Democrat Colin Allred launches Texas Senate campaign for John Cornyn's seat

Former Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, announced Tuesday that he's running for Senate in 2026, eying the seat Sen. John Cornyn's seat.

Former Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, announced Tuesday that he's running for the Senate next year, eying the seat Republican John Cornyn has held for more than two decades.

Allred, a former NFL player who unsuccessfully tried to unseat Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, last year, is the first major Democratic candidate to jump into race.

In his campaign launch video, Allred seeks to flip the script many Republicans ran on last year and pin the blame for rising costs on President Donald Trump and the GOP-controlled Congress.

“Texans are working harder than ever, not getting as much time with their kids, missing those special moments, all to be able to afford less,” Allred says in the video. “And the people that we elected to help — politicians like John Cornyn and Ken Paxton — are too corrupt to care about us and too weak to fight for us.”

The GOP field for the Senate race is unsettled. Although Cornyn is a long-standing incumbent, he faces a serious primary challenge from far-right state Attorney General Ken Paxton.