Colin Allred | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2022 | |||||
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromTexas's32nd district | |||||
| In office January 3, 2019 – January 3, 2025 | |||||
| Preceded by | Pete Sessions | ||||
| Succeeded by | Julie Johnson | ||||
| Personal details | |||||
| Born | Colin Zachary Allred (1983-04-15)April 15, 1983 (age 42) | ||||
| Political party | Democratic | ||||
| Spouse | |||||
| Children | 2 | ||||
| Education | Baylor University (BA) University of California, Berkeley (JD) | ||||
| Football career | |||||
| No. 56 | |||||
| Position | Linebacker | ||||
| Personal information | |||||
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||||
| Weight | 242 lb (110 kg) | ||||
| Career information | |||||
| High school | Hillcrest (Dallas, Texas) | ||||
| College | Baylor | ||||
| NFL draft | 2006: undrafted | ||||
| Career history | |||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||
| |||||
Colin Zachary Allred (born April 15, 1983) is an American politician,civil rights lawyer, and former professionalfootball player who served as theU.S. representative forTexas's 32nd congressional district from 2019 to 2025. The district includes the northeastern corner ofDallas as well as many of its northeastern suburbs, such asGarland,Richardson,Sachse,Wylie, and thePark Cities.
Before entering politics, Allred was alinebacker who played for theTennessee Titans of theNational Football League (NFL) for four seasons. After being released, he left football to pursue a degree in law. Allred received hisJ.D. from theUniversity of California, Berkeley. He then held multiple positions in theObama administration, first at theDepartment of Housing and Urban Development and later at theExecutive Office for United States Attorneys. A member of theDemocratic Party, Allred defeated 11-term incumbentPete Sessions in2018.
Allred challenged Republican incumbentTed Cruz in the2024 United States Senate election in Texas. He was defeated by Cruz in the general election; however, he outran the Democratic presidential ticket in theconcurrent presidential election in Texas by 5.5%. In July 2025, Allred announced he would run for the U.S. Senate again in2026.
Allred was born inDallas, Texas. He was raised by his mother, Judith Allred,[1] a single mother who was apublic school teacher.[2] As of 2024, Allred had never met his father.[3] A fourth-generation Texan,[4] Allred is related to formerTexas governorJames V. Allred.[5][3] Allred is biracial; his father is black and his mother is white.[6] Allred attendedHillcrest High School in Dallas, where he played baseball, basketball and football, and served asclass president.[2] He earned a scholarship to playcollege football atBaylor University.[7][8]
In 2001, Allred began to play for theBaylor Bears as alinebacker[9] under head coachGuy Morriss.[10] In 2005, he was selected as theteam captain and defensiveMVP.[11][12] In December 2005, Allred graduated from Baylor with a Bachelor of Arts in history.[13][14] As a senior, he receivedAll-Big 12 honorable mention from theAssociated Press.[15] He was also selected as a first-team Academic All-Big 12 in 2004 and 2005.[13][12]
Allred was signed by theTennessee Titans as anundrafted free agent following the2006 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 thepractice squad on September 2.
He was promoted to the active roster aslinebacker[2] on December 15 and made his NFL regular season debut on December 16, 2007.[16] In four seasons for the Titans between 2007 and 2010, Allred appeared in 32 games and recorded 46 tackles.[17]
On October 10, 2010,[18] during a Titans game with theDallas Cowboys, he was severely injured in the neck during a game when he collided with Cowboys playerMartellus Bennett.[19] He subsequently decided to retire from football and go to law school,[19] and he became a free agent before the 2011 season without signing with another team.[20]
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In 2011, Allred enrolled at theUC Berkeley School of Law. He worked as aresearch assistant for professor and authorIan Haney López and graduated in 2014 with aJuris Doctor degree.[21][14]
After graduating from law school, Allred worked forBattleground Texas as itsDallas-Fort Worth Regional Director of Voter Protection, overseeing the state's first coordinated voter protection program. His responsibilities included overseeing thevoter registration efforts of volunteers and managing apoll watcher program. In 2016, he worked as a special assistant in theDepartment of Housing and Urban Development's Office of General Counsel alongside then-SecretaryJulian Castro in the Obama administration.[22]
Subsequently, Allred worked as a civil rights attorney[2] at the law firmPerkins Coie, where he was avoting rights litigator and counsel to clients including national and state political candidates and advocacy organizations.[22][23]
On April 21, 2017, Allred announced his campaign to challenge incumbentRepublicanPete Sessions in 2018.[24] In a crowded Democratic primary that included two otherObama administration alums, Allred finished first, by 20 points, but did not get 50% of the vote.[25] In the May 22runoff election, Allred defeatedLewisville businesswomanLillian Salerno, receiving 69.5% of the vote.[26]
Allred faced Sessions in the general election. As of November 2016, this was considered aswing district because Democratic presidential candidateHillary Clinton received marginally more votes thanDonald Trump even as Sessions was reelected with no major-party opposition.[27] Allred described himself as a moderate Democrat.[28] U.S. RepresentativeJohn Lewis rallied in support of Allred in October.[29]
On November 6, 2018, Allred was elected to the House of Representatives for the32nd district of Texas.[30] His victory was considered an upset because Sessions had been in Congress since 1997 and represented the 32nd district since its creation in 2003.[31] Allred became the second person to represent this district and the first Democrat. Sessions had represented the neighboring5th 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 neighboring3rd district. Allred was one of two former NFL players to win a seat in Congress that year, along withAnthony Gonzalez.
