The Democratic candidate for Texas’ 32nd Congressional District, Colin Allred, said Thursday that his career as a football player has come more in handy in his campaign than his experience as a voting rights attorney.

โ€œBecause in football you have to block out the things you canโ€™t control and focus on what you can,โ€ Allred said.

Allred, who played linebacker for Baylor University and had a brief stint in the NFL, was speaking with The Texas Tribuneโ€™s Evan Smith during an hourlong event. You can watch the replay above. Here are a few highlights:

Trumpโ€™s tweets

President Donald Trump is one of the things Allred said he canโ€™t control. Trump has tweeted two times in support of Republican Pete Sessions, the 11-term incumbent of the district Allred is trying to win.

โ€œIt doesnโ€™t worry me,โ€ Allred said.

Allredโ€™s strategy focuses, in part, on tying Sessions to Trump.

When Trump wrote the second tweet in support of Sessions, Allred tweeted: โ€œPete Sessions is counting on Donald Trump. Iโ€™m counting on you.โ€

On Monday, Vice President Mike Pence is visiting Dallas to campaign for Sessions and Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz.

The Affordable Care Act

The campaignโ€™s other focus is the job Sessions has done โ€” and not done โ€” in Congress, Allred said.

โ€œOn healthcare, we have the highest uninsured rate in the country; we have 20 percent of people in Dallas County who donโ€™t have insurance; we have 330,000 people in the district who have a preexisting condition,โ€ Allred said. โ€œAnd then Congressman Sessions votes to repeal the ACA [Affordable Care Act] with no plan to replace it, no plan to protect those people.โ€

This week, Congressman Sessions introduced a resolution to protect people with pre-existing conditions, but the resolution is non-binding, according to The Hill.

Experience as a lawyer

Allred also touted his past as a voting rights litigator. Fighting voter disenfranchisement in Texas is important to him, he said. And a low voter turnout is bad for democracy, according to Allred.

โ€œThatโ€™s bad for either party, it produces extremes in the candidates because they donโ€™t have to worry about the next primary,โ€ Allred said.

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Omar Rodriguez-Ortiz was a social media engagement fellow in the fall of 2018. His job was to help engage audiences in our politics and policy coverage across platforms, capitalizing on his bilingual and...