AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Sen. Ted Cruz and U.S. Rep. Colin Allred debated for the first and only time Tuesday night in Dallas, each vying to win a crucial seat in the U.S. Senate as polls show a razor-tight race. ‘We have a battle on our hands’: Cruz kicks off Texas tour, Allred rallies DNC in fight for Senate WFAA in Dallas hosted the debate with WFAA political reporter Jason Whitely and Dallas Morning News' Gromer Jeffers. You can watch the full debate here. The debate comes less than a week before in-person early voting begins and could prove essential as some polls show the two candidates within just one point of each other. "Both Sen. Cruz and Congressman Allred need to paint each other as outside the mainstream. You have seen that throughout this campaign. Both guys have tried to portray themselves as bipartisan problem solvers," Editor of the Quorum Report Scott Braddock said. "It's going to be the economy, the border and abortion. The first two, I think that both of them will agree that they are top issues. And I think that Allred is really going to push on the abortion issue." Cruz, Allred tout crossover appeal to win US Senate matchup In his opening statement, Allred emphasized his work across political lines and tried to contrast his approach with that of Cruz. "I've been the most bipartisan Texan in Congress," Allred said. "I'm the exact opposite of Sen. Cruz, who's the most extreme senator in the United States Senate, maybe the most extreme in the last 30 years." Cruz used part of his opening statement to favorably compare Allred's story to that of his own father, who immigrated to the United States from Cuba. But he quickly cast Allred as someone bad for Texas. "We're doing an awful lot right in the state of Texas. Colin Allred wants to change that," Cruz said, adding, "I want to keep Texas, Texas." The debate moderators started with one of the most divisive topics in the campaign: abortion. Cruz was asked whether he supports the Texas law banning most abortions, without exceptions for rape or incest. Cruz did not directly answer the question but said the state legislature should determine what the law is in Texas. "In Texas, we overwhelmingly support that parents should be notified and have to consent before their child gets an abortion," Cruz said. "In Texas, we overwhelmingly agree that late-term abortions in the eighth and ninth months — that's too extreme, and I'll tell you, in Texas, we overwhelmingly agree that taxpayer money shouldn't pay for abortions." Allred pointed to the stories of Texan Kate Cox who was forced to leave the state and Amanda Zurwaski who was denied an abortion despite pregnancy complications. Allred said he wants to restore women's rights to choose and codify Roe v. Wade. "To every Texas woman at home and every Texas family watching this, understand that when Ted Cruz says he's pro-life, he doesn't mean yours," Allred said. Allred was asked about his change in position regarding the border wall. In 2018, he opposed former President Trump's plan to expand the wall, but last year, he supported Biden's border wall expansion plan. "Let me be very clear, I believe in physical barriers as part of a comprehensive strategy to secure the border," Allred said. "We had a bill for $20 billion for 1,000 new border patrol agents, for more immigration judges, more asylum officers, to help us deal with the backlog. I wanted to make sure we passed that." Allred highlighted Cruz's vote against that border bill. He turned to Cruz and asked, "Why did you not support that Senator? "It's a great question," Cruz said, then asked the moderators, "Can I take his time to answer it?" "You can't have my time, I'm not yielding my time," Allred said. He continued to criticize Cruz for blocking action to secure the border. "Six more years of this? Come on. He's had 12 years to do it already. Give someone who actually will a chance," Allred concluded. Cruz responded by pointing to his support of the policies of Trump. "He asked, 'what have you done?' We produced the lowest rate of illegal immigration in 45 years, working hand-in-hand with President Trump," Cruz said. Cruz has been running political advertisements focused on transgender athletes, claiming Allred supports allowing boys to play girls' sports. "My youngest daughter plays volleyball," Cruz said. "It's not fair for a biological boy or man, a teenage boy, to spike the volleyball at her, and he has voted repeatedly in favor of that." "I don't support boys playing girls sports," Allred said. "What I think is that folks should not be discriminated against." Cruz was asked about what he would say to parents who worry for the safety of their transgender children who believe the advertisements his campaign is running are dangerous. "I have advocated protecting the safety of every child, of every person, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, sexual identity. Everyone deserves to be protected against violent crime, against discrimination," Cruz said. "This is a desperate last-second attempt by Sen. Cruz to distract you because he can't defend his own record," Allred said of Cruz's ads on the issue. The race has already broken state spending records, with the campaign spending more than $100 million so far—breaking the previous spending record when Beto O'Rourke nearly defeated Cruz in 2018. Allred's run is attracting national attention and investment as Democrats see a real chance at flipping the long-red Texas seat.