Scoop: Colin Allred raises $4.1 million for Texas Senate bid

• Allred, a former three-term congressman, raised the money through more than 100,000 contributions during the third fundraising quarter. His campaign says it did not accept corporate PAC money.
• Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) defeated Allred by over 8% last year, when Democrats lost their majority in the Senate.
• Allred raised more than $90 million for his Senate campaign in 2024.

The big picture: The primary battle between Allred and Talarico has quickly turned into one of the most intriguing Democratic contests on the map next year.

• Allred easily won his party's nomination in 2024, but Talarico, a young Democratic state representative, is positioning himself as a D.C. outsider who can appeal to Christians in the state.
• The winner of the Texas Democratic primary will face the winner of the GOP battle between Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
• Democrats are quietly hopeful that Paxton, a conservative ally of President Trump, will prevail over Cornyn, a four-term incumbent. The Texas Senate race is ranked as "likely Republican" by Cook Political Report.

Between the lines: The last time Allred ran for office during a Trump midterm year was in 2018, when he flipped a Dallas-area House seat.

• He decisively won re-election to the House seat. Since then, he has established himself as one of the party's most prolific fundraisers at the national level.
• Before politics, Allred was an NFL linebacker for the Tennessee Titans and later worked as a civil rights attorney at the Department of Housing and Urban Development under President Obama.

Go deeper: Exclusive: Texas Senate hopeful Colin Allred unveils anti-corruption plan