Jasmine Crockett expected to launch Texas Senate bid before deadline

Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas, President Donald Trump’s progressive firebrand and frequent foil, is expected to launch her U.S. Senate campaign on Monday, the candidates’ filing deadline for the state’s March 3 primary.

Hours before Crockett, a rising star Democrat who represents a Dallas-area district and has wide influence on social media, was to hold an event announcing his decision, one of two Democrats currently running for Senate dropped his bid.

Former Rep. Colin Allred, who is running for the Senate in right-wing Texas for a second consecutive term, announced that he is ending his campaign and will instead launch a congressional campaign as he tries to return to the House. But Democratic state Rep. James Talarico, a former middle school teacher and Presbyterian seminarian, remains in the Senate primary and is preparing for a possible face-off between two rising contenders with tough fundraising efforts.

If Crockett launches a Senate campaign as expected, it would further shake up a high-profile and hotly contested race that also includes Sen. John Cornyn on the Republican side and GOP primary rivals Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and U.S. House Representative Wesley Hunt. The contest in Texas is one of the most closely watched Senate matchups as Democrats try to regain their chamber majority in next year’s midterm elections.

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Crockett told CNN this weekend that he prepared two cashier’s checks; one to submit if he participates in a Senate campaign and the other if he files for re-election in the House of Representatives.

And his cable announcement will come 90 minutes before the deadline for one of the checks to be delivered.

Crockett had been signaling a possible Senate run for weeks, telling MS NOW on Sunday, “I’m closer to yes than no.” And he said he got the vote done to make his case for the Senate race in Texas, where no Democrat has won a statewide election in more than three decades.

In another sign that he is expected to launch a Senate race, Crockett said: Dallas Morning News That he called both Allred and Talarico to discuss his survey.

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Monday’s deadline comes just days after the Supreme Court upheld a new congressional map passed by the GOP-dominated Texas legislature and signed into law by longtime Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, creating five more right-leaning House districts in the Lone Star State.

And Rep. Marc Veasey, one of the Texas Democrats whose district has changed significantly, is reportedly discussing a plan to run for Crockett’s current House seat shortly after filing for the Senate.

Former Democratic Rep. Colin Allred of Texas announced Monday that he will abandon his 2026 U.S. Senate campaign and run to return to the House of Representatives. (Reuters/Marco Bello)

Allred, who is running for the Senate for a second consecutive term after losing to conservative firebrand Sen. Ted Cruz by nearly 9 points last year, said in a statement that he did not want to contribute anything that would shatter Democrats’ hopes of flipping the GOP-held Senate seat in next year’s elections.

“Over the past few days, I have come to believe that the Democratic Party will prevent Donald Trump and any of his Republican marauders from entering this critical election united in their opposition to the danger that Paxton, Cornyn, or Hunt pose to our communities and our Constitution,” Allred said. he wrote.

By dropping out of the race, Allred will likely allow Democrats to avoid a costly and complicated primary runoff in the spring and give the party more time to rally around its candidate and raise much-needed campaign money.

Meanwhile, the GOP nomination could head toward a runoff as Cornyn, Paxton and Hunt target each other in a combustible primary that could be triggered if no candidate clears 50% in the primary.

Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas faces GOP primary challenges from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt, who are seeking re-election in 2026 as a longtime senator. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty)

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Crockett, 44, who is black, is a former state representative and civil rights attorney. He won his seat in 2022 after long-retired Democratic Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson chose him as her successor in Congress.

Crockett, who was re-elected last year, has become one of the most well-known Democratic politicians in the country over the past few years, thanks to her viral attacks on Republicans and her vocal stance on social media against Trump, who has repeatedly questioned her intelligence. And he made plenty of headlines during his tenure on the House Oversight Committee.

While his anticipated Senate run will likely excite many Democrats, his frequent pushback against GOP politicians with his energy and proven fundraising ability could energize Republicans.

One of his biggest mistakes was calling Abbott, who is partially paralyzed and uses a wheelchair, “Governor Hot Wheels.”

Crockett has also accused aspects of the Republican Party of fascism while comparing Trump to Adolf Hitler on multiple occasions.

Especially ran to become a ranking member House Oversight Committee Earlier this year, following the death of the previous top Democrat, the late Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., he dropped out of the race after failing to win a leadership recommendation within his party.

But the Dallas-area Democrat has found favor with some party leaders, such as former Vice President Kamala Harris, who revealed in her memoir “107 Days” that she mentored Crockett as part of the secret “Project Stars” while he was in office.

Crockett spoke at last year’s Democratic National Convention, where Harris was named the party’s presidential nominee; this was a remarkable place for someone who was then a first-term House lawmaker.

He was also facing some tough decisions in his House race after the new GOP-led Texas congressional map was revealed to move his home out of his current district.

Crockett’s anticipated entry into the Senate race will shift attention away from the GOP primaries; Cornyn, a long-time incumbent from the party’s establishment wing, cut into a one-time large lead by Paxton, a MAGA firebrand with Hunt in third.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is seen during the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Tuesday, July 16, 2024, and is running for the U.S. Senate in 2026. (Hannah Beier/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The concern among Republicans is that Paxton, who has been battered by a series of scandals and legal troubles over the past decade and is currently dealing with a messy divorce, would put the seat in play if he wins the GOP nomination.

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But Crockett’s candidacy would likely change the political equation.

While his aggressive stance against Trump and the GOP may play well with the left, it could hurt his chances of winning among general election voters in Texas next November.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee, the campaign arm of the Senate GOP, paid for a Democratic primary poll in Texas last summer that showed Crockett ahead by double digits. The publicly released poll was apparently done to encourage Crockett to enter the race, with the GOP assuming he would be more beatable than Allred or Talarico.