Colin Allred

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Colin Allred (2019)

Colin Zachary Allred (born April 15, 1983 in Dallas , Texas ) is an American Democratic Party politician . Former NFL - Football Player of the Tennessee Titans was in 2018 on the 32nd congressional district in the Texas House of Representatives of the United States elected. In January 2019, he replaced the Republican mandate holder Pete Sessions .

Family, education and work

Colin Allred is the son of Judith Allred. He did not meet his African American father, who lived in Dallas and died when he was ten years old. He grew up as an only child with his single white mother, who was supported by her family and local associations, but experienced racism at an early age . His uncle and aunt brought Allred from downtown Oak Lawn to Far North Dallas for a better education. He attended Hillcrest High School in Dallas, where he received several awards for his academic achievements, played baseball and basketball and was the class speaker. He was also a member of the National Honor Society .

Allred graduated from Christian Baylor University in Waco on an athletic scholarship and played college football with the Baylor Bears . He made additional money by repairing computers. In December 2005 he obtained a bachelor's degree in history there. He was then accepted into the Law School of the University of California, Berkeley , but postponed his studies to pursue a career in sports.

After Allred had not been considered in the 2006 NFL Draft , he signed with the Tennessee Titans as a free agent and was initially assigned to the Practice Squad and included in the professional squad in the last three games of the 2007 season . There he played through the 2008 and 2009 seasons and the first five games of the 2010 season . In total, he completed 32 NFL games as a linebacker and managed 46 tackles . Allred was seriously injured in a collision with Martellus Bennett and had to undergo spinal surgery, whereupon he retired in 2010.

From 2011, Allred studied law at the University of California, Berkeley , graduated there with a Juris Doctor in 2014 and worked as a civil rights attorney . In 2013 he interned with the White House legal advisor during Barack Obama's administration and in 2014 worked in the office of a United States Attorney . He was then regional director of the Battleship Texas Foundation . From 2015 to 2016 he worked for the international law firm Perkins Coie and in 2016 became special assistant in the housing ministry under Julián Castro .

He lives in Dallas with his second wife, Alexandra Eber, a lawyer.

Political career

Allred's first contact with politics was as an electoral lawyer, initially for the gubernatorial campaign of former State Senator Wendy Davis in 2014. On election day in November 2016, he supervised election observers in Virginia for the presidential election . Allred described the outcome as a shock, and he took a few months to consider his next steps. In March 2017, he and his wife Alexandra moved to Dallas, and in April 2017 announced that he was running for the United States House of Representatives .

In the Democratic primary in the Texas 32nd Congressional District , which includes downtown and northern suburbs of Dallas, Allred faced a number of veteran politicians and celebrities, including Ed Meier, a former advisor to Hillary Clinton , investigative journalist Brett Shipp, and the Lillian Salerno, appointed by Obama to the Department of Agriculture . All candidates pledged to control President Donald Trump and work for comprehensive health care. The Republican mandate holder Sessions was presented by everyone as aloof from the constituency, which Democrat Hillary Clinton won by 1.4 percent in the 2016 presidential election . In the first round of the pre-election on March 6, 2018, Allred was ahead with 38.4 percent of the vote and moved into the runoff election with Salerno (18.4 percent), Allred on May 22, 2018 with 69.4 percent of the vote decided for himself. Observers pointed to the coherent content of Allred's campaign and many small events, through which Allred received strong support from activists, although he was temporarily behind in fundraising.

The main election on November 6, 2018 was long considered open with advantages for the Republican Sessions, who had represented the congressional constituency since 1997 and exerted great influence as chairman of the rules committee . While polls saw Allred ahead in some cases, political observers were more likely to expect a victory for the experienced Congressman Sessions. In mid-September and early October, President Trump announced his support for Sessions on Twitter , and Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Ted Cruz campaigned for him. The right-wing Super PAC Congressional Leadership Fund financed television spots in which Allred was described as "too left for Texas" (too liberal). Allred defeated Sessions with 52.2 to 45.9 percent of the vote.

Allred has represented the 32nd Congressional Constituency of Texas since January 3, 2019. He was elected co-president of 66 new Democrats in the 116th Congress with Haley Stevens in late November 2018 . The election to this purely internal-organizational role is seen as an indication that Allred is perceived as a candidate for management positions in his group. He was one of the last Democrats to vote for Nancy Pelosis to be re-elected as Speaker of the House . According to Inside Elections , Allred is a slight favorite for the 2020 election (leans democratic); his predecessor Pete Sessions announced in October 2019 that he would face Allred in the more Republican-leaning 17th Congressional constituency of Texas.

Positions

Allred's 2018 election campaign focused on health , education and improving the immigration system . He calls better health care a personal concern after his mother and aunt each had cancer. He bet on a message of unity against political polarization and on the generational difference to Sessions by emphasizing new ideas that he wanted to bring to Washington.

Web links

Commons : Colin Allred  - collection of images, videos and audio files

supporting documents

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Gromer Jeffers Jr .: Colin Allred is a son of his Dallas district. Can he unseat the man who's represented it for decades? In: Dallas News , October 21, 2018.
  2. ↑ a b Colin Allred. In: Tennessee Titans 2010 Media Guide (PDF) .
  3. ↑ 2005 Football Roster: Colin Allred. In: Baylor Bears.
  4. ^ A b Erik Bacharach: This former Titans linebacker is now a Congressman after Election Day win in Texas. In: Nashville Tennessean , November 7, 2018
  5. ↑ Kevin Skiver: Election 2018: How ex-NFL players Anthony Gonzalez, Colin Allred and other former athletes did at polls. In: CBS Sports , November 7, 2018.
  6. ^ Bryan Curtis: The Ex-linebacker Trying to Sack a Seat in Congress. In: The Ringer , May 5, 2017
  7. ↑ Colin Allred's Biography. In: Vote Smart.
  8. ↑ a b Stephen Young: Hope Abounds as Colin Allred Prepares To Take On Pete Sessions. In: Dallas Observer , May 23, 2018
  9. ↑ See the results of the first and second round of the primaries at Our Campaigns.
  10. ↑ Stephen Young: Republicans Are Putting Everything They Have Behind Pete Sessions. In: Dallas Observer , October 4, 2018. See aggregated predictions Texas 32nd District - Sessions vs. Allred. In: RealClearPolitics
  11. ↑ 2018 Midterm Election Forecast: Texas 32nd. In: FiveThirtyEight .
  12. ↑ General Election 2018: TX District 32. In: Our Campaigns.
  13. ^ Todd J. Gilman: Colin Allred elected freshman class co-president by new Democrats in Congress. In: Dallas News , November 28, 2018
  14. ↑ Griffin Connolly: 2020 strategy: If you can't beat 'em - move. In: Roll Call , October 3, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Allred, Colin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Allred, Colin Zachary (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American football player and Democratic Party politician
DATE OF BIRTH April 15, 1983
PLACE OF BIRTH Dallas , Texas