We Fact-Checked Ted Cruz's New Campaign Ad: 'Agony of Defeat'

With six weeks to go before election day, and the first debate between Colin Allred and Ted Cruz lined up for three weeks from now, it’s difficult to imagine election season heating up any more than it has. That’s made especially evident by the increased number of political commercials hitting our airwaves in recent days.

Allred, the Democratic challenger, has been blasting his message over the air for some time now, while the Republican incumbent Cruz has only recently started spending big ad dollars on airtime across the state. It’s reasonable to suggest Cruz feels a bit of heat, thanks to recent poll numbers showing Allred gaining ground on him after polling well behind him just a couple of months ago.

Cruz has repeatedly referred to Allred as a “radical” on the campaign trail, and his latest TV spot blatantly continues on that theme.

Just before we see grainy footage of female athletes being tossed around and defeated by larger female athletes, a Breitbart headline from 2023 appears on screen stating “Transgender Swimmer… Breaks Records After Switching to Women’s Team.”


At this point, a voiceover states “the thrill of victory in women’s sports, the agony of defeat for biological men, now our girls are being left in the dust, robbed of their right to compete fairly.” Then the claims start coming.

Just as we did with an Allred ad in July, we decided to take a closer look at this Cruz commercial to see whether the rhetoric matches the facts.

THE CLAIMS: “Colin Allred opposed protecting women’s sports,” and “Colin Allred voted to allow boys in girls’ sports.”

THE FACTS: In the commercial, House Resolution 734 from 2023 is noted under both of these claims. Named “The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023,” HR 734 passed the House of Representatives along a party line vote of 219 Republican “yeas” to 203 Democratic “nays.” The bill aimed to place a ban on transgender students from participating on a team based on their current gender identity.

The bill was roundly opposed by Democratic officials and progressive advocacy groups for not taking into account competitive levels, grade levels or particular sports. At the time, President Joe Biden opposed the resolution, declaring that he would veto the resolution should it come to his desk.

“Politicians should not dictate a one-size-fits-all requirement that forces coaches to remove kids from their teams,” read a statement of administration policy issued by the White House. “At a time when transgender youth already face a nationwide mental health crisis, with half of transgender youth in a recent survey saying they have seriously considered suicide, a national law that further stigmatizes these children is completely unnecessary, hurts families and students, and would only put students at greater risk.”

Allred hasn’t stated on the record that he does not want to protect women’s sports or that he wants to allow boys into girls sports. He voted against HR 734 and its sweeping ban, something that more than 200 other Democrats in the U.S. House did as well.

THE CLAIMS: “Colin Allred voted to allow boys in girls’ bathrooms,” and “Colin Allred voted to allow boys in girls’ locker rooms.”

THE FACTS: As noted in the commercial, these claims are based on Allred’s 2021 vote in favor of House Resolution 5 in 2021. The “Equality Act” passed the House by a 224–206 vote, including all 221 Democratic reps and even three Republicans voting in favor of the resolution.

“This bill prohibits discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity in areas including public accommodations and facilities, education, federal funding, employment, housing, credit, and the jury system,” reads a summary of the act on Congress’s official website. “Specifically, the bill defines and includes sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity among the prohibited categories of discrimination or segregation.”

Conservatives decried the passage as an attack on religious freedom and far too sweeping in favor of transgender citizens. A law professor from the University of Virginia told NPR in 2021 the bill was uneven in its considerations.

"It protects the rights of one side, but attempts to destroy the rights of the other side," Douglas Laycock told NPR. "We ought to protect the liberty of both sides to live their own lives by their own identities and their own values."

As an original co-sponsor of the bill, Allred released a statement in February 2021 explaining why he was in favor of the legislation, a bill that unlike HR 734, Biden was ready to endorse.

"No American should be discriminated against because of who they are or who they love," said Allred in the statement. "The bipartisan Equality Act makes real progress towards ensuring that all LGBTQ Americans, no matter where they live, have protections under federal law."

In short, Allred didn’t vote to “allow boys into girls’ sports” or to “allow boys into girls’ locker rooms,” but rather to secure civil rights protections for LGBTQ citizens, according to his on-record statements regarding the bill.