In a political shakeup, former U.S. Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas), the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in 2024, has exited the 2026 Senate race and will instead run for the U.S. House of Representatives — setting up a high-stakes primary showdown with his successor, out lesbian U.S. Rep. Julie Johnson.
Allred had been one of two Democrats, along with State Rep. James Talarico (D-Austin), seeking to challenge incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn. Either Democrat faced an uphill climb in a state that has grown more conservative after briefly appearing to trend Democratic about a decade ago.
But an aggressive mid-decade redistricting effort by Texas Republicans — urged by President Donald Trump to pad GOP margins in the House in the midterm elections — along with GOP efforts to manipulate polling to entice another Democrat into the race, shook up the contest, culminating in U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) announcing her candidacy earlier this week. The Senate race gave Crockett a clearer path in what had been a tossup between Talarico and Allred.
Just prior to Crockett’s official announcement — amid widespread speculation she would enter the Senate race — Allred dropped out, citing Texas election law requiring candidates to win a majority of the vote to avoid a runoff between the top two finishers.
“I feel a responsibility to do what is best for the state and for the [Democratic] Party,” Allred told CNN’s Dana Bash. “And to me, going through a bruising primary, and in Texas, we have a runoff — and would certainly have a runoff in this case — was not in the best interest of the state or the party.”
Instead, Allred said he would run in the new Democratic-leaning 33rd District, which no longer has an incumbent following Crockett’s entry into the Senate race. The move sets up a showdown with Johnson, the former state representative who succeeded him in Congress after he represented parts of Dallas, Collin, and Denton counties from 2019 to 2025.
Both Democrats technically live in the new 24th District, a Tarrant County-based seat gerrymandered to favor Republicans. The new 33rd District, however, offers one of the few reliably Democratic seats in the Dallas-Fort Worth area — provided either can win the primary.
Both Allred and Johnson also face a shared disadvantage: much of the territory they once represented has been carved into the heavily Republican 5th and 32nd Districts, which extend beyond the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex into rural East Texas. As a result, both must introduce themselves to Democratic voters previously represented by multiple incumbents, including Crockett. With the primary scheduled for March 3, 2026, each has roughly three months to mount a competitive campaign.
Allred criticized Republican gerrymandering while announcing his House run, and emphasized his personal ties to the district, citing his upbringing in Dallas public schools, a football scholarship to Baylor University, and a brief NFL career with the Tennessee Titans. He also highlighted federal funding he secured for Dallas County residents during his time in Congress.
Johnson, meanwhile, criticized Allred’s move as political opportunism rather than conviction, contrasting his record with her own as a longtime North Texas lawmaker. She pointed to her 2018 victory flipping a Texas House seat held by Republicans for four decades and highlighted her work on behalf of Dallas County residents, including many she previously represented in the state legislature.
“This new district deserves representation that has been present in the tough moments, including throughout the redistricting fight, instead of parachuting back when another campaign doesn’t work out,” Johnson said in a statement.
For LGBTQ people eager to see one of their own community members in Congress, the primary in the 33rd District carries heightened stakes. Johnson made history in January as the first out LGBTQ member of Congress from the American South, and her re-election bid has drawn endorsements from major advocacy groups, including the Human Rights Campaign and Equality PAC, the political arm of the Congressional LGBTQ Equality Caucus.
Beyond representation, the race also carries policy implications for LGBTQ people. Johnson, a member of the Congressional Equality Caucus, has consistently opposed anti-LGBTQ legislation during her time in office at both the state and federal levels.
While Allred has previously voted for legislation such as the Equality Act, which would prohibit discrimination against LGBTQ people, he was among several Democrats last year who adopted Republican rhetoric and talking points regarding transgender inclusion in sports.
Allred was attacked last year for supporting pro-LGBTQ policies and for voting against a categorical ban on transgender athletes in female-designated sports. In response to an anti-transgender attack ad from U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, Allred, in his own ad, sought to blunt the criticism by invoking his Christian faith, stating, “I don’t want boys playing girls’ sports or any of this ridiculous stuff that Ted Cruz is saying.”
While transgender issues have not yet surfaced in the House race — and may carry less weight in a Democratic primary than in a general election — some transgender advocates remain skeptical of Allred’s status as an ally given his past rhetoric.
U.S. Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) is defending himself after leaked personal text messages showed him mocking fellow Democrats’ looks and criticizing them for not conforming to traditional gender norms.
In the texts, which were leaked to right-wing outlets, Gallego and a friend discuss his political future. At one point, the friend suggests that "somebody with a cool head and a solid plan could rise to the top" of the Democratic Party, according to People magazine.
"Oh man have you met my party?" Gallego replied. "I have been yelling at them this whole time."
The Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest LGBTQ advocacy organization, has stopped accepting financial support from two defense contractors, Northrop Grumman and RTX (formerly known as Raytheon).
The change, first reported by the progressive publication The Intercept, comes amid a two-year pressure campaign from far-left and pro-Palestinian organizations who alleged that the companies were profiting off of Israel's military campaign in Gaza by supplying arms and other military technology to the Israeli military.
In a statement to Metro Weekly, HRC said that it is not currently sponsored by Northrop Grumman or RTX, but did not directly respond to an inquiry asking specifically about how those relationships ended.
Texas A&M University System regents unanimously approved a policy requiring each campus president to sign off on any course that could be viewed as advocating "race and gender ideology" or addressing sexual orientation or gender identity.
The policy defines race ideology as "attempts to shame a particular race or ethnicity" or anything that "promotes activism on issues related to race or ethnicity rather than academic instruction." Gender ideology is defined as "a concept of self-assessed gender identity replacing, and disconnected from, the biological category of sex."
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