Ted Cruz touts endorsement from Kim Ogg, a Houston Democrat, in bid for crossover votes

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Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg, a Democrat who has been on the outs with her party in recent years, is endorsing U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz over his Democratic challenger, U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, according to the GOP senator’s campaign.

Ogg is set to announce her support at a Tuesday evening campaign rally with Cruz, who is vying for a third Senate term in November against Allred, D-Dallas. It is perhaps Ogg’s sharpest break yet from her party after several years of escalating strife with local Democratic leaders, culminating in her landslide defeat in the March primary.

In a statement shared with The Texas Tribune, Ogg pointed to her and Cruz's mutual interest in cracking down on violent crime, which she said is "bigger than partisanship." She also noted that Cruz recently sought her support for his legislation aimed at keeping migrants in custody if detention beds are available — a proposal sparked by the killing of a 12-year-old Houston girl who authorities say was murdered by two Venezuelan migrants who entered the country illegally.

"I am endorsing Senator Ted Cruz because he has taken action at a time when Americans want solutions, not excuses about why Democrats and Republicans won’t work together," said Ogg, who in recent weeks penned an op-ed with Cruz and appeared with him at a press conference to promote his bill.

Ogg, the top prosecutor in Texas' biggest county, is the most prominent Democrat yet to endorse Cruz, who made his name as a tea party firebrand but has sought to emphasize his bipartisan bona fides ahead of November. Earlier this year, Cruz launched a group, “Democrats for Cruz,” to spotlight his work across the aisle on Texas-specific issues that typically fly under the national radar. For one, Cruz has touted his effort with U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, to streamline the permitting process for bridges used to cross the Texas-Mexico border to encourage international trade.

But Ogg's stamp of approval is unlikely to move most Democrats in Harris County. She won just 25% of the March primary vote against one of her former prosecutors, Sean Teare, who charged his former boss with abandoning her reformist principles — an argument she hotly disputes.

Ogg’s relations with much of the party began to unravel in 2019, when she opposed Harris County’s watershed bail reform deal, aimed at preventing most poor misdemeanor defendants from awaiting trial behind bars because they couldn’t afford to pay cash bail. She also has repeatedly sparred with Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, at first butting heads with the fellow Democrat over funding for new prosecutors. Later, Ogg spearheaded an investigation that led to the indictment of three Hidalgo aides. Ogg hired the Texas Republican Party’s general counsel to do “extensive” work on the case, the Houston Chronicle reported, fueling speculation among some Democrats that Ogg was pursuing a “political vendetta,” as Hidalgo claimed.

Democratic precinct chairs formally admonished Ogg last December, passing a resolution that alleged she had “sided with Republicans to advance their extremist agenda, and stood in the way of fixing the broken criminal justice system." Ogg said the resolution was rooted in misinformation. First elected in 2016 with the backing of liberal megadonor George Soros, Ogg insists she has stuck with her progressive pledge to divert low-level drug offenders from jail — only rankling fellow Democrats, she argues, over her opposition to pretrial release for defendants accused of violent crimes.

In any case, Cruz is hoping Ogg's endorsement could help peel off even a fraction of the centrist Democrats and independents who backed Ogg or who favor a stricter approach to crime than mainstream Democrats.

Monique Alcala, executive director of the Texas Democratic Party, said in a statement that voters would reject Cruz's "failed rebrand attempt."

“Because of Kim Ogg’s divisive tenure as DA, Harris County voters resoundingly rejected her by 50 points," Alcala said. "Everyone knows that outside of an election year, Ted Cruz has no real interest in working with both parties."

Cruz also touted the endorsements Tuesday of several Democratic county judges, sheriffs and constables from rural counties along or near the border, newly added to his “Democrats for Cruz” group. Reeves County Judge Leo Hung blamed national Democrats for inciting a spike in migrant crossings at the southern border and said he was endorsing Cruz over the senator’s efforts to secure the border.

In a statement, Cruz said the Democratic officials were supporting him because "they know that Colin Allred's radical progressive policies, whether on the border, public safety, or economy, will push Texas back, not forward."

Allred, for his part, has leaned into immigration and border politics more than most Democrats, voicing support for a mix of security-minded policies and changes addressing legal immigration and the status of undocumented people in the U.S.

The Dallas Democrat released a new TV ad last week in which he says he is “working with both parties to finally secure the border” and “add more Border Patrol agents, crack down on fentanyl and human trafficking, and get tough with the cartels.” Allred has also disputed that Cruz is willing to work in a bipartisan fashion, frequently branding him as a leading obstructionist to bipartisan immigration reform efforts.

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