Ted Cruz opponent Colin Allred backs Harris at DNC after keeping distance during campaign

Texas Rep. Colin Allred, who is seeking to unseat Senator Ted Cruz in the next elections, gave a very public show of support to Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris after keeping his distance during most of the campaign.

Allred delivered remarks on the last day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, saying "I'm so proud to be here to support our next president, Kamala Harris." He then focused mostly on his attempt to beat Cruz and the need to do the same with GOP nominee Donald Trump, who he described as "me-guys."

"You know, the type to talk a big game, only care about themselves, but you don't want to get stuck with them at a barbecue. We got a message the me-guys. 'We' is more powerful than 'me,'" Allred said during a passage of his 3-minute speech.

"We will restore reproductive freedom. We will secure the border. We will protect Medicare and Social Security. And we will turn the page and write a new chapter for this country and elect Kamala Harris to be the next president and beat Ted Cruz," he added to a crowd that erupted in chants of "Beat Ted Cruz."

Allred took the stage along with other Democrats in competitive Senate races, among them Arizona's Ruben Gallego and Michigan's Elissa Slotkin. Allred is currently trailing Cruz in the polls, with the margins varying sharply from study to study.

FiveThirtyEight's survey aggregator shows that, in the latest survey, Cruz has a commanding, 8-point lead. Conducted by ActiVote among 400 likely voters, it shows the incumbent with 54% of the support, compared to Allred's 46%. Another one published mid-July among 589 likely voters has Cruz with a 10-point lead. But a larger one by YouGov, among 1,484 likely voters, only shows a three-point difference (47% to 44%).

Another one by the University of Texas at Tyler Center for Opinion Research, which polled 1,144 registered voters, featured a 43% to 39% scenario.

Cruz, on his end, boasted this week about receiving a key show of support: that of the union representing the U.S. Border Patrol.

Cruz was officially endorsed in an event in the border town of Edinburg, where he delivered a speech before hundreds of agents and their families at the National Border Patrol Council's national headquarters.

"To have the endorsement, to have the support of the National Border Patrol Council. That's a big deal, because every day you all answer the call, every day you wake up and you go out and fight to keep this country safe. You fight to keep this country safe from some very dangerous characters, from human traffickers, from drug traffickers, from vicious and violent criminals. And I'm here to tell you — you know this already, but I want you to hear it directly — the people of Texas love you," said Cruz during a passage of his speech, according to Border Report.

Cruz also took to X to celebrate the endorsement, saying he is "honored" by it. "I will never stop fighting against the disastrous open border agenda of the Biden-Harris administration," reads the publication.