I wonder how many people watched it? I figured I would just read about it later because there is no way I’m sitting through listening to disgusting Raphael Cruz’ bullshit for an hour or more.
It was only an hour actually, so in all reality Cruz maybe only got ~25mins of speaking time. I wasn't sure of viewership count either, so I figured it was more likely to have viewers here than outside of the fediverse.
I don’t know who “won” but I hate watching Allred - the guy who is supposed to be a Democratic alternative to Ted Cruz - repeatedly adopt right-wing framing on every issue, which just stands to let Republicans further ratchet everything to the right and normalizes the objectively brutal policies of the Rs.
This guy has my vote, but man neoliberal DNC stooges are always just giving Rs a win, depressing turnout and alienating anyone who wants to vote against the candidates who want to lock up kids in cages.
He's been positioning himself as a moderate, so there we already knew there'd be compromises but I agree it's pathetic to see these folks turn a blind eye to certain things.
"Can we have healthcare?"
"Sorry, best I can do is crappy mandated privatized health insurance that doesn't really cover anything that we will also fine you for not having if you fail to pay thousands for it every year... and we'll try to compromise with Rs who want to further sweep away any of the crumbs you have cobbled together... also missile contracts to feed the military industrial complex."
Allred had a good chance to contrast himself with Cruz by answering the questions directly and I think he failed. He seemed nervous.
Allred came across weak, because he has the same position as Ted Cruz/Republicans on some of their worst policies (immigration and Israel), but he has to slightly "moderate" them a little to avoid turning-off base Democratic voters. This is a problem with the Democratic party as a whole, and it's a losing strategy. Voters who strongly support Israel and being "tough on immigration" will be more swayed by the person that full-throatedly supports these position, and voters that disagree with these policies won't be swayed by inconsequential concessions to them.
