Colin Allred facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Colin Allred
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 32nd district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2019
Preceded by	Pete Sessions
Personal details
Born	Colin Zachary Allred (1983-04-15) April 15, 1983 (age 41) Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Alexandra Eber ​ (m. 2017)​
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
Undrafted:	2006
Career history
Tennessee Titans (2006–2010)
Career NFL statistics
Total tackles: 46
Player stats at PFR

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 Texas'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. He was seen as one of the only Democratic senatorial candidates who could plausibly defeat a Republican incumbent that cycle. Not having ran 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. His father is black and his mother is white. Allred attended Hillcrest High School in Dallas, where he played baseball, basketball and football. He accepted a scholarship to play college football at Baylor University. He played for the Baylor Bears as a linebacker. In December 2005, Allred graduated from Baylor with a B.A. in history. As a senior, he was All-Big 12 honorable mention.

Allred (#56) on a defensive play during Tennessee Titans training camp in 2008

Professional career

Football

Allred (#56) on a defensive play during Tennessee Titans training camp in 2008

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

Allred with Secretary Castro in 2016

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.

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.

Tenure

Allred visits a chip factory in Texas and pushes for the bipartisan Building Chips in America bill in 2023.

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 Capital attack.

During his tenure, Allred has worked with Senator John Cornyn on the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. He also initiated efforts to establish the Garland VA Medical Center, and was instrumental in the bipartisan 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 and improved various transportation networks in Texas. He also sought $241 million in earmarks for his district, for projects largely at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport in 2021.

Committee assignments

Allred while on the Committee of Foreign Affairs asks questions at a hearing on the humanitarian crisis in Yemen in 2022.

• Committee on Foreign Affairs
  • Subcommittee on the Middle East, North Africa and International Terrorism
• Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
  • Subcommittee on Aviation
  • Subcommittee on Highways and Transit
  • Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials
• Committee on Veterans' Affairs
  • Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs

Caucus memberships

• Congressional Black Caucus
• New Democrat Coalition
• Bipartisan Paid Leave Working Group
• Supply Chain Caucus; Co-chair
• Future Forum; Co-chair of Communications

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. The Common Ground Committee, an organization dedicated to reducing political polarization and promoting civility, recognized Allred as the most bipartisan member of Congress from Texas.

On November 5th, 2024 Allred lost to incumbent Ted Cruz by 8.6 points in the election.

Political positions

In a survey of House floor votes taken during the 117th United States Congress (2021-22), Allred's votes consistently aligned with the positions of the Biden Administration.

Gun laws

In the wake of the 2023 Cleveland, Texas shooting, Allred stated that he supports "common-sense actions like universal background checks and red-flag laws to ensure dangerous individuals don’t have these deadly weapons." In 2022, after the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Allred 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.

COVID-19

Allred has consistently emphasized the importance of vaccination against COVID-19 and has criticized others for spreading misinformation about the vaccine. In January 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.

Immigration

Allred has stated that he wishes to take a "pragmatic approach to reforming our broken immigration system," emphasizing the need to "secure our border and our ports of entry" using recent technologies. In 2019, he opposed deploying troops along the southern border.

Israel

Allred voted to provide Israel with support following 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.

Syria

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

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

See also

In Spanish: Colin Allred para niños

• List of African-American United States representatives
• List of American sportsperson-politicians