As campaign videos go, Jasmine Crockett’s was characteristically audacious. Shot in sombre close-up, it depicts the Texas Democratic congresswoman in profile while the voiceover contains a selection of some of the many insults slung at her by President Donald Trump over the past few years.
“How about this new one they have? The new star – Crockett ... They’re in big trouble ... This woman Crockett ... a very low IQ person ... Crockett. Oh man, oh man ... Someone said the other day she’s one of the leaders of the party, I said you gotta be kidding ... Now they gotta rely on Crockett.”
Some politicians sit in the House of Congress for decades languishing in national obscurity. In just three years, Crockett has established herself as one of the most provocative and high-profile faces of the Democratic Party.
Her acidic committee performances and savvy social media postings, combined with her talent for getting under the skin of Trump, have made the 44-year-old one to watch.
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From the beginning, Trump has been watching and the point of the advert was to reinforce the idea, in the minds of voters in the 2026 midterm elections, that she has both the political heft and personal fortitude to withstand the brickbats that come with standing in opposition to Trump. She filed her intention to run for a Texas Senate seat on the deadline day and has thrown both parties into disarray.
The last Texas Democrat to sit in the Senate was Bob Krueger in 1993, nominated by then governor Ann Richards, also a Democrat, to replace Lloyd Bentsen when he was appointed to Bill Clinton’s cabinet. Krueger lost his seat that summer to Kay Hutchison and no Democrat has held a statewide election in Texas since 1994.
The close, contentious 2018 Senate race between Beto O’Rourke and Ted Cruz, who edged out his Democratic opponent on a slender 2 per cent win, was a sign of blue shoots for the party. Crockett is convinced her national profile and personal fortitude in standing up to threats will win a historic seat for her party.
“My path is through the people,” she said in her first interview after announcing her candidacy.
“Right now we know there is a blue wave that is coming and that’s why the president and his minions have decided to go across this country and try to cheat their way into holding the House,” she said, alluding to the redistricting efforts in several red states.
“But when it comes down to Senate races every single voice is counted; every vote matters the same,” adding that the Democrats need to “get people to vote who don’t normally participate in the process and our numbers say we can do that. You’re gonna need excitement, you’re gonna need momentum and obviously you’re gonna need a few receipts to make sure that we flip this state but it can and it will get done.”
The official Republican response has been one of glee. Cruz, who holds the other Texas Senate seat, said that although he has not met Crockett, he sees her as “the face of the Democratic Party”.
“In their party they want crazy and they want more and more crazy – it reminds me of the old SNL skit with Christopher Walken where he kept saying more cowbell, more cowbell.
“The Democrats are more crazy, more crazy. And I’ve got an idea – I think Kamala Harris and AOC [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] and Jasmine Crockett and Zohran Mamdani should go on a national tour. The Democrat Party keeps getting more and more extreme, and they are united in their hatred of Donald J Trump. The good news is that Texas is not Manhattan. There is a big difference between the two. This is the id of the Democratic Party, screaming, angry and extreme.”
It was reported that the Texas GOP lured her into running by releasing flattering polling numbers – because she would be their preferred opponent in the November election.
“If the president cannot keep my name out of his mouth, then who better to make sure they are in the US Senate to keep him accountable?” Crockett responded to that charge, arguing that she can reach both the disaffected and disinterested.
“I am the one he is afraid of. I am the one the Republicans fear. They may say that they don’t. But my governor cannot stop tweeting about me and that is out of fear. Cos, honestly, if they really wanted me as the nominee they would be quiet and just wait and hope to just crush me. But they know my strength and know my ability to historically reach people who have not participated in politics or just given up. And that is how we are going to win the state of Texas.”
That seems like a more accurate reading. Crockett is formidable. A Missourian who attended a prestigious private school in St Louis, she studied law in Texas, became a vocal civil rights proponent and made the state her home.
She uses her trial attorney experience to deft effect in public forums and mixes an easy articulacy with a salty turn of phrase: one of her many viral moments came when she brandished a photograph of boxed documents in the bathroom of the Trump home in Mar-a-Lago stating, “these are our national secrets, it looks like, in the sh***er.”
But it’s precisely that acerbity that has mainstream Democrat strategists fearing she will alienate those potentially estranged moderate Republicans who are losing faith in the Trump project.
The picture is further complicated by the fact the party has a star-surplus in the district. Crockett has jumped into a primary race that was anticipated as belonging to James Talarico, a 36-year-old former teacher and minister who balances deep religious faith with moderate, persuasive progressivism.
He has charmed an audience ranging from Joe Rogan, who told Talarico that he should run for president when he had him on his podcast, to former president Barack Obama.
“A really talented young man,“ Obama said in the autumn. “I think a guy like him: his starting point is let me say what I believe. What people long for is some core integrity that seems absent.”
Talarico has welcomed Crockett’s announcement, as befitting a pleasant young politician with a Christian outlook. Crockett’s striking, unexpected entry has split opinion, with some strategists claiming her brand of politics will not bring enough votes.
Should she win the primary, Republicans will seek to paint Crockett as a true radical cut from the same cloth as Mamdani and will highlight comments she made on Latinos voting for Trump in last year’s election despite his virulent campaign remarks against immigrant communities.
“I’ve learned about all the complexities within the Latino community ... the immigration thing has always been something that has perplexed me about this community,” she told Vanity Fair in a profile late last year.
“It’s basically like, I fought to get here, but I left y’all where I left ya’ and I don’t want no more y’all to come here,” adding that “It’s almost like a slave mentality that they have.”
But Crockett is adamant her authenticity and strength of character will “redirect the conversation” in an era when Texan farmers and ranchers are filing for bankruptcy in record numbers and the end of healthcare credits is the next chapter in the affordability crisis.
“A lot of people say this is about policy but they can’t explain how it is you have Mamdani-Trump voters or Obama-Trump voters or AOC-Trump voters and the reality is that’s where I think we are going to walk that fine line. I do think we are going to get people who have potentially voted for Trump even though I obviously am one of his loudest opponents.
“It’s about moving people and I think I have a track record of doing that. For all those who believe which one is more moderate or too far left, if you look at numbers, the crossover comes if you make people believe you will fight for them.
“Right now, we know that this primary will be over in 85 days. It is time to unite. I will do nothing to divide us. A win in Texas is actually bigger than Texas. We are talking about a seat that will absolutely flip the Senate over to the control of the Democrats. This is bigger than the state of Texas.”
