“Colin Allred is an independent voice who has hit the ground running in Congress, delivering fresh ideas, new leadership and results for North Texans. While Genevieve Collins has embraced Washington’s Republican party, Colin has shown he has the right priorities for Texans: reaching across the aisle and working with everyone to stand up for North Texas veterans, lower drug costs for hardworking families and boost local businesses. It has been an honor serving with Colin Allred and I look forward to serving with him for years to come.” – DCCC Chairwoman Cheri Bustos
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To: Interested Parties
From: Avery Jaffe, DCCC Regional Press Secretary
Date: March 4, 2020
Tonight’s Republican primary results in Texas’ 32nd Congressional District put Rep. Colin Allred in an excellent position to win re-election in this urban and suburban North Texas seat.
Born and raised in TX-32, Allred has applied his hometown values of hard work and civility to his first term in Congress and is already delivering results for North Texans.
After running a remarkable come-from-behind 2018 campaign and defeating former NRCC Chairman Pete Sessions by 6.5 points, Allred now faces an unvetted opponent in Genevieve Collins, a darling of the Washington Republican establishment whose primary discernible qualifications for GOP party bosses are the size of her family’s trust fund and her name not being “Pete Sessions.”
Collins stumbles into the general election after barely defeating vastly underfunded opponent in Floyd McLendon. McLendon spent the final weeks of the campaign seizing on Collins’ stumbles, outraising her in the pre-primary period and attacking her in voters’ mailboxes. Collins felt so much heat that she cut herself (yet another) six-figure check one week out from the primary.
An aspiring Betsy DeVos, Collins works at her father’s education software company and has proved an unsteady campaigner so far, sputtering and stumbling into the general election after being outraised by her leading GOP primary opponent Floyd McLendon, lying to reporters about her fundraising numbers, failing to submit her financial disclosure and committing several unforced errors in an awkward, halting TV interview.
With Rep. Allred on the ticket and demonstrating a singular ability to win and keep this North Texas seat, TX-32 is primed to reject the president and Washington Republicans’ recklessness in 2020 – just like it did in 2016 and 2018.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
HEADLINE: “U.S. Rep. Colin Allred emphasizes moderate approach, bipartisanship at Garland town hall” [Dallas Morning News, 8/12/19]
ED BOARD: “U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, D-Dallas, told us that he and a bipartisan group of five other area lawmakers are pushing hard to make [the converted VA Hospital] happen because it would help serve 184,000 more veterans in North Texas and reduce wait times to get care. […] We were glad to see Allred, on the Veterans Affairs committee, send a letter to the VA urging it to acquire the property.” [Dallas Morning News, 8/25/19]
HEADLINE: “‘I wasn’t expecting it’: Allred’s family leave bill gets shout-out in Trump’s State of the Union address” [Dallas Morning News, 2/5/20]
“Beating Allred, no matter the Republican choice, will be a tough task.” [Dallas Morning News Opinion, 9/30/19]
ED BOARD: “At 33, Collins is young, and she has no public policy experience” [Dallas Morning News, 2/6/20]
HEADLINE: “Congressional candidate Genevieve Collins fails to submit personal financial disclosure report” [Dallas Morning News, 1/13/20]
“Disclosure reports are designed to shed a light on the financial activity and investments of candidates and public office holders. It’s a safeguard against conflicts of interest and other ethical traps. Collins said Monday that she would file the report this week and pay a $200 fine for being late. She blamed her tardiness on a software problem.” [Dallas Morning News, 1/13/20]
Genevieve Collins: Dishonest, Unqualified and Inexperienced
EMBRACING TRUMP AND HIS RECKLESS AGENDA
It’s clear that Genevieve Collins would be nothing but a rubber stamp for Washington Republicans and the reckless agenda that TX-32 voters rejected in 2018.
Other than opposing the Affordable Care Act and opposing efforts to lower the cost of prescription drugs, Collins’ big idea for health care is to parrot a failed Paul Ryan and Donald Trump scheme to use “health savings accounts” as a giveaway to wealthy and well-connected individuals like herself.
Collins is an aspiring Betsy DeVos who shockingly told the Dallas Morning News about her desire to unshackle the unscrupulous student loan vendors taking advantage of hardworking Texas families and keeping college costs high.
Collins supports making the budget-busting GOP Tax Scam permanent – which has not only ballooned the national debt but also raised taxes for TX-32 homeowners.
NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME
To Washington Republicans, Genevieve Collins’ biggest asset is that her name isn’t Pete Sessions. But Collins is a neophyte to politics and her inexperience on the trail hasn’t done her any favors. In fact, she’s already committed several major unforced errors that will come to haunt her campaign along with her unvetted record.
In January, Collins suffered through 30 minutes of an awkward, halting interview with CBS DFW’s Jack Fink in which she came out against any new gun safety laws, said the GOP Tax Scam was great for corporations and opposed efforts to lower the cost of prescription drugs.
Soon after came this damning Dallas Morning News headline: “Congressional candidate Genevieve Collins fails to submit personal financial disclosure report,” and with it came Collins’ laugh-out-loud claim that a “software problem” prevented her from following the law.
That’s a tenuous excuse, considering Collins works at… wait for it… a software company.
PATH TO VICTORY
Path to Victory
TX-32’s makeup is more than 62 percent suburban, reflecting the kind of district that has shifted dramatically towards Democrats under Trump. That shift is evident in the more than 17-point swing at the presidential level between 2012 and 2016, leading Hillary Clinton to win TX-32 by 2 points. Since 2016, the deeply unpopular Washington Republican and Trump-backed agenda on health care and taxes have made the president even more toxic, leading TX-32 to replace former Congressman Pete Sessions in favor of Rep. Allred in 2018.
Here are some indicators of the rapid shifts in TX-32:
- The share of registered Democrats has increased 2 points from 2012 to current rates (36.6% to 38.6%). The share of registered independents has increased 5.7 points in that same time (21.4% to 27.1%). Finally, the share of registered Republicans has decreased by 8.5 points (41.9% to 34.3%).
- The district is undergoing a rise in voter registration share among African American, Asian American, and Latino voters. Between 2012 and present day, there has been a 0.6-point rise in registration share for African American registrants (11.9% to 12.5%), a 1.8-point rise for Asian American & Pacific Islanders (4.7% to 6.5%), and a 3.1-point rise for Latino registrants (8.7% to 11.8%).
- The district’s Asian American/Pacific Islander population (7.1%) is 3.5 points above the state average and 2.8 points above the national average.
Rep. Allred is a strong fundraising and with nearly $2 million banked in his campaign account, he has positioned himself well to connect with and earn the votes of these crucial communities.
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