Jasmine Crockett launches US Senate bid in Texas; Allred to run for House

Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett launched a campaign Monday for the U.S. Senate in Texas, bringing a national profile to a race that may be critical to Democrats’ long-shot hopes of reclaiming a Senate majority in next year’s midterm elections.

Crockett, one of Congress' most outspoken Democrats and a frequent target of GOP attacks, jumped into the race on the final day of qualifying in Texas. She is seeking the Senate seat held by Republican John Cornyn, who is running for reelection in the GOP-dominated state.

Democrats need a net gain of four Senate seats to wrest control from Republicans next November, when most of the seats up for reelection are in states like Texas that President Donald Trump won last year. Democrats have long hoped to make Texas more competitive after decades of Republican dominance. Cornyn, first elected to the Senate since 2002, is facing the toughest GOP primary of his career against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt.

Crockett's announcement came hours after former Rep. Colin Allred ended his own campaign for the Democratic nomination in favor of attempting a House comeback bid. She faces a March 3 primary against Democratic state Rep. James Talarico, a former teacher with a rising national profile fueled by viral social media posts challenging Republican policies such as private school vouchers and requiring the Ten Commandments in classrooms.

“It’s going to be a sprint from now until the primary, but in Texas you have to think about the voter base overall in November, too,” said Kamau Marshall, a Democratic consultant who has worked for Allred before and worked on other campaigns in Texas. “Who can do the work on the ground? After the primary, who can win in the general?"

GOP hopes to make Crockett's style a liability

Talarico raised almost $6.3 million in the three weeks after he formally organized his primary campaign committee in September, according to its first campaign finance report, and he had nearly $5 million in cash on hand at the end of the month. Crockett raised about $2.7 million for her House campaign fund from July through September and ended the month with $4.6 million in cash on hand.

Crockett also could test Democratic voters’ appetite for a blunt communicator who is eager to take on Republicans as their party sets out again in pursuit of a statewide victory in Texas for the first time since 1994. She did not issue a statement ahead of a formal announcement of her candidacy Monday afternoon in Dallas.

Republicans were quick to try to turn Crockett's national profile and her penchant for public clashes with opponents into liabilities. Paxton issued a statement calling her “Crazy Crockett,” and Republican National Committee spokesperson Delanie Bomar said, “Jasmine Crockett’s shenanigans are an embarrassment to Texas."

"Everything’s bigger in Texas — except her ability to win this race,” Bomar said.

Talarico welcomed Crockett to the Democratic primary but pointed to his fundraising and said he has 10,000 volunteers, adding, “Our movement is rooted in unity over division.”

Democrats see their best opportunity to pick up the Texas seat if Paxton wins the Republican nomination because he has been shadowed for much of his career by legal and personal issues. Yet Paxton is popular with Trump's most ardent supporters.

Hunt, who has served two terms representing a Houston-area district, defied GOP leaders by entering the GOP race.

Crockett is known for her viral moments

Crockett, a civil rights attorney serving her second House term, built her national profile with a candid style and viral moments on Capitol Hill. Among those who have taken notice is Trump, who has called her a “low IQ person.” In response, Crockett said she would agree to take an IQ test against the president.

She traded insults with Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who announced last month that she would resign in January, and had heated exchanges with Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina.

She also mocked Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott — who uses a wheelchair — as "Gov. Hot Wheels." She later said she was referring to Abbott's policy of using "planes, trains and automobiles" to send thousands of immigrants in Texas illegally to Democratic-led cities.

Democrats came closest in the past 30 years to winning a statewide contest in 2018, when former U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke came within 3 points of ousting Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. That was during the midterm election of Trump's first administration, and Democrats believe next year's race could be similarly favorable to their party.

Allred lost to Cruz by 8.5 points last year. He is running for the House in a newly drawn district in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, which he represented in Congress before his Senate bid in 2024.

Allred says he wants to avoid a bruising primary

An internal party battle, Allred said, “would prevent the Democratic Party from going into this critical election unified against the danger posed to our communities and our Constitution by Donald Trump and one of his Republican bootlickers.”

Marshall said Allred made the right call. But he said Talarico and Crockett both face distinct challenges and added that Democrats have work to do across the nation’s second most populous state.

He said Crockett is a “solid national figure” who has a large social media following and is a frequent presence on cable news. That could be an advantage with Democratic primary voters, Marshall said, but not necessarily afterward.

Talarico, meanwhile, must raise money and build name recognition to make the leap from the Texas House of Representatives to a strong statewide candidacy, Marshall said.

A winning Democratic candidate in Texas, Marshall said, would have to energize Black voters, mainly in metro Houston and Dallas, win the kind of diverse suburbs and exurbs like those Allred once represented in Congress, and get enough rural votes, especially among Latinos in the Rio Grande Valley.

“It’s about building complicated coalitions in a big state," Marshall said.

Allred's House bid comes under a new GOP map

Allred's new district is part of the new congressional map that Texas lawmakers approved earlier this year as part of Trump's push to redraw House boundaries to Republicans' advantage. It includes some areas that Allred represented in Congress from 2019-2025. Most of the district is currently being represented by Rep. Marc Veasey, but he has planned to run in a new, neighboring district.

A former professional football player and civil rights attorney, Allred was among Democrats’ star recruits for the 2018 midterms. That year, the party gained a net of 40 House seats, including multiple suburban and exurban districts in Texas, and won a House majority that redefined Trump’s first presidency.

Marshall said Allred also is helping Democrats’ cause by becoming a candidate for another office, and he said that’s a key for the party to have any shot at flipping the state.

“The infrastructure isn’t terrible but it clearly needs improvement,” he said. “Having strong, competitive candidates for every office is part of building that energy and operation. Texas needs strong candidates in House races, for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general — every office — so that voters are hearing from Democrats everywhere.”