Colin Zachary Allred (born April 15, 1983) is an American politician, civil rights lawyer, and former professional football player serving as the U.S. representative from TX's 32nd congressional district since 2019. The district includes the northeastern corner of Dallas, as well as many of its northeastern suburbs, such as Garland, Richardson, Sachse, Wylie, and the Park Cities. Before entering politics, Allred was a linebacker who played for the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League (NFL) for four seasons. He was released after 4 years and no other team signed him so he left football to pursue a degree in law, receiving his J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, followed by positions in the Obama administration, first at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and later at the Executive Office for United States Attorneys. A member of the Democratic Party, Allred defeated 11-term incumbent Pete Sessions in the 2018 United States House of Representatives elections in Texas. Allred challenged Republican incumbent Ted Cruz in the 2024 United States Senate election in Texas. He was defeated by Cruz in the general election. Not having run for re-election as a U.S. representative, he will be succeeded by Julie Johnson.

Early life and education

Allred was born in Dallas, Texas. He was raised by a single mother who was a public school teacher. A fourth-generation Texan, Allred attended Hillcrest High School in Dallas, where he played baseball, basketball and football, and served as class president. He earned a scholarship to play college football at Baylor University. In 2001, Allred began to play for the Baylor Bears as a linebacker under head coach Guy Morriss. In 2005, he was selected as the team captain and defensive MVP. In December 2005, Allred graduated from Baylor with a Bachelor of Arts in history. As a senior, he received All-Big 12 honorable mention from the Associated Press. He was also selected as a first-team Academic All-Big 12 in 2004 and 2005.

Professional career

Football

Allred was signed by the Tennessee Titans as an undrafted free agent following the 2006 NFL draft on May 4, 2006. He was waived on August 29 but re-signed on January 26, 2007. Allred was waived again on September 1 during final cuts and signed to the practice squad on September 2. He was promoted to the active roster as linebacker on December 15 and made his NFL regular season debut on December 16, 2007. In four seasons for the Titans between 2007 and 2010, Allred appeared in 32 games and recorded 46 tackles. On October 10, 2010, during a Titans game with the Dallas Cowboys, he was severely injured in the neck during a game when he collided with Cowboys player Martellus Bennett. He subsequently decided to retire from football and go to law school, and he became a free agent before the 2011 season without signing with another team.

Law

In 2011, Allred enrolled at the UC Berkeley School of Law. He worked as a research assistant for professor and author Ian Haney López and graduated in 2014 with a Juris Doctor degree. After graduating from law school, Allred worked for Battleground Texas as its Dallas-Fort Worth Regional Director of Voter Protection, overseeing the state's first coordinated voter protection program. His responsibilities included overseeing the voter registration efforts of hundreds of volunteers and managing a comprehensive poll watcher program that helped thousands of North Texans vote. In 2016, he worked as a special assistant in the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of General Counsel alongside then-Secretary Julian Castro in the Obama administration. Subsequently, Allred worked as a civil rights attorney at the law firm Perkins Coie, where he was a voting rights litigator and counsel to clients including national and state political candidates and advocacy organizations.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2018

On April 21, 2017, Allred announced his campaign to challenge incumbent Republican Pete Sessions in 2018. In a crowded Democratic primary that included two other Obama administration alums, Allred finished first, by 20 points, but did not get 50% of the vote. In the May 22 runoff election, Allred defeated Lewisville businesswoman Lillian Salerno, receiving 69.5% of the vote. Allred faced Sessions in the general election. As of November 2016, this was considered a swing district because Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton received marginally more votes than Donald Trump even as Sessions was reelected with no major-party opposition. Allred described himself as a moderate Democrat. U.S. Representative John Lewis rallied in support of Allred in October. On November 6, 2018, Allred was elected to the House of Representatives for the 32nd district of Texas. His victory was considered an upset because Sessions had been in Congress since 1997 and represented the 32nd district since its creation in 2003. Allred became the second person to represent this district and the first Democrat. Sessions had represented the neighboring 5th district, and transferred to the 32nd after the 5th was seemingly made less Republican in redistricting. As a measure of how Republican this area had been, much of what is now the 32nd had not been represented by a Democrat since 1968, when it was part of the neighboring 3rd district. Allred was one of two former NFL players to win a seat in Congress that year, along with Anthony Gonzalez.

