State Rep James Talarico wins Texas Democratic Senate primary election race

AUSTIN, TEXAS – James Talarico, a Democratic Texas state lawmaker with a growing national profile, defeated Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a nationally known politician, progressive firebrand and vocal critic and rival of President Donald Trump, to win the Democratic Senate primary in Texas, according to the Associated Press.

Talarico, 36, will now try to become the first Democrat in nearly four decades to win a Senate election in Texas, as he faces the winner of a noisy Republican primary runoff between incumbent Sen. John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

This year’s showdown in the Texas Senate is one of few nationwide that could determine whether Republicans will maintain their majority in the chamber in the midterm elections. The Republican Party currently controls the chamber 53-47.

In the final weeks leading up to Tuesday’s Democratic primary, race became a key factor in the showdown between Talarico, a former high school teacher and Presbyterian seminarian considered a rising star among Democrats, and Crockett, a civil rights lawyer first elected to Congress in 2022.

Talarico, who is white, was accused a month ago by an influencer of calling former Rep. Colin Allred, a former rival for the 2026 Senate nomination, a “mediocre black man.”

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Morgan Thompson, the influencer who uses the username @morga_tt on TikTok, in a social media post She claimed that Talarico told her in a private conversation that she had “signed up to compete against a mediocre black man, not a formidable, intelligent black woman.”

Pushing against Thompson’s characterization. Of their conversation, Talarico said in a statement: “In my praise for Congresswoman Crockett, I described Congressman Allred’s campaign approach as mediocre, but his life and service are not. I would never attack him on the basis of race.”

Allred, responding in a social media video on Monday, he said: “James, if you want to compliment black women, do it. Do it. Don’t do it while tearing down a black man.”

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Crockett, 44, who is black, said in a statement that Allred “drew a line in the sand.”

“He made it clear that he did not take the allegations of an attack against him as just another day in the neighborhood, but more importantly his post was not about himself,” said Crockett, who was backed by Allred. “It was a moment when he decided to stand up for all the people who have been attacked and talked about in a degrading way while our country remains divided.”

A couple of weeks later, Crockett claimed that a Talarico-aligned super PAC had darkened her skin tone in an ad and said it was “downright racist.”

She also argued late last month that talk of her being ineligible statewide was a “dog whistle” that was “tearing down a black woman” and that she was the “most qualified” candidate.

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Talarico, who was first elected to the Texas House in 2018 by flipping a red district in northeast Austin and surrounding suburbs, highlighted his ability to win over Republican voters. And he asked whether Crockett could run a competitive general election campaign.

Although he dramatically out-raised and out-spent Crockett over the past two months, Talarico emerged as the underdog in the primary battle against the better-known congresswoman.

Talarico, who is outspoken about his faith and how it shapes his progressive political agenda, last year began attracting national attention through a series of social media appearances that went viral. Also boosting his profile were his TikTok videos, which have garnered millions of views, and his appearance last July on Joe Rogan’s top-rated podcast.

Rogan suggested during the interview that Talarico should run for president.

A month later, Talarico was a regular on cable news networks, conducting dozens of national media interviews, as he and dozens of his fellow Texas House Democrats fled the state for weeks, to delay the eventual Trump-led redistricting push in Texas to create up to five more right-wing seats in Congress.

Talarico launched his Senate campaign a month later, in September.

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Last month, Talarcio attracted even more national attention when his appearance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” was removed from television and appeared on YouTube. Colbert accused his network, CBS, of blocking the interview, citing guidelines from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

The controversy appeared to galvanize Talarico, and his campaign said they raised $2.5 million in fundraising in the 24 hours “after his censored interview.”

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