Rep. Collin Allred of Texas, who is challenging Sen. Ted Cruz’s seat, has distanced himself from the Kamala Harris campaign.

While Vice President Kamala Harris is the Democratic front-runner in the November election and has the support of most of the party, other candidates, especially those facing tough races, are choosing to distance themselves from her.

One of them is Rep. Collin Allred, the Democrat who represents Texas’ 32nd congressional district and is seeking to unseat Sen. Ted Cruz in November.

In a recent appearance MSNBCWhen asked how Harris’ emergence as the Democratic candidate would affect his own campaign, Allred responded with a polite five-second response: “Vice President Harris is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, I’ve known her for some time, and I will support her nomination.”

In the rest of his response, he turned to his opponent, blasting Cruz’s role in blocking bipartisan border security and immigration bills, opposing abortion access and leaving the state for Cancun in 2021 when millions of Texans lost power in their homes. Texas Tribune I will report.

Allred has endorsed Harris but has kept a cautious stance throughout. When President Biden first dropped out of the race, Allred’s office issued a statement praising her work without mentioning the vice president by name. Later, after Biden and other Democrats endorsed Harris, Allred formally endorsed her, as her campaign explained to reporters.

It’s a tactic the Cruz campaign is aware of, as they seek to link Cruz to Harris’ political record while also questioning his motives for distancing himself from Harris.

“Is Colin hiding from Border Secretary Harris?” the Cruz campaign said in a statement, a nickname the campaign has used to attack Allred. “Allred has had no problem going along with Kamala’s disastrous open border policies for the last three years, and now he can no longer even be seen in public with her or Joe Biden. Why the sudden change of heart?”

Ms Harris has visited Texas several times in the past month, including once in Dallas, Ms Allred’s hometown, before announcing her candidacy. Allred did not accompany Ms Harris to Texas.

That may be because Allred has spent much of her campaign courting moderate voters as she seeks to become the first Democrat elected to statewide office since 1994. While she has criticized the Biden administration for its handling of the border, she has also been aggressive in presenting herself as a bipartisan lawmaker.

“As a strategy, it would be wise for Trump to not be too vocal on the issue,” said Jason Villalba, president of the Texas Hispanic Policy Foundation and a former Republican state representative. “If Trump can maintain the enthusiasm, he’ll ride that wave, but we’ll have to be careful what happens over the next few weeks in a crowded race. Trump would be wise to do that and not take any chances.”

Allred is banking on a broad coalition to win, including large segments of Hispanic and black voters who regularly vote Democratic, as well as independents and Republicans who don’t like Cruz and may vote Democrat, according to the Texas Tribune.

Ms. Harris’ nomination is likely to boost turnout among black voters and South Asian voters, who see themselves as the daughters of immigrants from Jamaica and India. That could boost Ms. Allred’s chances of victory, but it remains to be seen how well she will be received by voters within the Harris strategy.