Crockett was unsuccessful in a last-ditch effort to develop a candidate slate for 2026.
By Gromer Jeffers Jr.
Dallas Morning News
https://www.dallasnews.com/
Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer
In the days before she launched her Senate campaign, U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett tried to develop a slate of Democratic candidates to run with her in the 2026 midterm elections.
Crockett and other Democrats theorize running their best candidates in races up and down the ballot — particularly in statewide races for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and comptroller — improves their chances to break through.
Crockett’s challenge was convincing fellow Democrats to put aside campaigns already in motion as the deadline to file candidacies for the March 3 primaries fast approached.
Her effort failed.
“We were almost there,” Crockett told me last week after her campaign kickoff speech. “That’s all I can say.”
The Dallas Democrat acknowledged the delicacy of the negotiations and the effect the final, frenzied hours of the filing period had on various elected leaders. Crockett is in a high-profile primary Senate race against state Rep. James Talarico of Austin.
“You’re trying to be spicy,” she said after being asked about her efforts to put together a candidate slate.
Crockett’s political moves, most notably her eleventh-hour entry into the Senate race, highlighted a dramatic, chaotic day that changed the course of Democratic politics. The run-up to the filing deadline will have ramifications on the 2026 midterm elections, as Democrats try to wrest power from Republicans nationally and inside Texas.
The drama was most pronounced in North Texas, where the Republicans’ mid-decade redrawing of congressional boundaries led to the decisions made by Crockett and Democrats.
The fallout:
- Former U.S. Rep. Colin Allred dropped out of the Democratic Senate race and opted to run in Dallas County-anchored Congressional District 33. That set up a clash with U.S. Rep. Julie Johnson of Farmers Branch, who had already filed her candidacy for the district.
- U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey of Fort Worth, the dean of the North Texas congressional delegation, decided against running for reelection in District 30, which Crockett is leaving because of her Senate bid. Veasey has represented District 33 since its inception in 2013, and his departure from Congress means North Texas loses the clout of a veteran lawmaker with seniority. Republicans revamped the district this summer to remove his Tarrant County base.
Veasey had planned to run in District 30, which includes a swath of Tarrant County. He changed course when Friendship-West Baptist Church leader Frederick Haynes III — Crockett’s pastor — filed his candidacy for the seat.
Veasey is running for Tarrant County judge against Republican Tim O’Hare but must win a primary race against Tarrant County Commissioner Alisa Simmons, a longtime ally who filed her candidacy for the post days earlier.
- Crockett and Talarico of Austin have starring roles in Texas Democratic politics. One of them will lose the Senate primary, which means Democrats won’t have their best lineup on the field for general elections that could provide opportunities to break through or boost the entire ticket.
Crockett wasn’t the first Democrat to attempt to put together a statewide slate.
In May, former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke of El Paso, U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro of San Antonio, Allred and Talarico met to discuss putting together a statewide ticket. That effort crumpled because they all wanted to run for Senate. As it turns out, Talarico is the only person from that meeting running statewide.
At various points Talarico and Allred resisted running for governor or any other non-Senate statewide post. O’Rourke opted to focus on organizing volunteers and mobilizing voters. Castro waited until deadline day to file for reelection; he was considering a run for either attorney general or lieutenant governor.
The Democrats statewide slate will now include the winner of the primary for governor that includes state Rep. Gina Hinojosa of Austin, Houston businessman Andrew White and former U.S. Rep. Chris Bell of Houston. State Rep. Vikki Goodwin of Austin is a Democratic primary contender for lieutenant governor, along with Courtney Head and Marcos Velez.
The Democratic race for attorney general is between state Sen. Nathan Johnson of Dallas, former Galveston Mayor Joe Jaworski and Dallas lawyer Tony Box.
Democrats will hope the nominees that emerge from those and other races will be able to raise the money and develop connections with voters that will help the entire ticket, but it clearly won’t be the ticket many of them had envisioned.
Strong slates can be critical. In 2018, O’Rourke lost a Senate race to Republican Ted Cruz by 2.6 percentage points. Cruz benefitted from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s voter turnout effort. Abbott was running for reelection against former Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez, whose campaign struggled to raise money and gain traction.
Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, with their stout campaign accounts, will be on the ballot again in November. That gives other Republican candidates an advantage.
There are opportunities, however, for Democrats to turn the chaotic filing period brought about by the Republican-driven redistricting plan.
Either Crockett or Talarico could generate enthusiasm that will drive the party’s base voters to the polls. Winning the Senate seat held by Republican John Cornyn would send shockwaves in Texas and across the nation.
Cornyn is running for reelection in a GOP primary that includes Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt of Houston.
Though Veasey will likely fret over losing the musical chairs congressional game Republicans created for Democrats, he could strike a blow by defeating O’Hare and flipping Tarrant County’s top elected office blue. There are Democrats who wanted Veasey to run against O’Hare from the start.
It’s Texas, so Republicans are favored to win in their strongholds and statewide.
Still, the midterm elections are a chance for Democrats to turn a painful filing period and lingering hard feelings into political success.
There’s also a lesson for O’Rourke, Talarico, Allred and Castro, who tried to hammer out a slate in private.
The next time you have such a meeting, invite Crockett.
The Howard University graduate and Chicago native has covered four presidential campaigns and written extensively about local, state and national politics. Before The News, he was a reporter at The Kansas City Star and The Chicago Defender. You can catch Gromer every Sunday at 8:30 a.m. on NBC 5’s Lone Star Politics.
This story, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, is reprinted as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News and Texas Metro News. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas.
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