The U.S. Senate race could be headed for a jolt next week as U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett appears likely to jump in as a Democratic contender.
Crockett, a second-term progressive who has become a lightning rod for Republicans, is scheduled to make a “special announcement” in her hometown of Dallas on Monday and has signaled her intention to join a Democratic field that includes former U.S. Rep. Colin Allred and state Rep. James Talarico of Austin.
The widely anticipated entrance stands to pit three of the state’s more well-known Democrats against one another — a scenario that has some Democrats frustrated.
“The fact that they’re all running in the same race is just maddening,” said Matt Angle, a veteran Texas Democratic operative. “Next fall, two out of three of our best communicators will be sitting on the sidelines. It’s frustrating. If the world worked right, one would be running for the U.S. Senate, one would be running for governor, and one would be running for attorney general.”
Neither Talarico nor Allred, who lost his Senate bid last year to unseat Ted Cruz, has shown any intention of abandoning the race and switching to another ahead of Monday’s candidate filing deadline. Both have kept up campaign appearances and online fundraising this week.
In an appearance Sunday on MSNOW, Crockett acknowledged the conundrum even as she broadly hinted her intention to run.
“Instead of relying on one person to carry the load, I’ve actually been talking to other candidates, potential candidates, as well, trying to recruit them (to seek other offices) to make sure that it’s not just the top of the ticket that everybody’s looking at,” Crockett said. “It’s not like I can get around Texas by myself.”
Earlier efforts to create a “Democratic super ticket,” with big names running in each of the state’s top races, failed this spring when candidates couldn’t reach an agreement, U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro said at a recent event in Austin. He said he had offered to run for attorney general.
A poll published Monday by Democrat-leaning Change Research found that 84% of statewide respondents have heard of Crockett, compared to 79% for Allred and 51% for Talarico. However, 49% said they would “definitely not” vote for Crockett, compared to 43% for Allred and 40% for Talarico.
And half of all respondents said they would likely vote in November for the winner of the Republican primary, so far a three-way contest between U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt of Houston.
The findings suggest that none of the three Democrats have demonstrated the kind of broad appeal needed to flip the seat from red to blue. Stephen Clermont, director of polling for Change Research, said they offer a nuanced picture for a party that has not won statewide office in Texas since the 1990s.
“It’s a challenging, uphill race for Democrats,” Clermont said. “If you’re going to run, and going to run successfully, you’ve got to have a reason why you’re different than every other Democrat who has run statewide since 1994, and none of them have won. What would you do differently, and what makes you different to be successful where for 32 years no one else has been? It’s a tough question to answer.”
Cornyn on Thursday likened Crockett to U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez of New York, an unabashed liberal and a favorite target of national Republicans.
“I would love to see Jasmine Crockett in the race,” Cornyn said. “I don’t think she’s going to play well in Texas.”
Earlier this fall, when she started publicly toying with a possible Senate run, Crockett said she would rely on her own polling to help guide her decision-making. She told Hearst Newspapers in mid-November that she would release the results once she makes a formal announcement. In her MSNOW interview, Crockett said the polling showed she has strength among Black and Latino voters, two of the sturdiest pillars in the Democratic coalition.
“I am the leading candidate when it comes to those two specific constituencies,” she said. “And so it does make it to where I am very formidable, regardless of kind of what people may want to put out into the atmosphere. The numbers are the numbers.”
The filing period for the March 3 primaries ends on Monday. So far, the top Democrats running for governor are state Rep. Gina Hinojosa of Austin, businessman Andrew White, who unsuccessfully sought the nomination in 2018, and 2006 gubernatorial nominee Chris Bell. State Rep. Vikki Goodwin of Austin has filed for lieutenant governor, and state Sen. Nathan Johnson of Dallas and former Galveston Mayor Joe Jaworski are running for attorney general.
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