Border, abortion and guns dominate debate among Democrats seeking to topple Ted Cruz

Democratic candidates seeking to distinguish themselves from the field in challenging U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, faced off in Austin on Sunday in an attempt to both share their visions for addressing the issues facing the state and earn the support of organized labor advocates.

With discussions ranging from gun rights to international affairs and congressional term limits to reestablishing protected access to abortions, the Democratic primary debate, hosted by the AFL-CIO, featured U.S. Rep. Colin Allred of Dallas, state Sen. Roland Gutierrez of San Antonio and state Rep. Carl Sherman of DeSoto.

Texas AFL-CIO President Rick Levy said delegates to the organization’s annual convention in Austin will huddle Monday to determine whether any of the three candidates will win the labor group’s endorsement, which requires a two-thirds majority.

Ahead of the March 5 primary, candidates largely focused on how they differ on issues important to Democratic voters, sparingly bringing attention to Cruz.

Gutierrez fights on border; Allred doesn't bite

Though largely cordial throughout the debate, which ran for just over an hour, Gutierrez challenged Allred on his recent support of a Republican resolution criticizing President Joe Biden for his administration's response to the immigration crisis on the country's southern border.

Gutierrez, advocating for a comprehensive immigration reform program intent on expanding migrant access to jobs in America, argued that Allred's move to support a GOP stance on the border runs contrary to bipartisanship.

"It is wrong to throw Joe Biden under the bus, a president that has done so much for the working families of the United States," Gutierrez charged, receiving applause from the auditorium full of AFL-CIO union members.

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Defending his decision to support the resolution, which expressed concerns about "open border policies" and the potential for a national security crisis, Allred said the vote was difficult albeit necessary to move the border conversation forward.

"It was a tough vote for me," Allred responded. "It was a vote that I saw as being about whether ... we stood for the status quo or not."

All three of the candidates expressed a desire to support immigration reform if elected to the upper chamber, and each was also concerned about the politicization of the border issue and its real-life effects on migrants attempting to enter the country.

"We can have ideas, but unless we make them into law, they won't help anybody," Allred said.

Candidates align on reproductive rights

All three candidates took similar stances on abortion and women's access to health care, condemning recent actions overturning the nationwide right to an abortion.

"I will work on bipartisan efforts to pass legislation where we codify Roe vs. Wade," Sherman said of the long-standing court precedent that ensured the right to an abortion until 2022. "I will work to fight to restore the right for women to have choice."

Similarly, Allred called Texas' successful efforts to ban abortion in the state a clear example of a lack of freedom, which he said is something Texans should not accept and should actively fight against.

"What's happening within our families in our state is nothing short of a tragedy," Allred said. "And we have to restore this right."

Taking a bit of a different approach to the same goal, Gutierrez directed his frustrations to the Supreme Court of the United States, arguing that adding more seats to the country's top bench will help root out corruption and limit the ability of future courts to issue rulings that overturn previously afforded rights.

"I'll make sure that every woman is not kept in shackles anymore, because that is what Republicans want to do in this Congress," Gutierrez said.

Assault rifle ban, responsible gun ownership

Since the 2022 mass shooting in Uvalde that left 19 students and two teachers dead, Gutierrez has been a leading proponent of gun control. On Sunday, he again echoed a call for the complete prohibition of automatic assault rifles.

"I'm running because of all those children in Uvalde that died," Gutierrez said. "My campaign is about the pain that we're living in, the pain that families are dealing with."

While not advocating prohibitions to the extent that Gutierrez has sought, Allred said Congress needs to promote and allow for increased background checks on gun purchases and put in place red flag laws to prevent potentially deadly purchases.

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Allred, acknowledging Texas' friendly and longtime relationship with firearms, called on Texans to help prevent future issues by exercising responsible gun ownership.

Israel, international relations

In expressing their stance on the conflict between Israel and Hamas, both Sherman and Gutierrez were in favor of "compassion" for Palestinians caught in the crossfire of the Israeli response.

Gutierrez called for an outright cease-fire.

"This president must exhaust himself to find peace in this powder keg he calls the Middle East," Gutierrez said. "You cannot bring justice to 1,200 people by killing 30,000."

"The 20,000-plus Palestinians, they deserve our compassion," Sherman said. "I cannot support doing wrong when wrong is wrong, and so those families' lives matter, too."

Conversely, Allred was hesitant to agree with a cease-fire, saying that such an agreement without "conditions" would potentially keep hostages under the control of Hamas and allow the militant group opportunities to engage in future attacks.

"We can leverage and do everything we can to limit civilian casualties while also prosecuting this conflict against Hamas," Allred said. "But a cease-fire is not a magical term."

In the spin room

Gutierrez said in an interview after the debate that he went in planning to draw a contrast between himself and Allred, saying Democratic primary voters should have no doubt that he has no interest in accommodating Republicans bent on tearing down Biden.

“I came here to tell the truth; so, yeah, that was my intention,” Gutierrez said.

Sherman, a three-term state lawmaker who was probably less familiar to Democratic voters than the other candidates, said he wanted to focus his appeal on electability in November.

“The Republicans are going to play the same strategy they’ve been playing for the last three decades: good vs. evil,” Sherman said. “They do it effectively because they scare the bejesus out of their base. But that’s a hard game to play if they’re talking about a former mayor, a former city manager and a pastor.”

State Rep. Chris Turner, a North Texas Democrat who spoke on behalf of Allred in the post-debate spin room, said Allred’s message was that any meaningful congressional action will take bipartisanship.

“He was from the beginning articulating a clear vision of … how we can defeat Ted Cruz,” Turner said. “And that is by building a broad coalition.”

In a post-debate interview, Levy, the Texas AFL-CIO president, said that by agreeing to the three-way faceoff, the candidates recognized labor’s importance to the Texas Democratic constituency.

“I think this demonstrates that working people have a strong voice in the outcome of this race," Levy said.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Border, abortion, guns dominate debate among Democrats in US Senate race