James Talarico defeats Jasmine Crockett in blockbuster Democratic primary for U.S. Senate

By Kayla Guo

State Rep. James Talarico defeated U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, emerging victorious over the well-known congresswoman in Texas’ most hotly contested Democratic contest this century with a populist, “top-versus-bottom” message rooted in his Christian faith.

“This is a people-powered movement to take on this broken, corrupt political system,” Talarico said in a brief address to his supporters in Austin before the race was called. “Tonight, the people of our state gave this country a little bit of hope, and a little bit of hope is a dangerous thing.”

The Austin Democrat’s victory comes after a bitterly fought primary consumed by the question of which Democrat’s political and electoral strategy could take the party to its first statewide victory in over three decades. The Associated Press called the race for him shortly before 2 a.m. Wednesday.

Beginning with much lower name recognition than Crockett, Talarico made it a point to campaign in even the reddest parts of the state and work to build a big tent, putting forth a populist, faith-based message of a “politics of love” that he argued could counter the division stoked by billionaire political donors and form a winning coalition. That approach resonated with a majority of Democratic primary voters Tuesday, who chose his offering of a political reset over Crockett’s promise to unapologetically wage partisan warfare against the GOP.

Tuesday’s fiercely competitive primary was widely watched as an indicator of the potential future of the Texas Democratic Party, with the two political heavyweights — both boasting national profiles, enormous social media presences and devotion from the party’s base — putting forth vastly different visions of the kind of politics needed to win statewide, even as they largely aligned on policy.

A Democrat has not won a U.S. Senate seat in Texas since 1988. And while Texas is not on national Democrats’ list of targets to retake the Senate, party leaders in the state see a prime opportunity this year to finally flip Texas, hoping that backlash to the Trump administration, a brutal Senate primary on the Republican side and the possibility of facing hard-right, scandal-plagued Attorney General Ken Paxton will all set the stage for an upset.

The GOP nomination will be decided in a May runoff between Paxton and incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, after the two finished atop a field of eight candidates but failed to clear 50%.

The contest at the top of the Democratic ticket, meanwhile, drove over 1.5 million primary voters to the polls over the 11-day early voting period, more than doubling early turnout during the last midterm primary election in 2022, according to VoteHub.

The results began coming in Tuesday evening after a day of turmoil at the polls in Dallas County, Crockett’s home base and the state’s second most populous county. Confusion arose over a rule change about where voters could cast ballots — pushed by the Dallas County GOP — which led to numerous voters being turned away at the polls.

Earlier Tuesday evening, a district judge granted the Dallas County Democratic Party’s request to extend polling hours in the county to 9 p.m. Soon after, at the request of Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Texas Supreme Court temporarily ordered that votes cast by people who were not in line to vote by 7 p.m. — when polls were originally set to close — should be separated out, casting uncertainty over whether those ballots would be included in the county’s final tally.

Shortly after 9 p.m., Crockett told supporters at her election night watch party at Club VIVO in downtown Dallas that she did not expect full election results until the following day.

“Every vote must be counted, every voice must be heard,” Talarico said. “The voter suppression in my home county and in Congresswoman Crockett’s home county underscores the gravity of this moment.”

Even before the race was called, Republicans were previewing the lines of attack they would wage against Talarico, highlighting past comments he’s made saying “God is nonbinary” and comparing him to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

“James Talarico is too radical for Texas,” the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Senate GOP campaign arm which is backing Cornyn, said in a statement.

The competition tested Democrats’ appetite for identity politics, with questions around race and gender inflaming the race as election day neared.

Crockett cast concerns about her electability in a red state as racist dog whistles, and she called a pro-Talarico super PAC’s ad citing the apparent GOP preference for her nomination “straight up racist” and accused the ad of darkening her skin. The ad applied a dark filter throughout, including over other people pictured. Campaigns cannot legally coordinate with super PACs, and Talarico has repeatedly emphasized his respect for Crockett.

