" In South Texas, Allred and Talarico compete for Latino voters by vowing to fight for working class " was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization.

Jonathan Torrez of Harlingen walked into 1848 BBQ in Brownsville for a town hall with Colin Allred earlier this month unsure of who he’d support in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate.

An hour later, after hearing Allred describe how his mother would swipe her teacher’s credit union debit card “and say a prayer” to buy groceries, the 37-year-old car wash and restaurant worker decided Allred would get his vote.

“It’s not just he’s a minority, but he knows certain struggles I’ve gone through,” said Torrez, who grew up poor as one of six children raised by a single mother. “I know he can relate to

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