A new political action committee plans to pour money into the Texas Senate race next year in an effort to oust Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX).
Sean Haynes, the founder of the organisation, told Axios that the “Lose Cruz” group would serve as “a good old fashioned attack machine to expose all of Ted Cruz's deplorable actions and the consequences of them.”
The move comes as Rep Colin Allred (D-TX) announced that he would challenge the two-term incumbent senator and one-time candidate for the Republican nomination for president in 2016.
So far, the organisation will not throw its support behind Mr Allred, but rather focus more on opposing Mr Cruz.
The effort will also include efforts from Sawyer Hackett, an adviser to former San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro’s presidential campaign, abortion rights activist Olivia Julianna and Abbi Rahman, who worked for Beto O’Rourke’s gubernatorial campaign last year, The Texas Tribune reported.
“I think one of the few times that Americans across the aisle are united is when we're talking about how much we dislike Ted Cruz,” Ms Julianna told Axios.
The effort comes as Mr Cruz seeks a third term in the US Senate. In 2018, he narrowly beat Mr O’Rourke. But that race came during Donald Trump’s presidency, whereas Mr Cruz will be on the ballot in a presidential year in a state President Joe Biden lost.
Mr Cruz, for his part, dismissed the new effort.
“It’s not surprising that Democrats are already starting to pour money into Colin Allred’s campaign,” a Cruz spokesperson told Axios. ‘He has no name ID and is running on a radical leftist record that Texans have rejected time and time again. Allred is a reflection of the current state of the Democrat Party in Texas: unpopular, unknown, and hopeless.”
Currently, Mr Allred is the only Democratic candidate for Senate in Texas. State Sen Roland Gutierrez, who represents Uvalde, is also considering a run.
The Cook Political Report has rated the race as “Likely Republican”