2022

The United States Chamber of Commerce, which often backs Republican candidates, endorsed Allred, a Democrat, in the 2022 House election.

Tenure

Allred was elected co-president of the Democratic freshmen of the 116th Congress (2019–2021), alongside fellow Obama administration alumna Haley Stevens. He endorsed his former boss and fellow Texan, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, in the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries. After Castro withdrew from the race, he endorsed Joe Biden. Allred voted for the two articles of impeachment against President Donald J. Trump in his first impeachment in 2019. He also voted to impeach him during his second impeachment in 2021 following the January 6 Capitol attack. During his tenure, Allred worked with Senator John Cornyn on the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. He also initiated efforts to establish the Garland VA Medical Center, and supported passage of legislation for new veterans' facilities, including a VA clinic in El Paso and a spinal cord injury center in Dallas in 2022. Additionally, he supported the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, which secured funds for infrastructure upgrades at the Corpus Christi Port Ship Channel. He also sought $241 million in earmarks for his district, for projects largely at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport in 2021. In 2023, the Common Ground Committee named Allred the most bipartisan member of Congress from Texas.

Committee assignments

Caucus memberships

2024 U.S. Senate campaign

On May 3, 2023, Allred announced his candidacy for the United States Senate in 2024, challenging Republican incumbent Ted Cruz. In March 2024, he won the primary nomination for the Democratic Party. Allred's endorsements include the Human Rights Campaign, National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare, and End Citizens United. In September 2024, Liz Cheney endorsed him. On November 5, 2024, Allred lost the general election to incumbent Ted Cruz by 8.6 points.

Political positions

The AFL-CIO has given Allred a 100% voting record on union related issues. Over 70% of the bills he has cosponsored have had bipartisan support.

Abortion rights

Allred opposes the state abortion ban in Texas, and supports the restoration of Roe v. Wade through codification.

COVID-19

Allred emphasized the importance of vaccination against COVID-19, and criticized others for spreading misinformation about the vaccine. In 2021, he stated that, while supportive of the economic stimulus proposed at the time, vaccination was the most important step people could take, noting that "[n]o amount of aid of any kind is going to allow us to outspend this virus." He has also opposed overriding the Medicare and Medicaid rules around requiring health care workers to be vaccinated.

Foreign policy

Israel

Allred voted in December 2023 to provide Israel with support following the Hamas attack on Israel. He voted two months later in favor of House Resolution 894 condemning anti-Zionism as antisemitism.

Syria

Allred voted in 2023 against H.Con.Res. 21 which directed President Joe Biden to remove U.S. troops from Syria within 180 days.

Gun laws

In 2022, after the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, he voted for the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act; this law incentivized states to pass red-flag laws and significantly narrowed the so-called boyfriend loophole, which had allowed abusive partners to obtain guns so long as they were not married to the survivor of the abuse. He has also supported a federal assault weapons ban.

Immigration

In 2019, he opposed deploying troops along the southern border. In January 2024, Allred was one of 14 Democrats who voted for a resolution to "denounce the Biden administration's open-borders policies".

LGBT rights

Allred defended his support for LGBTQ+ rights in 2024, focusing on the need for protections against discrimination based on sexual identity. He highlighted that Texans largely value personal freedom, saying, “In the Texas that I believe in and that I grew up in, we mostly want to leave folks alone." Allred emphasized that his goal is to extend existing protections for race, gender, and national origin to include sexual identity.

Voting rights

Allred led a group of House Democrats in 2021 in sending a letter to their Senate colleagues urging them to pass the "Freedom to Vote Act". A year later, he was a lead cosponsor for the Sustaining Our Democracy Act which would upgrade voting equipment, improve cybersecurity, expand early voting, and hire and train poll workers.

Personal life

Allred married Alexandra Eber on March 25, 2017. They have two sons, born in 2019 and 2021. Allred is related to former Texas governor James V. Allred.

NFL statistics

Electoral history