Former U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger to lead group of Republicans for Colin Allred

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Former U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a Republican who is one of the preeminent critics in his party of former President Donald Trump, will lead a GOP group backing U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, D-Dallas, in his drive to unseat U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz.

Republicans for Allred will be co-chaired by Kinzinger, a former Illinois congressman who later moved to Texas and who has excoriated Trump’s transformation of the GOP, an Allred campaign spokesperson confirmed.

The group will be co-chaired by former state Rep. Jason Villalba, R-Dallas, according to a Thursday news release. Other members include former Dallas Mayor and U.S. Rep. Steve Bartlett, former state representative and Texas House Elections committee chairman Todd Smith, former U.S. Rep. Alan Steelman, former state Rep. Bennett Ratliff, and Marc Sumerlin, former deputy director of the National Economic Council under President George W. Bush.

“This is a serious effort to reach out to Republicans,” Kinzinger said. “You’re going to see other folks come out and say, ‘look, we’re going to put slight differences aside because we actually believe in this country and what it stands for like Colin does and unlike Ted Cruz does.’”

Kinzinger, who spoke during prime time at the Democratic National Convention in August, gained national prominence for serving on the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. He was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for his effort to overturn the 2020 election.

In 2022, Kinzinger withdrew his reelection bid after his district was eliminated in an overhauled Illinois congressional map.

The Republicans for Allred campaign reinforces Allred’s bid to attract independents and more moderate Republicans — voters he’ll need in order to beat Cruz. Kinzinger’s push for Allred marks the latest high-profile crossover for the Dallas Democrat, after former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney endorsed Allred last month.

Recent polling shows Cruz holding a tight lead, with the nonpartisan Cook Political Report updating the Texas Senate race from “likely” to “lean” Republican on Tuesday.

Cruz has also garnered endorsements from across the aisle, winning the support of Democratic Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg, in addition to several Democratic county judges, sheriffs and constables.

In a statement, Cruz’s campaign dismissed the Republicans for Allred group as “another fake, feel-good vanity project for Allred.”

“Adam Kinzinger trying to relaunch his political career in Texas isn’t news,” Cruz’s campaign said. “You don’t have to look any further than the co-chair, Adam Kinzinger, a disgruntled former congressman who is on a vindictive rampage against everyone with an ‘R’ next to their name to know how deeply unserious and pathetic this is.”

Cruz cast doubt on the results of the 2020 election for weeks leading up to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Just as Trump’s supporters breached the Capitol, Cruz was on the Senate floor objecting to the certification of Arizona’s ballots.

Kinzinger, who has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president, was one of a few Republicans who denounced their party’s election denialism.

“If the Democratic Party decided some day to go off the rails, similar to what the GOP did, I guarantee you he would be like Adam Kinzinger or Liz Cheney saying this can’t happen,” he said of Allred to The Houston Chronicle, which first reported that he would lead the GOP group for Allred.