Where Texas Democrats running for U.S. Senate differ on key issues

Early voting in the Texas primaries gets underway in less than a month.

The three leading Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate met at a debate over the weekend to make the case that they are the best option to go up against Ted Cruz this November.

U.S. Representative Colin Allred of Dallas, State Senator Roland Gutierrez of San Antonio and State Rep. Carl Sherman from DeSoto took the stage over the weekend.

Allred took more moderate positions on gun control, immigration and bipartisanship, while Gutierrez took more liberal and strident positions on those issues.

"All our values in Texas are under attack right now," said Allred.

"I am running because of all those children in Uvalde who died," Gutierrez told the crowd.

Sherman is trying to gain traction in the race.

"We need a representative who is going to fight for all Texans," said Sherman.

There are currently nine candidates on the ballot, but only three qualified for Sunday night's debate.

The early voting will be held from February 20 to March 1.

Election Day for the Texas primary is March 5.

Texas Senate Candidates on Immigration

Rep. Colin Allred sided with Republicans and a few other Democrats, urging the Biden Administration to get tougher on the border.

"It was a tough vote for me, it was a vote I saw about if you stood for the status quo or not. That’s why I thank Henry Cuellar, Vicente Gonzalez who also represent the border, joined me in it, because we felt we couldn’t stand for the status quo because the status quo is unacceptable," Allred said.

Sen. Gutierrez took shots at Allred, saying he turned his back on the president.

"The congressman signed a resolution last week with him and 14 Democrats. I don’t call that bipartisanship, throwing our president under the bus saying he was an open-borders president," Gutierrez said.

Texas Senate Candidates on Gun Control

On gun control, both Allred and Sherman called for strengthening gun laws.

"What will stop a bad guy with a gun is sensible, pragmatic legislators who have the courage to fight special interests," said Sherman. "We need someone who will stand up to the special interests."

"We should have universal background checks, we should raise the age to purchase semi-automatic rifles, we should limit high capacity magazines and have red flag laws in place and keep fighting to saving as many lives as possible as quickly as possible, consistent with the Second Amendment and who we are as Texans," Allred said.

Gutierrez would go further, calling for a complete ban on assault weapons.

"We need an assault weapons ban in this country once and for all. Every Washington politician needs to see those images, so they can understand what they went through, and their families went through," he said.

Texas Senate Candidates on Bipartisanship

When it came to working with Republicans to pass laws, Allred and Gutierrez took different positions.

"I am proud I am the most bipartisan member of the Texas delegation," said Allred. "When you are raised by a single mom, you don’t have time for theoretical ideas that will not become law, you have to get things done."

"There are two theories here, one is you gotta go down the middle holding hands with Republicans, I will not do that. I know who I am, I've been here for you for 18 years," Gutierrez said.

Texas Senate Candidates on Abortion

All three of the top candidates in the Democratic primary agree on abortion.

They want to pass a national law ensuring abortion rights.