\”Democratic U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D‑Dallas, announced her candidacy for the U.S. Senate in Texas just before the filing deadline, setting a new race in motion.\n\n## Crockett’s Announcement and Filing\n\nNBC News confirmed that Crockett filed her candidacy on Monday and that her name appeared on the Texas Democratic Party’s list of candidates. A source familiar with the filing confirmed the accuracy of the report. Candidates who want to run in the March primary must file by 6 p.m. on Dec. 8.\n\n## The Senate Seat and Republican Primary\n\nCrockett is seeking the seat held by Republican John Cornyn since 2002. Cornyn, who is pursuing a fifth six‑year term, faces the toughest GOP primary of his career against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt.\n\nCornyn delivered sharp criticism of Crockett’s time in the House, calling her “theatrical and ineffective” and saying she does not represent most Texans.\n\n> “Jasmine Crockett does not represent the views of a majority of Texans,” said Cornyn. “Her time in Congress has been marked by deeply unserious public statements, little to no actual work for her constituents and over‑the‑top rhetoric and childish insults. She is radical, theatrical and ineffective. As the GOP nominee for U.S. Senate, our campaign will make sure every Texas voter knows how absurd her candidacy is, and in the process provide up‑ballot support to down‑ballot Republicans, including the five new Congressional seats that President Trump has made a priority.”\n\n## Democratic Primary Field\n\nIn the Senate race, Crockett faces a March 3 primary against Democratic Texas Rep. James Talarico, a former teacher who gained a national profile through viral social media posts that challenged Republican policies such as private‑school vouchers and the requirement to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms.\n\nTalarico welcomed Crockett’s entry. “We’re building a movement in Texas — fueled by record‑breaking grassroots fundraising and 10,000 volunteers who are putting in the work to defeat the billionaire mega‑donors and puppet politicians who have taken over our state,” Talarico said. “Our movement is rooted in unity over division — so we welcome Congresswoman Crockett into this race.”\n\nA video sent by @JamesTalarico to his 10,000 volunteers read: “We will make the case for why we are best positioned to win this race — but we will always treat Congresswoman Crockett with the utmost respect. She is my colleague and a leader in our state. She deserves nothing less.”\n\nEarlier Monday, former Rep. Colin Allred ended his own Senate campaign for the Democratic nomination in favor of attempting a House comeback bid. Ahmad R. Hassan, of Katy, has also filed to run for Senate as a Democrat.\n\nAllred said he wants to avoid a divisive Democratic primary. “An internal party battle, Allred said, “would prevent the Democratic Party from going into this critical election unified against the danger posed to our communities and our Constitution by Donald Trump and one of his Republican bootlickers.”\n\n## Comments from Party Leaders\n\nKamau Marshall, a Democratic consultant who has worked for Allred before and on other Texas campaigns, said Allred made the right call. He added that Talarico and Crockett both face distinct challenges and that Democrats have work to do across the nation’s second‑most populous state.\n\n> “It’s going to be a sprint from now until the primary, but in Texas, you have to think about the voter base overall in November, too,” Marshall said. “Who can do the work on the ground? After the primary, who can win in the general? … It’s about building complicated coalitions in a big state.”\n\nMarshall noted that a winning Democratic candidate would need to energize Black voters, mainly in metro Houston and Dallas, win diverse suburbs and exurbs like those Allred once represented in Congress, and secure enough rural votes, especially among Latinos in the Rio Grande Valley.\n\n## Election Timeline\n\nThe Texas primary is Tuesday, March 3, 2026. The first date to request a ballot by mail is Jan. 1, 2026, and the last day to register to vote in the primary is Feb. 2, 2026. Early voting begins Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. Candidates who win the primary will either advance to a runoff on May 26, 2026, or, if they obtain more than 50 % of the vote, will receive the party nomination and advance to the midterm election on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026.\n\n## Political Context\n\nDemocrats need a net gain of four Senate seats to wrest control from Republicans next November, when most of the seats up for reelection are in states like Texas that President Donald Trump won last year. Democrats have long hoped to make Texas more competitive after decades of Republican dominance.\n\nThe closest Democrats have come recently to a top‑of‑the‑ticket victory in Texas elections was Beto O’Rourke’s challenge of Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018. O’Rourke campaigned in all 254 counties and got 48.3 % of the vote, but still trailed by 215,000 votes. Four years later, O’Rourke was the gubernatorial nominee and lost to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott by more than 880,000 votes, a gap of nearly 11 percentage points. In 2024, Allred lost the Senate general election by nearly 960,000 votes or 8.5 points.\n\nAllred’s new House district is part of the new congressional map that Texas’ GOP‑run Legislature approved earlier this year as part of President Donald Trump’s push to redraw House boundaries to Republicans’ advantage. It includes some areas that Allred represented in Congress from 2019‑2025. Most of the district is currently being represented by Rep. Marc Veasey, but he has planned to run in a new, neighboring district.\n\nAllred, a former professional football player and civil‑rights attorney, was among Democrats’ star recruits for the 2018 midterms, when the party gained a net of 40 House seats, including multiple suburban and exurban districts in Texas, to win a House majority that redefined Trump’s first presidency.\n\nAllred said that by stepping aside he is helping Democrats’ cause by becoming a candidate for another office, and he said that’s a key for the party to have any shot at flipping the state.\n\n“The infrastructure isn’t terrible but it clearly needs improvement,” he said. “Having strong, competitive candidates for every office is part of building that energy and operation. Texas needs strong candidates in House races, for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general — every office — so that voters are hearing from Democrats everywhere.”\n\n## Key Takeaways\n\n- Jasmine Crockett announced a Texas Senate run just before the Dec. 8 filing deadline.\n- Republican incumbent John Cornyn faces a tough primary against Ken Paxton and Wesley Hunt.\n- Democratic field includes James Talarico, Ahmad R. Hassan, and former Rep. Colin Allred who has stepped aside for a House bid.\n- Democrats need a net gain of four Senate seats to control the Senate next November.\n- The Texas primary is March 3, 2026, with early voting starting Feb. 17.\n\nThe race is already shaping a complex tableau of candidates, timelines, and partisan calculations that will determine Texas’ future representation in the U.S. Senate.\”
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