Allred Mocks Ted Cruz Curse in New Spot
Before Aggies Lose with Him as 12th Man
Capitol Inside
September 2, 2024
Democrat Colin Allred's timing was risky but perfect in the final analysis when he released a new campaign advertisement on Saturday on the misfortunes that Texas college and professional sports teams have suffered when U.S. Senator Ted Cruz has been on hand as their most famous fan.
Cruz could have had the last laugh if Texas A&M had upset Notre Dame at Kyle Field on Saturday night. Cruz appeared in the press box before the game with Aggies athletic director Trev Alberts, who said he'd been assured by the school's new president Mark Welsh that the senator would be a charm for the home team.
“We would like to welcome Senator Cruz back to Aggieland - and I’ll tell you how grateful we are that you are here,” Alberts told the Republican politician. “We know that you’ve been here many times, and I talked to Gen. Welsh about this, and he promised me that you’re going to be good luck tonight.”
Never mind. The Fightin' Irish beat the Aggies 23-13 in a game that was tied less than two minutes before it ended. Texas A&M was one of only three SEC teams that lost season openers on Labor Day weekend. A&M was one of only four SEC schools that faced competition from another major conference. With a 34-3 drubbing of Clemson, Georgia was the only SEC team to beat a school from a top-five conference this weekend. The other 12 Southeastern Conference schools crushed minor league opponents by an average score of 50-3.
It wasn't clear if Texas A&M officials invited Cruz to be part of the pre-game festivities on Saturday or the solon initiated the appearance. But Cruz left Aggie diehards who are superstitious wondering if they could have won the battle with the Irish if he'd been a no-show. Notre Dame entered the contest as the nation's 7th-ranked team. But A&M was favored by 3 points nonetheless as the team that was rated 20th before the game.
But it turned out to be a new verse for a tired old song based on the new Allred commercial that went up before the game. "Sports fan across Texas are suffering from the same affliction - the Ted Cruz curse," a narrator contends.
The Allred spot blames the "Cruz curse" for Texas Longhorn and Dallas Cowboys losses to Washington and Green Bay respectively in the NCAA and NFL playoffs early this year.
The commercial the senator responsible for the outcome of the national basketball championship contest that Virginia won in overtime against Texas Tech in 2019. The Democrats' new ad argues that the Red Raiders would have won the national title if not for Cruz.
The Allred advertisement claims that the Houston Rockets would have "soared" into the NBA championship series in 2018 if Cruz hadn't jinxed them before the final playoff game with Golden State that years.
The Democratic challenge's ad contends that the Houston Astros would have advanced to the World Series in 2023 if not for Cruz's cheerleading for the team in the city where he was raised. The consolation for Cruz in this singular case may be the fact that the Texas Rangers defeated Cruz's Astros to land a berth in the championship series that they went on to win last year.
Allred has a shot to become the first Democrat to win statewide in Texas in the past 30 years with Cruz as the most vulnerable Republican among the highest-ranking leaders here. Cruz dodged lightning in 2018 when he defeated Democrat Beto O'Rourke by less than 3 percentage points.
A pair of polls in August found Cruz up on Allred by a mere 2 points in a statistical tie. But Cruz led Allred by 9 points in a survey that ActiVote made up public on Saturday after a Quantus poll showed the incumbent with an advantage of 7 points the day before.
While Texas A&M rolled the dice on Cruz as a lucky charm, Allred picked an easy winner in an X post that plugged the Baylor Bears before a match with Tarleton State that the Big 12 school won 45-3. Allred played football for Baylor before a career in the NFL.
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