Jasmine Crockett Gambles Political Future
as Dem Convention No-Show and Skeptic
Capitol Inside
June 19, 2026
Outgoing U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett runs the risk of wrecking a potential comeback with her plans to skip the Texas Democratic Party Convention next week amid claims that she hasn't decided whether to back James Talarico for the U.S. Senate in a monumental bout with Republican Ken Paxton on the fall ballot.
Crockett expressed her reservations about Talarico in an interview with the Dallas Morning News on her plans for the fall. Crockett, who lost to Talarico by a half-dozen percentage points in the March primary election, said she would be working for candidates around the country and decided against attending the state convention in Corpus Christi next week as a consequence. .
The second-term congressional member from Dallas sparked a furious backlash on social media with the posturing on the Texas Senate race that Talarico would have less of a chance to win without her on board. Democrats portrayed Crockett as a candidate with a bad case of sour grapes coupled with a lack of attention to which she'd become accustomed as a ferocious Trump critic.
It's conceivable that Crockett could be holding out her support for leverage for a reboot in clout that she forfeited by giving a safe congressional seat for a Senate race that she led in the polls before Talarico beat her with more than 52 percent of the vote in round one.
Crockett's hesitation on Talarico could simply be a message or wake up call about the need for the appropriation of more attention to Black voters who the Democrats may tend to take for granted given after reaping the lion's share of their support over the years. Crockett said the lack of a Black nominee in a statewide race in Texas could have diluted the enthusiasm that her campaign for the Senate had generated over the course of several months. The former Senate contender said she wasn't sure whether Black voters were unified behind Talarico or wavering like she claimed to be.
The Democratic ticket in Texas features three women - two who are white and one Latina - as the party's nominees in statewide contests on a slate with four white men and one Hispanic male. The GOP ticket contains six white men and one woman who's white.
While Blacks voted overwhelmingly for Kamala Harris in her bid for president two years ago, President Donald Trump's saw his share of the Black vote jump from 8 percent four years ago to 15 percent in 2024 according to a Pew Research survey. Crockett's enthusiastic support - which Talarico has yet to earn - could be the key to a strong showing by blacks for the Democrats' Senate nominee.
But Crockett's posturing ahead of the state convention could have an adverse effect on the Democrats' down-ballot candidates whose hopes are heavily dependent on a strong showing by Talarico at the top of the ticket. Crockett might find it difficult if not impossible to win at any level if she wants back in the game if she's set herself to be blamed for torpedoing the entire ticket as a product of a potential grudge from a disappointing defeat in her statewide debut.
Talarico will have to take Crockett's frosty attitude and distancing seriously amid the recognition that the black vote could swing the Senate race in one direction or the other if the candidates are running close with white and Hispanic voters. Talarico and the Democrats can't afford to have a situation like the Republicans did at their state convention last week when U.S. Senator John Cornyn failed to show and took shots at them on social media while top leaders told his supporters in Houston to get in line without doing anything to earn their votes. Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick called Cornyn a bad loser and told his supporters at the event to put the primary behind them and rally behind the team.
Crockett could pose a more imposing obstacle than the fallen solon, however, if she seeks to undermine Talarico in light of the sway that she holds with Black voters here. Crockett beat Talarico in the state's major counties with the largest Black populations - with a 5-point win in Harris County and doubie-digit victories in Dallas and Tarrant counties in the swath of Texas where she's based.
A Texas Public Opinion Research poll immediately after the primary runoff vote in May found Talarico up on Paxton by 3 percentage points. But the TPOR survey showed Talarico leading Paxton by 38 points among Black voters while the Republican attorney general was ahead by 4 points among Hispanics and 3 points among white voters here.
Talarico has to treat Crockett's posturing as a five-alarm problem that he can't afford to ignore or to alienate Democrats like the Republicans did in the case of Cornyn and his supporters at the state convention in Houston for the state's ruling party.
A poll that was released on Friday found Trump with a 37 percent approval rating among Black voters compared to a 59 percent disapproval mark. The president's overall approval rating was 39 percent in the The Economist/YouGov poll that was taken June 13-15. That represents a significant increase that other polling has yet to pinpoint.
more to come ...
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