Former Tarrant County Judge Glenn Whitley endorsed Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX) in a move that’s unlikely to tip the balance away from Cruz but signals growing problems for the GOP as Democrats insist Texas is trending in their direction.

Whitley was one of the state’s most prominent local Republican leaders and was the Tarrant County judge from 2007 to 2022. He had not endorsed a Democrat during his decades in office until he endorsed Democrat Mike Collier over Dan Patrick in the 2022 Texas lieutenant governor race. The Senate race has become unexpectedly competitive here, with Cook Political Report moving Texas into the “lean Republican” category from the “likely Republican” category.

“I am proud to be a Texan and an American, and I want to support someone who I know is going to work for a team,” Whitley said.

He is supporting both Allred and Harris in the 2024 election. 

“I know that, what I consider to be the extreme far-right Republicans, will yell and scream, well, he never was a Republican, you know, he was just a RINO (Republican In Name Only),” Whitley said on Inside Texas Politics. “But I’ve looked at this. And as I’ve said, Collier was the first Democrat I had ever openly endorsed. And Harris and Allred will be the second and third.”

Whitley said he had conversations with many Republicans, who told him they could not bring themselves to vote for a Democrat, so they plan on skipping voting for the top of the ticket and the Senate race.

“I don’t think [my endorsement] will impact the election in Texas. But I do believe that around this country, it will,” Whitley argued.

Whitley said Trump is a bully who disrespects the military and veterans and that he led the Jan. 6 riot. He also pointed to Cruz’s actions during the Jan. 6 riot in the Capitol and Cruz’s trip to Cancun, Mexico, during the 2021 winter storm that hit Texas as reasons he would not be voting for Cruz.

He noted that his vote is not just against Trump, but also for the policies and personality of Vice President Kamala Harris. He argued that Harris’s campaign is trying to lift up the country and that she will use an open mind when approaching policy issues, pointing to the change in her stance on fracking.

“I really believe that in ’19, she was against that, and she felt like because of environmental concerns that she needed to. But I think she approached it with an open mind, said that, OK, I can get to a lot of the clean air stuff that I want and still support fracking,” Whitley told the outlet.

Cruz responded to Whitley’s endorsement at a campaign event in Tarrant County on Saturday. He pointed to Houston District Attorney Kim Ogg, a Democrat, who is supporting Cruz over Allred.

“She’s voting for me because she wants a senator who will stand up and support law enforcement, who will lock up violent criminals and keep them in jail and who will secure the border,” Cruz said. 

Ogg, who has been at odds with Texas Democrats in recent years, endorsed Cruz in August.

“There are a few people who used to be Republicans who’ve decided they can’t stand Donald Trump and so they’re voting for Kamala Harris,” Cruz told WFAA. 

“We saw Liz Cheney come out and say she’s voting for Kamala Harris. And I will say there are a handful of people for whom Trump derangement syndrome is a real thing,” the Texas senator continued. 

In the Texas Senate race so far, Democrats have spent $49.4 million, with most of the funding coming from the Allred campaign, while Republicans have spent nearly $22.3 million, according to data from AdImpact. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee announced Thursday it would include Texas in a “multimillion-dollar” ad buy-in to aid Allred’s campaign.