Eight years before their heated congressional runoff, Colin Allred and Julie Johnson both rode into political office on the blue wave of the 2018 midterms.
Allred, an NFL linebacker-turned-lawyer, ousted the powerful Dallas Republican Congressman Pete Sessions. Johnson, an attorney from Farmers Branch, toppled the divisive firebrand Matt Rinaldi en route to the Texas House. They both served as rather middle-of-the-road Democrats in Washington and Austin, respectively, rather than flashy ideologues. When Allred decided to run for the U.S. Senate against Ted Cruz in 2024, Johnson ran for—and won—his open congressional seat.
Now, Allred and Johnson are locked in a contentious runoff against each other for the newly redrawn deep-blue 33rd Congressional District, which was moved out of the longheld domain of Fort Worth Democratic Congressman Marc Veasey and will now be centered in Dallas County. In the four-way primary for the majority-minority seat, Allred fell 6 points short of the requisite 50 point victory mark, while Johnson pulled in 33 percent of the vote. Veasey decided not to run for reelection after GOP state legislators redrew the congressional map at the behest of President Donald Trump. Allred was initially running again for the Senate, but backed out in favor of a run for U.S. House after fellow Dallas Democrat Jasmine Crockett entered the Senate primary. His and Johnson’s old district, the 32nd, was gerrymandered into a deep-red district that stretches into East Texas.
At times, their campaigns have seemed like a proxy battle for the future of Democrats in Texas and elsewhere. Both candidates have attacked each other on topics like corporate influence and immigration, seeking to capitalize on wedge issues within their party ahead of the May 26 runoff. However, many observers of the race have argued that the overall lack of disparity between Allred and Johnson has made this race less about progressive politics and more about personality and political grudges.
“This is not a classic progressive versus moderate war the way that it used to be in the Democratic Party, but there are definitely shades of a more centrist coalition-focused Democrat like Allred, who is challenging a more progressive activist-oriented Johnson,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, a University of Houston political science professor who is writing a book about Texas Democrats. “There are relatively small policy differences between them. There are small ideological differences between them, and that’s what makes the campaign so intense and personal.”
For instance, Allred has repeatedly decried Johnson’s stock trading, particularly her trading shares in Palantir, the data analytics company that boasts lucrative contracts with the Department of Homeland Security and the Israel Defense Forces. The Allred campaign has also incorporated these criticisms into his platform, publishing an “anti-corruption” plan that proposes banning individual stock trading by members of Congress.
Johnson said her Palantir stocks were managed by a third party and told reporters “I made $90 on the whole thing,” referring to the trades. In an interview with the Texas Observer, she added, “It’s always unfortunate when somebody tries to misrepresent a circumstance and falsely portray something that’s not accurate for their own political gain. And my opponent did that because he doesn’t have a positive record to run on.”
Allred has, in turn, taken flak for moderate postures he’s taken on border policy, including breaking with many Democrats in 2024 to vote for a GOP-led House resolution condemning the Biden administration’s handling of the southern border. During his Senate campaign, he was one of a small group of Democrats to support the measure, which passed with unanimous Republican backing.
Those moves have drawn Johnson’s ire, as did Allred’s vote for the controversial Laken Riley Act, which mandates detention without bail for immigrants accused of a crime—even some low-level offenses—throughout their court proceedings. “He voted to basically deny due process and to deny the concept in this country that you’re innocent before proven guilty,” Johnson said. “I have robustly stood against that.”
Eva Arreguin, a Dallas-based organizer, is concerned that both candidates are trying to out-posture each other as progressives by latching on to trendy policy issues but don’t have clear political convictions. Arreguin voted for Zeeshan Hafeez, who ran as a staunch progressive and finished fourth in the primary before then endorsing Allred. Arreguin called the endorsement “disappointing,” and now she says many of her friends in the organizing community don’t know who to vote for in the runoff.
“The folks I know are leaning a little more Julie, but it does feel uneasy, because why did you have stocks [invested] in our demise?” Arreguin said. “The Dallas way is to be quiet and be a good Democrat, but we definitely want to see way more fight for the people from our elected officials.”
In response to criticism that he is insufficiently progressive, a spokesperson noted to the Observer that Allred has consistently advocated for immigrant and Dreamer families, including voting for the Dream and Promise Act. He has also championed LGBTQ+ equality, the campaign said, serving as a co-sponsor of the Equality Act. For her part, Johnson has pointed to her legislative efforts to expand Medicaid eligibility, change Texas abortion law, and increase funding for childcare.
Johnson and Allred have also both faced scrutiny over the financial support they’ve received from certain PACs—including those connected to Israel. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) was one of Johnson’s top contributors during the 2024 election cycle, according to OpenSecrets. Campaign finance data show the campaign has continued collecting AIPAC funds this year. Allred has also received donations from individuals affiliated with JStreetPAC, a liberal pro-Israel group.
The candidates’ support from the Israel lobby particularly rankles Karla Palomares, a local community organizer. “I believe Allred and Johnson are examples of where the ‘corporate’ and ‘establishment’ Texas Democrats could be headed, specifically in terms of co-opting the progressive movement,” she told the Observer.
The Allred and Johnson race has also divided Democratic lawmakers in Texas and across the country. State Representatives Rhetta Bowers of Rowlett and Aicha Davis of DeSoto both endorsed Allred, as did Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price. Johnson, meanwhile, has the backing of groups such as Stonewall Democrats of Dallas, as well as a notable endorsement from New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who gave her support a little over a month before the March primary.
Tensions within the Texas Democratic Party came to the fore during the home stretch of the U.S. Senate primary between Jasmine Crockett and James Talarico, when Allred made a video addressing a political content creator’s claims that Talarico called Allred a “mediocre Black man.”
Talarico denied making that remark, saying that he referred to Allred’s 2024 Senate campaign as “mediocre” but not Allred personally. The Allred campaign did not directly answer a question about whether Allred has talked to Talarico or if he will endorse him, only saying that Allred is committed to his race and supporting Democrats up and down the ballot. He echoed those comments in a recent interview with Politico, adding that Talarico “needs to show comfort in Black spaces and Black communities” to do well with Black voters in November. Johnson, meanwhile, endorsed Talarico in late 2025.
Texas Democratic Party Chairman Kendall Scudder said he thinks contested primaries like this one can be beneficial.
“Where they can become an issue is if we don’t act like adults here and don’t come to terms with the fact that, sure, we may have preferences within the Democratic Party coalition of what we want and would like to see, but that preference is very different than what we see in November, where it is just a full-fledged assault on working class people from the other side,” Scudder said. (The state party remains neutral in all primaries.)
Scudder pushed back against the notion that the Allred versus Johnson race is a proxy fight between moderate Democrats and the party’s more progressive wing. Rather, the chairman thinks the contest is a unique situation created by redistricting.
Rottinghaus says there are several examples of Democrats’ clashes leading to lasting fissures. Top of mind right now are runoffs like the 33rd, and the lingering tensions from the Talarico-Crockett primary, but going back to the 1970s, there were Democratic gubernatorial primaries between progressive Frances “Sissy” Farenthold and conservative Dolph Briscoe. Then, in the 1978 gubernatorial race, Democratic infighting helped pave the way for the first Republican victory in a governors’ race in over a century.
If Allred wins, Rottinghaus noted, Democratic unity becomes even more important for Talarico’s prospects in November. “Healing is the watch word here,” Rottinghaus said. “They need to find a way to come together. And if they don’t, it’s going to be a problem when it’s an all-hands-on-deck turnout situation for Democrats.”
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