Over the last couple of months or so, as rumors swirled that Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) was mulling a Senate run, and later, when she confirmed she was considering it, the laughter could barely be contained.
After all, Democrats in the “Blexas” (Blue Texas) movement had been fantasizing for years about turning the Lone Star State blue, especially after the inroads they believed then-Rep. Beto O’Rourke had made in his failed 2018 Senate campaign against Sen. Ted Cruz.
Was it a Crockett Senate run, which she made official earlier this week after former Rep. Colin Allred dropped out of the race, something Democrats wanted to happen amid what they are viewing as a momentum shift in their direction going into 2026?
As it turns out, many of them don’t, with at least six House Democrats telling Axios they fear the potential impact of her candidacy, should she win the primary, on down-ballot races:
Rep. Jasmine Crockett has left some of her fellow House Democrats infuriated after launching a bid for U.S. Senate in Texas.Why it matters: Many in the party fear the anti-Trump firebrand will alienate swing voters and drag down Democrats in the state if she clinches the nomination — including in several key House races that could decide control of the lower chamber.
Before Crockett declared her candidacy, Democrats made clear they believe there is hope for them in 2026 Senate race, considering the competitive GOP primary that is taking place and which includes incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, who Republicans have a love-hate relationship with, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has been a divisive and controversial figure among Republicans in the state, and GOP Rep. Wesley Hunt, who recently challenged Crockett to a debate.
Some of the Democrats quoted in the Axios piece pointed to a report that suggested the NRSC deliberately “propped up” Crockett as a candidate as a way to embolden her to run:
The National Republican Senatorial Committee put out a poll in July with Crockett’s name included, which showed her as the leading Democrat in a hypothetical matchup.[..]Following the NRSC’s polls, other surveys began to include Crockett and showed similar results: She was surging in the primary.The NRSC then worked to amplify those polls and is taking credit for helping “orchestrate the pile on of these polling numbers to really drive that news cycle and that narrative that Jasmine Crockett was surging in Texas,” the source said.[…]But the Republican efforts didn’t stop there. In what the source dubbed an “AstroTurf recruitment process,” the NRSC had “allies that were seeding these new polls pretty aggressively into progressive digital spaces.”
When Crockett confirmed in October that she was thinking about running, and in her official announcement Monday, she cited those polls as evidence she could win the primary.
In other words, it sounds like about as much thought went into Crockett’s decision to run as it did on the campaign slogan she came up with:
Another Texas Democrat “rising star,” state Rep. James Talarico, is also running, which is another reason why the Democratic primary race should be as interesting to watch from the cheap seats as the Republican one.
We will, of course, keep you posted on any notable developments. Stay tuned.
– Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via X. –
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