TheUnited States Chamber of Commerce, which often backs Republican candidates, endorsed Allred, a Democrat, in the 2022 House election.[2]
Allred was elected co-president of the Democratic freshmen of the116th Congress (2019–2021), alongside fellow Obama administration alumnaHaley Stevens[32] whom he later endorsed in 2022 in her competitive primary againstAndy Levin.[33]
He endorsed his former boss and fellow Texan, formerHousing and Urban Development SecretaryJulian Castro, in the2020 Democratic presidential primaries.[34] After Castro withdrew from the race, he endorsedJoe Biden.[35]
Allred voted for the twoarticles of impeachment against President Donald J. Trump in his first impeachment in 2019.[36] He also voted to impeach him during hissecond impeachment in 2021 following theJanuary 6 Capitol attack.[37]
During his tenure, Allred worked with SenatorJohn Cornyn on theBipartisan Safer Communities Act.[38] He also initiated efforts to establish theGarlandVA Medical Center,[39] and supported passage of legislation for new veterans' facilities, including aVA clinic inEl Paso and a spinal cord injury center inDallas in 2022.[40] Additionally, he supported theConsolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, which secured funds for infrastructure upgrades at theCorpus Christi Port Ship Channel.[4] He also sought $241 million inearmarks for his district, for projects largely atDallas Fort Worth International Airport in 2021.[41]
In 2023, the Common Ground Committee named Allred the most bipartisan member of Congress from Texas.[38]
On May 3, 2023, Allred announced his candidacy for theUnited States Senate in2024, challenging Republican incumbentTed Cruz.[46] In March 2024, he won the primary nomination for the Democratic Party.[47]
On November 5, 2024, Allred lost the general election to Cruz by 8.5%.[48] Allred overperformedKamala Harris in theconcurrent presidential election by 5.5%, receiving nearly 200,000 votes more than Harris did and receiving greater support in the largely HispanicRio Grande Valley.[49][50]
On July 1, 2025, Allred announced that he would run for the U.S. Senate again in2026, challenging incumbent Republican SenatorJohn Cornyn.[51]
TheAFL-CIO has given Allred a 100% rating on union-related issues.[2]
Allred is amoderate Democrat.[52] Over 70% of the bills he has cosponsored have had bipartisan support.[53]
Allred opposes thestate abortion ban in Texas. He supports the restoration ofRoe v. Wade through codification.[54]
Allred emphasized the importance ofvaccination against COVID-19,[55] and criticized others for spreadingmisinformation about the vaccine.[56] 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."[55] He has also opposed overriding theMedicare andMedicaid rules around requiring health care workers to be vaccinated.[57][58]
Allred voted in December 2023 to provide Israel with support following theOctober 7 attacks.[59][60] He voted two months later in favor of House Resolution 894 condemninganti-Zionism asantisemitism.[61]
Allred voted in 2023 against H.Con.Res. 21 which directed PresidentJoe Biden to remove U.S. troops fromSyria within 180 days.[62][63]
In 2022, after themass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, he voted for theBipartisan Safer Communities Act; this law incentivized states to passred-flag laws and significantly narrowed the so-calledboyfriend loophole, which had allowedabusive partners to obtain guns so long as they were not married to the survivor of the abuse. He has also supported afederal assault weapons ban.[64][65]
In 2019, he opposed deploying troops along the southern border.[66] In January 2024, Allred was one of 14 Democrats who voted for a resolution to "denounce the Biden administration's open-borders policies".[67][68]