The racial tensions tearing the primary apart were amplified by political content creators from around the country, who waged a vicious online proxy war on behalf of their preferred candidates.

Crockett’s supporters online depicted Talarico as anti-Black, pointing to an accusation made by a TikTok creator that he referred to former congressman and 2024 Democratic Senate nominee Colin Allred as a “mediocre Black man.” Talarico disputed the allegation, saying he criticized Allred’s campaigning but would “never attack him on the basis of race.”

Republicans, too, fanned the division and made no secret of their belief that Crockett would be easier to beat in November. Cornyn called Crockett’s decision to run a “gift,” and Talarico’s potential nomination “dangerous.”

During early voting, Gov. Greg Abbott ran at least two ads depicting Crockett as a far-left antagonist to motivate Republicans to the polls, which Crockett pointed to as evidence that she is the candidate the GOP fears. A conservative group called American Sovereignty backed a text message campaign highlighting her opposition to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, using messaging that could help her with Democrats as much as it would hurt her with Republicans. And the Senate Republican campaign arm bragged about its efforts to bait her into the race when she first launched her bid.

Outside spending on behalf of both Crockett and Talarico by super PACs whose donors remain largely anonymous also helped frame the race.

By the end of early voting, Talarico had outspent Crockett nearly five-to-one on advertising, including outside spending, according to media tracking firm AdImpact. Talarico spent $15.3 million on ads through his campaign alone, compared to Crockett’s $4.3 million; a pro-Talarico super PAC dropped another $7.7 million, while a super PAC boosting Crockett had spent less than $500,000.

While Talarico’s campaign ads highlighted his legislative record and his background as a public school teacher, a pro-Talarico group, Lone Star Rising PAC, dropped ads highlighting Republicans’ apparent efforts to prop up Crockett’s candidacy. “If she wins, we lose,” the narrator in one ad says.

Crockett hit back with her own attack ad, depicting Talarico alongside Trump and Abbott as a narrator said, “They fight for the rich and powerful. Crockett fights for us.”

The race was punctuated by numerous headline-grabbing moments.

Talarico entered the race with a splash, raising $1 million in the 12 hours after he launched his campaign and from there only ramping up his fundraising operation, which relied mostly on individual small-dollar donations.

After weeks of publicly considering a run, Crockett shook up the race when she made her campaign official on the last day candidates could file in December — a decision that pushed Allred, who had kicked off his rerun months prior, out of the primary and into a race for his previous congressional seat. As Republicans celebrated her decision, Crockett became the immediate frontrunner with near-universal name ID and soaring approval from Democratic voters.

The primary’s only debate, hosted by the Texas AFL-CIO in January, revealed little daylight between Crockett and Talarico on policy, and the tenor was restrained.

On the campaign trail, Crockett faced scrutiny over past remarks she made suggesting Latinos who voted for Trump had a “slave mentality” and that the country should be welcoming to migrants because “we’re done picking cotton.”

Talarico, meanwhile, aggressively courted Latino voters, many of whom surged to the right in 2024 and who are seen as potentially decisive in the general election. He campaigned with Tejano music star and congressional candidate Bobby Pulido, ran ads and social media content in Spanish and worked with popular content creators like Carlos Eduardo Espina, a Latino influencer.

Then, a TikTok influencer who’d supported Talarico before Crockett joined the race accused the Austin Democrat of calling Allred a “mediocre Black man.” Allred excoriated Talarico and endorsed Crockett in his own social media video. Talarico disputed the account, but the debacle highlighted his paltry support among Black voters, who polls showed overwhelmingly supported Crockett.

The first day of early voting brought another explosive news cycle when late night host Stephen Colbert accused CBS of pulling his interview with Talarico for fear of running afoul of new guidance from the Trump administration. The incident, which Talarico spun into a direct attempt by Trump to censor him, instantly introduced him to millions of people and garnered him $2.5 million in fundraising in the 24 hours after.

The outcome of the primary remained in question through Tuesday, with polls released in the lead-up to the election oscillating wildly between the two candidates.