Colin Allred was raised by a single mother under challenging circumstances, rising to become an NFL player, lawyer and now an improbable candidate for Congress.
But Judith Allred had help — from family, public school teachers, bookstore clerks and the local YMCA. Colin Allred acknowledges he's not only Judith's kid, but also a son of his Dallas district.
"It definitely took a village to raise me," Allred said one afternoon as he drove around his old neighborhood. "It took a lot of people in my life, people who did more than what their normal range of duties were. They looked out for me."
Now Allred says he wants to look out for the district by becoming its public servant.
He's running an underdog campaign for Congress against longtime incumbent Republican Pete Sessions, chairman of the House Rules Committee and one of the most powerful lawmakers on the Hill.
A newcomer to politics, Allred, 35, is touting his close connection with the 32nd Congressional District and a bird's-eye view of what it needs to move forward.
Other than short stints in the administration of former President Barack Obama, Allred has no public service record. His campaign is largely based on his ideas and biography.
"It's an unlikely story," Allred said. "When I was growing up here, I never imagined that I would be doing this now. This is a long way from how I grew up."
But Sessions and other Republicans contend Allred is one of the most left-leaning candidates in Texas and would be a tool of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.
"Colin Allred is almost the polar opposite of Congressman Pete Sessions in every way," Vice President Mike Pence said during a recent rally in Dallas. "Where Congressman Sessions has stood strong with our administration, his opponent actually worked for the Obama administration and supported the big-government policies that they advance that led to the slowest economic recovery since the Great Depression."
In many ways, the fight between Allred and Sessions is generational, with the younger candidate stressing new ideas and new experiences in Congress.
"I'm a product of the district, and I'm offering it the kind of representation it needs and deserves," Allred said.
According to a New York Times Upshot/Siena College poll completed in September, Sessions leads with 48 percent to Allred's 47 percent, with 5 percent undecided. Pollsters talked to only 500 potential voters, with the margin of error at plus or minus 4.8 percentage points.
Finding himself
Before Allred could succeed, he had to find himself.
He was born in Dallas to a single mother who got critical assistance with raising him from her sister and brother in-law.
Making matters tricky was that on the outside, he looked like a black kid, but the only family he ever knew was white. An early encounter with overt racism was jarring.
"My first time dealing with racism here in North Texas was at a math competition in Azle," Allred said. "These guys started chasing me around and saying they were going to hang me from a tree and calling me the N-word and all kinds of stuff. Luckily I was fast."
But even before that incident, Allred knew he was different.
"To most people, when they interacted with me, I was an African-American or maybe some other minority, but then I'd go home and be with my white family," Allred said. "I'd heard about racism but hadn't come so violently close. I knew that whatever my family is, that's not what I am because people go on appearances. I needed to find my own identity and live my own way."
Allred's father, a black man who lived in Dallas, was not in his life.
"I never met my father," Allred said as he cruised past the modest Oak Lawn home he lived in as a kid. "Sometimes I wondered, when I started getting my name in the paper, if he was going to contact me. I didn't find out until later that he died when I was 10."
The absence of a father can derail the lives of many young men, but Allred's family and key members of the northern Dallas community made sure he had the tools to succeed.
Allred's aunt and uncle, Tess and Jim Stewart, moved him from Oak Lawn to Far North Dallas so he could go to better schools. Allred and his mother lived on one block, his aunt and uncle around the corner. When Allred's grandmother, ailing with dementia, moved from Brownsville into his mother's home, Allred stayed full time with his aunt and uncle.
"I wouldn't have gotten anywhere without their help," he said. "They worked really hard. ... It was a team effort, and it wasn't always certain that it would turn out this way."
Allred said his experience, while unique in parts, is similar to that of many North Texas families. He said they want good schools, affordable health care and a good job.
"It's a North Texas story," he said. "There are people around here having the same experiences, raised by a single parent or struggling with two parents. What they really want is a slight shift in priorities from their government. They're not asking for a whole lot of things."
Help from the village
Allred was a smart kid who loved to read. After a day of athletics or hanging out at the YMCA, he'd sometimes go to the old Borders bookstore on Coit Road in Richardson. He would take a book off the shelf, read it in the café and return it to the shelf when he was finished.
"I used to love those Horatio Hornblower books," he said.
Allred became a standout football player at Hillcrest High School, where at linebacker he showed the leadership potential that some folks say will make him a good congressman.
"He was humble, but something was driving the young man," said longtime Hillcrest football coach Von Harris. "He played like every game was his last. I knew then he would be successful in whatever career path he chose."
Allred earned a football scholarship to Baylor, where he played linebacker. He struggled at first, but became a team leader.
"Throughout his life, he's been met with obstacles," said Beau Bays, Allred's teammate and friend at Baylor. "He's very determined."
Though he wasn't drafted, the Baylor star caught on as a linebacker for the Tennessee Titans.
In his fifth season, he suffered an injury during a game against the Dallas Cowboys, with his mother, aunt and uncle in the AT&T Stadium stands.
"On a power play, Martellus Bennett ran into me, not even a hard hit, just kind of the wrong kind of hit for my neck, and I felt like my entire right side was on fire," Allred said. "He could tell I was in pain. He said, 'Are you OK?' I said, 'No, I'm not.'"
Allred knew his athletic career was over when he was diagnosed with a bulging disk that required fusion surgery.
“After the game, my mom tried to assure me that I’d be ready for next week,” Allred said. “I said, 'Mom, there’s not going to be a next week.’”
Many athletes would be challenged by a catastrophic injury, but Allred never saw football as his end-all. He says he always had other aspirations.
Targeting Sessions
Shortly after the transition from Obama to President Donald Trump, Allred made plans to run for Congress.
"I was somebody who relied more on the community than even someone normal," Allred said. "I thought the community that I grew up in and that allowed me to do all these things wasn't getting the representation it deserved."
Beating Sessions won't be easy.
The district leans Republican, even though demographic shifts over the years have made it more attractive for a Democrat like Allred to break through.
One of Allred's biggest issues is health care. He's criticized Sessions for voting for GOP bills that would have repealed the Affordable Care Act and removed protections from Americans with pre-existing conditions.
The issue is personal. His mother and aunt have battled cancer, and he knows many families in the district who have struggled with illness and the impact it has on their wallets. He's also married to Dallas lawyer Alexandra Eber, his second wife, and about to have a child of his own.
Sessions has accused Allred of wanting the nation to implement a single-payer system as part of a universal plan.
But Allred says he supports offering Medicare to all Americans.
"Everybody wants good schools, health care, and they don't want to be treated differently depending on what their family looks like or where they come from," Allred said.
Derek Smith, who worked at the YMCA that Allred frequented as a kid, said he would be a good congressman.
"If he can keep that optimism and grit, he can do very well," Smith said.
