Congressman Colin Allred is currently serving his third term as the U.S. Representative for Texas’ 32nd Congressional District. Allred was born and raised in North Dallas where he was class president of Hillcrest High School and earned a full-ride football scholarship to Baylor University. He deferred his acceptance to law school to play in the NFL for the Tennessee Titans, where he was a linebacker for five seasons before sustaining a career-ending injury. This opened the door for him to become a civil rights attorney. He served in the General Counsel’s office and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban development before returning to Dallas. His congressional priorities include lowering health care costs, protecting Medicare and Social Security, and creating an economy that works for all Americans.

About the Moderator:

Christopher Connelly is a reporter covering issues related to financial instability and poverty for KERA’s One Crisis Away series. In 2015, he joined KERA to report on Fort Worth and Tarrant County. From Fort Worth, he also focused on politics and criminal justice stories. Before coming to Texas, Connelly covered the Maryland legislature for the NPR member station in Baltimore. He also worked at NPR as a Joan B. Kroc Fellow – one of three post-graduates who spend a year working as a reporter, show producer and digital producer at network HQ in Washington, DC. Connelly is a graduate of Antioch College in Ohio and he earned a master’s in journalism from the University of California at Berkeley.