After Texas’ 32nd Congressional District swung from 57-42 Romney all the way to 49-47, Democrats became a lot more interested in targeting longtime GOP Rep. Pete Sessions, and they got their first candidate this week. Colin Allred, who played for the Tennessee Titans before becoming a civil rights lawyer, announced on Wednesday that he was in.
Allred certainly cuts a different profile than plenty of other politicians, and his football career at Hillcrest High School (which is in the Dallas-area district) and at Baylor could be an asset if he runs. Allred went on to serve as a special assistant to the Housing Department while Julian Castro was secretary during the later Obama years; Castro is well-connected in national and Texas politics and if he’s close to Allred, he could help him raise money.
Allred may not be the only Democrat who runs, but he lost one possible primary foe this week. While Dallas school board member Miguel Solis expressed interest in running back in February, he also announced on Wednesday that he wouldn’t run. However, the Dallas Morning News says that Ed Meier, a nonprofit executive and former Hillary Clinton policy advisor, is one of "several Democrats [who] are considering campaigns,” though Meier doesn’t appear to have said anything publicly yet. The Texas Tribune’s Abby Livingston also recently mentioned Children's Medical Center senior vice president Regina Montoya as a potential candidate, though there’s no word on how interested Montoya is.
Despite this seat’s apathy to Trump, this won’t be an easy race. This seat, which includes some of Dallas’ more conservative neighborhoods (including the home and painting studio of George W. Bush) as well as the suburbs of Richardson and Garland, is still very friendly to the GOP overall. As a former chair of the NRCC, Sessions also will have no problem raising money. But Sessions hasn’t faced a serious Democratic opponent since he defeated Democrat Martin Frost in their 2004 incumbent vs. incumbent fight, and he’s not always been the most disciplined person in the world.