Biography
Colin Allred is a former NFL linebacker and civil rights attorney who represented the old Texas 32nd District as a Democrat from 2019 to 2025. He left the House to run for U.S. Senate in 2024, losing to Ted Cruz, then re-filed in 2026 for the redrawn 33rd District after ending a second Senate campaign. He defeated incumbent Rep. Julie Johnson in the May 26, 2026 Democratic runoff.[1][2][3]
Colin Allred was born April 15, 1983, in Dallas, Texas, and was raised by his mother, a public school teacher. He graduated from Hillcrest High School in Dallas.[2][1] He earned a bachelor's degree from Baylor University in 2005, where he played linebacker on the football team.[2][1] Allred signed with the Tennessee Titans as an undrafted free agent in 2006 and played linebacker in the NFL, for five seasons according to his campaign website, until a neck injury in 2010 ended his career.[2][1][4]
He then earned a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law in 2014.[2][1] After law school, Allred worked for Battleground Texas as Dallas-Fort Worth regional director of voter protection, served as a special assistant in the Obama administration's Department of Housing and Urban Development, and later worked as a civil rights and voting-rights litigator at the law firm Perkins Coie.[2][1][3] He won the Democratic nomination in 2018 and defeated Republican incumbent Pete Sessions in the general election for the 32nd District, then was re-elected in 2020 and 2022, serving from January 3, 2019, to January 3, 2025.[2]
In Congress, Allred served on the Foreign Affairs and Transportation and Infrastructure committees, and on Veterans' Affairs in the 116th and 117th Congresses, according to Ballotpedia.[1] He ran for U.S. Senate in 2024 rather than seeking re-election, winning the Democratic nomination and losing the general election to Ted Cruz, 53.1% to 44.6%.[1][2] Allred announced a 2026 Senate campaign in July 2025 and ended it in December 2025 to run for the 33rd District. He won the March 3, 2026 Democratic primary with 45.5% and the May 26 runoff over Rep. Julie Johnson, 54.0% to 46.0%.[1][2][3]
- 1.Colin Allred · Ballotpedia (quoting Allred's campaign website and 2024 Candidate Connection survey) Candidate's own words
- 2.Colin Allred · Wikipedia · 2026-10-21 Reference
- 3.Colin Allred (D) defeated incumbent Julie Johnson (D) in the Democratic primary runoff for Texas' 33rd Congressional District on May 26, 2026 · Ballotpedia News · 2026-05-27 Reference
- 4.Allred for Texas · Allred for Texas · 2026-10-19 Candidate's own words
Researched from the cited sources on 2026-10-21.