They mostly agree on things. They have some different priorities and some differences in approach, and in some cases one would go farther than the other, but in the end they’re quite similar.
Rep. Colin Allred
U.S. Rep. Colin Allred of Dallas and state Sen. Roland Gutierrez of San Antonio both think they have the platform needed to unseat U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, the conservative powerhouse who is seeking reelection next year.
Each brings a different profile to the race. Allred is a former NFL player and civil rights attorney from North Texas who was first elected to Congress in 2018. Gutierrez is an immigration lawyer from South Texas who has served in the Texas Legislature since 2008, first in the House and then in the Senate.
Allred openly touts his bipartisan credentials in a closely divided U.S. House. Gutierrez, meanwhile, has become an outspoken Democrat in a Texas Senate where Republicans dominate.
Their differences extend to the issues, according to recent interviews with the two candidates. While they generally agree on many Democratic priorities, they diverge on the best way to address some of them, including gun control, immigration and health care.
To be clear, the primary could still grow. State Rep. Carl Sherman, D-DeSoto, has been considering a run and is expected to announce his decision soon.
Allred and Gutierrez spoke to The Texas Tribune to lay out their policy positions ahead of the Democratic primary in March.
You can read on for their positions on multiple issues, but really, the differences are mostly small. The important thing is that both would be solid Dems and a trillion times better than Ted Cruz. As for Rep. Carl Sherman, as I said before I cannot understand why he would enter this race, as he would have no path to victory I can see.
Meanwhile, here’s a good story about why Sen. Gutierrez is running.
Sen. Roland Gutierrez
It was a Wednesday in late May of last year, and state Sen. Roland Gutierrez stood outside of a small home in Uvalde, talking to a family that couldn’t stop crying.
Gutierrez, eyes sunken from a night of little sleep after the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School, was weeping himself. U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro was standing nearby, watching Gutierrez closely as he spoke.
“It’s very hard to know what to say in those moments without babbling or without saying nothing,” Castro said. “People really appreciated his presence there.”
Perhaps it was because Gutierrez, 52, knows grief well.
He was only 9 months old when his mother died from an infection after a routine surgery. He doesn’t remember Diamantina Gutierrez, whose name means glitter in Spanish. But he saw the impact of her absence every day in his three older brothers’ eyes, the hurt and the anger they carried. He internalized it.
Long before a teenage gunman murdered 19 fourth-graders and two teachers in his Texas Senate district, Gutierrez knew what it was like to see other people’s pain and desperately want to take it away. He knew that there were no magic words to make things better.
Like so many others, Gutierrez separates his life into two periods: Before May 24, 2022 and after. He was always rowdy and liberal, but the school massacre turned him into something of a single-issue lawmaker. He focused almost exclusively on gun control and police accountability bills that had no chance of passing in the conservative Senate, where he represents a district stretching from San Antonio to Big Bend.
His politics alienated his GOP colleagues, who rejected Gutierrez’s proposals both based on policy and his confrontational approach. They’ve scolded him for speaking out of turn on the Senate floor. They have been offended by his suggestions that their lack of support means they do not care about Texas children in the same way he does.
Now that it’s clear the Texas Legislature will have none of it, Gutierrez is doing anything but backing off. Instead, he’ll showcase the same issues in his race against Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz.
It’s clear we have two terrific candidates in this race. We listen to them, we pick one, we unite behind him, and we go beat Ted Cruz. Who’s up for that?
Too bad they both can’t win. But it’s nice that this won’t be a “hold your nose” choice.