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".[69] A year later, he was a lead cosponsor for the Sustaining Our Democracy Act which would upgrade voting equipment, improvecybersecurity, expand early voting, and hire and train poll workers.[70]
Allred married Alexandra Eber on March 25, 2017.[71] They have two sons, born in 2019 and 2021.[72]
| Height | Weight | 40-yard dash | 20-yard shuttle | Three-cone drill | Vertical jump | Broad jump | Bench press | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | 237 lb (108 kg) | 4.85 s | 4.37 s | 7.33 s | 34.0 in (0.86 m) | 9 ft 7 in (2.92 m) | 17 reps | |||||
| All values from pro day[73] | ||||||||||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Colin Allred | 15,442 | 38.5 | |
| Democratic | Lillian Salerno | 7,343 | 18.3 | |
| Democratic | Brett Shipp | 6,550 | 16.4 | |
| Democratic | Ed Meier | 5,474 | 13.7 | |
| Democratic | George Rodriguez | 3,029 | 7.5 | |
| Democratic | Ron Marshall | 1,301 | 3.2 | |
| Democratic | Todd Maternowski | 945 | 2.4 | |
| Total votes | 40,084 | 100.0 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Colin Allred | 15,658 | 69.5 | |
| Democratic | Lillian Salerno | 6,874 | 30.5 | |
| Total votes | 22,532 | 100 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Colin Allred | 144,067 | 52.3 | |
| Republican | Pete Sessions (incumbent) | 126,101 | 45.7 | |
| Libertarian | Melina Baker | 5,452 | 2.0 | |
| Total votes | 275,620 | 100.0 | ||
| Democraticgain fromRepublican | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Colin Allred (incumbent) | 178,542 | 52.0 | |
| Republican | Genevieve Collins | 157,867 | 45.9 | |
| Libertarian | Christy Mowrey Peterson | 4,946 | 1.4 | |
| Independent | Jason Sigmon | 2,332 | 0.7 | |
| Total votes | 343,687 | 100.0 | ||
| Democratichold | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Colin Allred (incumbent) | 116,005 | 65.3 | |
| Republican | Antonio Swad | 61,494 | 34.6 | |
| Total votes | 177,499 | 100.0 | ||
| Democratichold | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Colin Allred | 569,585 | 58.9 | |
| Democratic | Roland Gutierrez | 160,978 | 16.7 | |
| Democratic | Mark Gonzalez | 85,228 | 8.8 | |
| Democratic | Meri Gomez | 44,166 | 4.6 | |
| Democratic | Carl Sherman | 31,694 | 3.3 | |
| Democratic | Robert Hassan | 21,855 | 2.3 | |
| Democratic | Steven Keough | 21,801 | 2.3 | |
| Democratic | Heli Rodriguez-Prilliman | 18,801 | 1.9 | |
| Democratic | Thierry Tchenko | 13,395 | 1.4 | |
| Total votes | 967,503 | 100.00 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Ted Cruz (incumbent) | 5,990,741 | 53.07% | ||
| Democratic | Colin Allred | 5,031,249 | 44.57% | ||
| Libertarian | Ted Brown | 267,039 | 2.37% | ||
| Total votes | 11,289,029 | 100.00% | |||
| Republicanhold | |||||
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromTexas's 32nd congressional district 2019–2025 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Keynote Speaker of theDemocratic National Convention 2020 Served alongside:Stacey Abrams,Raumesh Akbari,Brendan Boyle,Yvanna Cancela,Kathleen Clyde,Nikki Fried,Robert Garcia,Malcolm Kenyatta,Marlon Kimpson,Conor Lamb,Mari Manoogian,Victoria Neave,Jonathan Nez,Sam Park,Denny Ruprecht,Randall Woodfin | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forU.S. Senator fromTexas (Class 1) 2024 | Most recent |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded byas Former U.S. Representative | Order of precedence of the United States as Former U.S. Representative | Succeeded byas Former U.S. Representative |
| People | |
|---|---|
| Other | |
