Texas election features ex-player
Ex-LB Allred faces Jerry Jones-backed foe
Deep in the heart of deep-red Texas, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has spent thousands in support of Congressman Pete Sessions, a Republican who represents his wealthy and exclusive neighborhood north of downtown Dallas. That’s his guy. And this is his turf, the
32nd District of Texas. It’s where Jones has a
$28 million home and where Tuesday’s midterm election has put him on the opposing side of a former NFL player backed by the NFL players union.
His name is Colin Allred, former linebacker for the Titans. He’s the Democratic challenger and is playing for much higher stakes than the last time he faced a Jones-backed team as a player against the Cowboys in 2010.
“I think Jerry is somebody who probably looks at Pete Sessions and recognizes some things,” Allred told USA TODAY.
Allred said he recognizes something else entirely, which is why he’s running for Congress. After 15 years under Sessions, this district might be ripe for change, one of many in the nation that could turn Democratic blue on Election Day, possibly altering the balance of power in Congress.
Polls show this race as a toss-up, owing to a number of possible factors, including backlash against President Donald Trump and shifting demographics in this once reliably Republican realm. Not so long ago, wealthy neighborhoods in this district racially segregated themselves to be white only.
Allred, 35, is black and grew up without a father.
“Colin Allred has, in this political climate, captured people’s attention,” said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, which is part of the district. “They’re giving him a look as an alternative.”
If he wins, Allred would serve a district where some of the neighborhoods resemble a Texas version of Beverly Hills. Besides Jones, former President George W. Bush has a home and a presidential library in this district. Former presidential candidate and businessman H. Ross Perot has a $20.8 million mansion there, along with Mavericks owner Mark Cuban ($18 million home), retired golfer Lee Trevino ($8.5 million), Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki ($6.1 million) and former Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach ($5.4 million), according to property records.
In June, Staubach gave the maximum individual donation of $2,700 to Sessions’ campaign for this election. Cuban told USA TODAY in an email that he was planning to vote but declined to state his preference.
A spokesman for the Cowboys said Jones wasn’t available to comment on the race. His family has spoken with its bank account instead.
Contrast in candidates
Records show Jones gave the Sessions campaign the $2,700 maximum for the Republican primary election this year and $2,700 in September, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
His wife, Gene, daughter Charlotte and son Jerry Jones Jr. also each gave the individual maximum of $2,700 to Sessions for the primary election and again for the general election.
The Sessions campaign didn’t respond to requests for comment.
“He is probably fighting the hardest he’s ever had to fight as an incumbent,” said Candace Evans, a popular real estate blogger who ran an unsuccessful campaign for a city council seat last year in the same district.
The two candidates differ along mostly traditional ideological lines and offer a stark contrast.
Sessions, 63, is the older white incumbent who is chairman of the Rules Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. He has been in Congress since 1997, when he represented another district before moving to the newly created 32nd. He has played up his ties to the Republican administration and has received endorsements from Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, who campaigned for him in October.
“The balance of the Congress may be well decided in Texas, in this district,” Pence told reporters with Sessions at his side.
Bush has helped raise money for him, too. Overall, the Sessions campaign has raised more than $4.4 million since last year, according to federal election data.
“Colin Allred wants a federal takeover of health care,” said a recent advertisement funded by the Congressional Leadership Fund, which supports Republicans. The ad said Allred was “too liberal for Texas.”
Allred was born and raised in the district, played football at Baylor and used earnings from his NFL career to go to law school at the University of California Berkeley. He later worked as an attorney in the Obama administration and has been endorsed by former President Barack Obama.
The NFL players union’s political action committee also donated the committee maximum of $5,000 to his and other campaigns after collecting contributions from many NFL players, including quarterback Tom Brady and cornerback Richard Sherman. Overall, Allred has raised more than $4.9 million since last year, according to federal election data.
“I know those players gave out of their hard-earned wages to that PAC,” Allred said of the players union PAC. “I appreciate the support, and the importance of being able to organize the way we did.”
Two years ago, the Democrats didn’t run a candidate to challenge Sessions, clearing his way to an easy victory with 71 percent of the vote. But there were signs of vulnerability for the Republicans even then.
Segregated past, tax brackets now
In the same election, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton got 48 percent of the vote in the district, compared to about 46 percent for Trump. Allred now has a chance here in part because of disenchantment with Trump and partly because of an increase in the Hispanic population, which has traditionally favored Democrats.
The white population has decreased in that district from 53 percent in 2010 to
48 percent this year, according to Esri, a location intelligence firm. At the same time, the Hispanic population has increased from 25 percent in 2010 to about
28 percent this year and projects to reach nearly 30 percent in 2023, according to the firm.
“The growth of the Latino population with the decline of the non-Hispanic white population is quite striking in this district and is likely behind it becoming a competitive U.S. House race,” Texas State Demographer Lloyd Potter said in an email.
That’s a different world from the days of segregation. In 1995, Bush sold a home in the Preston Hollow neighborhood in this district and later discovered it had a restrictive covenant in the deed designed to keep it under white ownership. Such covenants had been common in that area in prior decades and in this case was still in the deed when Bush sold it, unbeknownst to him at the time, a spokeswoman said then. By then, it wasn’t legally enforceable anyway.
Bush returned to the same area after finishing his second term as president.
“I think everybody who is from Dallas knows something about the history of residential segregation here in Dallas,” Allred said. “What I’m really proud of is how far we’ve come.”
This will be the first time Allred has been in a head-to-head matchup against a team backed by Jones since October 2010, when the Titans played at Cowboys Stadium. Allred aggravated a neck injury in that game and never played again, ending a career that spanned five seasons. His team still beat the Cowboys that day 34-27. After having surgery for the injury, he has a plate and two screws in his neck as part of his football legacy.
Football, he said, has been an “icebreaker” on the campaign trail, a way to connect with voters in a football-crazy state. He recently chatted on the phone with former Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith, underscoring his observation that this is a “really personal race.”
“For me, everywhere I go, there are folks I grew up watching, or have known growing up, or played with or played against,” Allred said.
Yet his success in the election might depend in large part on whether those old “comfortable” parts of the district opt for change, particularly the women living there, said Jillson, the professor at SMU. Jones’ neighborhood and other wealthy parts of the district are still noticeably Republican, said Evans, the real estate expert.
“These are women who generally vote their family tax bracket,” Jillson said. “Their (children) are going to private schools, and their (health) insurance is just fine, thank you. Whether they actually pull the trigger (for change) at the end of the day, that’s an open question.”