Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz snapped at moderator Jason Whitely of WFAA during Tuesday night’s debate against Democratic Texas Rep. Colin Allred for repeatedly pressing him on his stance on abortion.
Whitely repeatedly questioned Cruz about his personal stance on abortion. Cruz emphasized the divisive nature of the abortion debate and spoke about handling the issue through elections, later questioning the moderator about why he kept posing the question.
“Texas has one of the strictest abortion bans in the United States,” Whitely said. “There’s no exception for rape or incest, as you know. In 2021, you co-sponsored a bill in Congress that included those exceptions. But a year later, when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, you said that you agree with the Texas law that has zero exceptions. So tonight, the question is, where do you stand on this? And we’re asking for your personal opinion as a Texan and as a father.”
“Well listen, abortion is an issue many Texans and many Americans care deeply about,” Cruz replied. “And it’s an issue people of good faith can disagree. People are genuinely and deeply pro-life. People are genuinely and deeply pro-choice. And there are all sorts of positions in between. I agree with the United States Supreme Court that under our Constitution, the way we resolve questions like that, questions on which we have real and genuine disagreements, it’s at the ballot box, is voting.”
Whitely later attempted to steer the conversation back to the initial question after Allred had the chance to speak, pressing Cruz for a direct response on his personal stance on abortion regarding exceptions for rape and incest.
Cruz responded by talking about Allred’s legislative record on issues including parental rights, after which Whitely asked “why is this an issue you won’t address, about saying whether you support or oppose exceptions.”
“Jason, I’m curious,” Cruz retorted. “Why do you keep asking me that?”
Cruz currently leads Allred by 4% in FiveThirtyEight’s most recent average of polls.
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