DALLAS — Sen. Ted Cruz and Democratic challenger Colin Allred will face off in The Texas Debate on WFAA ahead of the Nov. 5 election.
The Texas Debate will be at 7 p.m. Oct. 15 at WFAA’s studio and broadcast across Texas. It will be the only debate between Cruz and Allred.
The debate will air on WFAA and be livestreamed on the WFAA+ app. The streaming app is available to download on Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire, as well as on iPhone and Android. Coverage will start on WFAA+ at 3 p.m. Oct. 15.
Here’s what to know about the moderators of The Texas Debate
Jason Whitely
Whitely is senior political reporter at WFAA and host of Inside Texas Politics, a weekly political TV program broadcast statewide on Sunday mornings, and the Y’all-itics political podcast.
Aside from politics, Jason also covers aviation with American Airlines and Southwest Airlines based in Dallas and Fort Worth. Jason has witnessed five executions of prison inmates on Texas' death row and produced live coverage from 11 hurricanes.
Jason's reporting has earned 24 Emmy Awards, five Edward R. Murrow Awards, honors from the Headliners Foundation and more than two dozen others. Jason won the Emmy for Best General Assignment Reporter in 2019, 2018, 2017, 2010 and 2005. In 2023, D Magazine named Jason as Best TV Broadcaster in its annual Best of Big D list.
Jason earned a B.A. in Political Science from Western Kentucky University.
Prior to coming to Dallas in 2008, he worked as a reporter for TV stations in Houston, St. Louis, and Nashville.
Gromer Jeffers Jr.
Jeffers is a political reporter at the Dallas Morning News. He also appears on NBC 5’s Lone Star Politics show on Sunday mornings.
Jeffers has covered numerous national, state and local elections, including the presidential campaigns of George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Jeffers also helped report on former Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s gubernatorial campaign, Sen. John Cornyn’s first Senate run and four Dallas mayoral races.
The Chicago native received his B.A. in journalism and political science from Howard University.
Prior to joining the Dallas Morning News, Jeffers worked as a reporter at The Kansas City Star and The Chicago Defender.