DALLAS — Since Vice President Kamala Harris jumped to the top of the ticket as the Presidential nominee, Democratic enthusiasm has notably escalated, from fundraising to voter registration.
But here in Republican-dominated Texas, the Democrat running for U.S. Senate had a fairly muted reaction when we asked him how Harris helps him in the polls.
“This was a close race before [Biden] got out of the race and it’s still a close race now,” Congressman Colin Allred, D-Dallas, told us on Inside Texas Politics, before quickly turning his sights on his Republican opponent, Sen. Ted Cruz.
Even when we asked the Congressman how the renewed excitement generated by Harris would help his campaign, Allred told us there was plenty of energy and enthusiasm before.
“Enthusiasm is important, but now we also have to turn it into action and getting folks out to vote, which has been one of our big struggles here in Texas,” said the Democrat.
Congressman Allred was excited to talk about a new initiative he launched with statewide Democrats called “Texas Offense.”
The Democrat describes it as the first state-wide coordinated campaign focusing on grassroots Texas voters that will allow the party to consolidate resources up and down the ballot.
“And so, we’re going to try and make sure that we’re sharing data, sharing resources, and really being much more efficient with what we’re doing,” he said.
The Congressman also discussed President Biden’s recently proposed reforms for the U.S. Supreme Court.
Allred says he can support an enforceable ethics code, which he says should have happened a long time ago.
But he wouldn’t commit to term limits, telling us he wants to study the issue more and better understand how it would operate.
“I do think that the original intention of the Supreme Court probably wasn’t for folks to serve on there for 40 years, right? That wasn’t the expectation. And so, I think we’ve gotten away from probably the original intention there,” the Democrat said. “And I think we’re seeing that we do need to constantly have discussions about how we can improve our democracy.”
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