Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, launched her run for Senate on Monday, shaking up the Democratic primary just before the state's filing deadline.
Crockett joins the race to take on GOP Sen. John Cornyn, who is facing multiple primary challengers himself. The two-term congresswoman’s decision also comes as her Dallas-based House seat was redrawn in a GOP-led redistricting effort.
"There are a lot of people that said, 'You gotta stay in the House. We need our voice. We need you there,'" Crockett told her supporters as she launched her campaign Monday night. "And I understand. But what we need is a bigger voice."
Crockett, with a slogan of "Texas Tough," pitched herself as the Democrat best-positioned to drive out turnout and appeal to disillusioned voters, saying she can build "a strong multi-racial, multi-generational coalition," and pledged to focus on addressing the cost of living and holding President Donald Trump accountable.
Democrats have not won a statewide race in Texas in more than 30 years, but they have been eyeing next year’s Senate race as a potential pickup opportunity, with Cornyn facing primary challenges from state Attorney General Ken Paxton and GOP Rep. Wesley Hunt. Democrats need to net four seats to take back the Senate next year.
If no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote in either of the March 3 primaries, the top two vote-getters advance to a primary runoff on May 26.
Crockett has been openly weighing a Senate run in recent months following the state’s mid-decade redistricting, which significantly altered the congressional lines in her North Texas home base. She likely enters the race with relatively high name recognition, given her national profile as a vocal critic of Trump’s administration and Republicans.
But some of Crockett's comments could be fodder for Republicans to use against her in a general election, and Republicans have already been goading her to run, seeing her as a manageable opponent.
“Run Jasmine, run!” Cornyn posted on X back in July. His campaign also posted a video on social media of Crockett over the weekend with a narrator saying, “From open borders to socialist economics to unhinged attacks on anyone who disagrees, Jasmine Crockett isn’t representing Texas. She’s representing the far-left fringe.”
The video highlighted some of Crockett’s controversial comments, including saying that “it is not a criminal violation to enter the country illegally”; labeling GOP Gov. Greg Abbott, who uses a wheelchair, as “Gov. Hot Wheels”; and criticizing Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., as a “bleach blonde bad built butch body.”
Cornyn also responded to the news that Crockett was jumping into the race, saying in a statement that she was "radical, theatrical and ineffective."
"As the GOP nominee for U.S. Senate, our campaign will make sure every Texas voter knows how absurd her candidacy is, and in the process provide up-ballot support to down-ballot Republicans, including the five new congressional seats that President Trump has made a priority,” Cornyn said, referring to the redrawn House seats.
Cornyn told reporters in the Capitol on Monday that he does not have a preference for a Democratic opponent, saying of Crockett and Talarico, "I think both of them are flawed candidates, and so I'd be happy to run against either one of them."
Paxton also released a statement dubbing the congresswoman, "Crazy Jasmine Crockett," and predicting she would lose a general election.
"The announcement is likely extremely upsetting for John Cornyn, who counts Jasmine Crockett as one of his best friends," Paxton said.
"Cornyn even went so far as to call Jasmine Crockett his 'dance partner,'" Paxton added, referring to Cornyn's comments last year to the Texas Tribune about working with Crockett on legislation.
Crockett referred to those comments in her launch speech, saying she is "the strongest position to defeat whoever emerges after they finally get out of they stuff, even if that's my buddy and dancing partner, John Cornyn."
Crockett took direct aim at Cornyn, casting him as a "cowering" politician.
"Sadly enough, we all know that Senator John Cornyn does not have the guts to stand up to Trump," Crockett said. "But I can tell y'all who does. I do.”
Crockett said her campaign conducted polling showing her in a strong position in the general election and the primary, though she did not name her chief primary opponent as she launched her campaign Monday night.
Crockett's expected entrance has already shaken up the Democratic primary. Crockett spoke with the two other top Democratic candidates, former Rep. Colin Allred and state Rep. James Talarico, the weekend after Thanksgiving, according to two sources with knowledge of the calls.
Allred announced Monday that he is ending his Senate campaign and instead running for a deep-blue House seat.
“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 and our Constitution by Donald Trump and one of his Republican bootlickers Paxton, Cornyn, or Hunt,” Allred said in a statement. “That’s why I’ve made the difficult decision to end my campaign for the U.S. Senate.”
A runoff was virtually guaranteed in a three-way primary race between Allred, Crockett and Talarico.
Texas Democratic Party Chairman Kendall Scudder, who cannot take sides in a primary that the state party administers, told NBC News on Monday that he welcomed a fight for the Democratic nomination.
"I am in no way concerned about a contested primary being a problem," Scudder said. "If contested primaries were bad, Republicans would have been losing this state two decades ago. I love the idea that Democrats are going to be spending money to turn Democrats out the vote."
"In a state like Texas with such dismal voter turnout, there could not be a better way to spend money than trying to make sure Democrats are showing up to vote," Scudder later added. "So I'm thrilled. I think contested primaries are the sign of a healthy party."
Allred's exit now pits Crockett only against Talarico, who built a national profile when he and other state legislators fled the state earlier this year to try to block the GOP redistricting effort.
Talarico has decried a “rigged system” against working people and said that he can provide a path forward for voters looking for “something new” from the Democratic Party.
“We’re building a movement in Texas — fueled by record-breaking grassroots fundraising and 10,000 volunteers who are putting in the work to defeat the billionaire mega-donors and puppet politicians who have taken over our state,” Talarico said in a statement Monday. “Our movement is rooted in unity over division — so we welcome Congresswoman Crockett into this race.”
Scudder predicted that the primary will likely be the most expensive in the state's history.
Crockett enters as a strong fundraiser, but Talarico also posted a sizable fundraising haul in his first quarter in the race.
Talarico’s campaign raised $6.3 million in the most recent fundraising quarter, ending September with $5 million in his campaign account. But Crockett’s House campaign had $4.6 million in its account, which can be transferred to a Senate run.
Crockett, an attorney and former state legislator, gained some notoriety in 2021 while serving in the state Legislature, fleeing the state to block action on a GOP elections measure. She was first elected to Congress in 2022, succeeding Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson. The longtime congresswoman recruited Crockett to run for her seat, saying that the district needed a representative with “high energy, a passion to fight for us, shrewd intelligence, leadership, and an incessant drive.”
Crockett won a contested primary to represent the deeply Democratic House seat with a boost from super PACs tied to the cryptocurrency industry.
Crockett pointed to her past races, particularly for the state House, as she launched her Senate campaign and argued that she can defy the odds.
And she directly addressed Trump, saying she knew he would be watching, and referencing Trump's push for additional GOP-leaning House seats in the state.
"Let me tell you directly," Crockett told Trump. "You’re not entitled to a damn thing in Texas. You better get to work 'cause I’m coming for you.”
