
“I don’t think building a wall is going to help much of anything,” he said. “We’ve all seen how many people go through, and over the walls. The fact is, it is a waste of taxpayer money and for all those people who think we need to build a wall, we need to remember this is our money, our money that could be going to healthcare, to education.”
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