Former U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, D-Dallas, announced he would drop out of the U.S. Senate race’s Democratic primary on Monday, the last day candidates can file paperwork to run for office in Texas.

Allred, the first major Texas Democrat to announce a U.S. Senate campaign, will instead attempt to return to the U.S. House of Representatives in a newly redrawn Dallas-area seat. The 2024 Democratic U.S. Senate nominee, who lost last year’s U.S. Senate race against U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz by over 8 percentage points, according to Ballotpedia, wrote in a statement on X that he wanted to avoid a contentious battle for the Democratic nomination in next March’s primary election.

“In the past few days, I’ve come to believe that a bruising Senate Democratic primary and runoff would prevent the Democratic party from going into this critical election unified against the danger posed to our communities by Donald Trump and one of his Republican bootlickers (Attorney General Ken) Paxton, (U.S. Sen. John) Cornyn or (U.S. Rep. Wesley) Hunt,” Allred wrote. 

Allred’s decision lowers the chances for the first runoff for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate since 2012. Allred’s decision leaves two major candidates in the race for the Democratic nomination instead of three: Texas Rep. James Talarico, D-Austin, who entered the race in August and U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas, who had flirted with a bid for the U.S. Senate for weeks. Crockett launched her U.S. Senate campaign at a Monday press conference. 

Crockett, who has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2023, said she will prioritize affordability as a senator.

“I will work day and night to fight for you and your loved ones to have your basic needs met, to ensure one person, one job is enough to live with dignity and retire with security,” Crockett’s website states.

In Texas, if no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote in the primary, the two candidates with the highest number of votes go on to another election in May. The Democratic nominee is set to face incumbent U.S. Sen John Cornyn, Attorney General Ken Paxton or U.S. Rep Wesley Hunt, R-Houston, in November. The race for the Republican nomination is widely expected to go into a runoff as multiple polls have all three candidates garnering under 50% of the vote according to CBS News polling.