Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s (D-Texas) days in Congress are now numbered. Unfortunately, I’m sure she won’t go away entirely. She will do everything she can to maintain a public profile and exert some influence in her party. But one place she isn’t trying to exert her influence is in the Senate race in Texas between James Talarico, who defeated her in the Democrat primary, and Republican Ken Paxton. She says it is about strategy. Her rivals suspect something else entirely. So which is it, smart politics, or a very expensive grudge dressed up as principle?
When Crockett entered the Senate race, she was the presumptive favorite. She had the name recognition, the diversity checkboxes, and the eyelash extensions. Nevertheless, she lost to Talarico, which means that Crockett's time in Congress ends in January, since her House district no longer exists. The thing is, she spent months afterward promising to back Talarico's campaign. That promise has aged about as poorly as Joe Biden.
The distance became obvious on Thursday, when CNN's Laura Coates asked Crockett point blank whether she would hit the trail with Talarico. "We've seen the turnout that you can produce," Coates said. "Talarico might very well need that magnetism. Will you campaign with him?"
Crockett didn't hesitate. "I will be campaigning down ballot," she said.
Not exactly a ringing endorsement.
Asked why she was drawing a line between the top of the ticket and everyone else on the ballot, Crockett explained herself using Texas Democrats' favorite cautionary tale: Beto O'Rourke.
"Because when we're looking at a state like Texas, we've tried this, where we've got one amazing candidate that's running at the top of the ticket," she said, pointing to O'Rourke's near-miss against Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in 2018. He was "raising all the money, doing all the things, running around the entire state, but it's not enough," Crockett said.
She said she would rather spread her energy to candidates who are "getting overshadowed" by the marquee race, adding that "amplifying them, making sure that I can raise their profiles and introducing them to people, that'll give something more to voters." It's a nice theory. It also happens to double as a convenient excuse to avoid campaigning for the guy who beat her.
Crockett isn't just talking about amplifying other candidates, either. She’s doing some real work. In May, she launched a leadership PAC called FIRE, short for Fuel Individual Rights Everywhere, aimed at boosting other Texas Democrats. All five candidates the PAC backed went on to win their primary runoffs later that month, and one of those wins landed like a direct shot at Talarico. Former Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas), endorsed by Crockett, beat out Rep. Julie Johnson (D-Texas), who had Talarico's backing, for a Dallas-area House nomination.
Recommended: Jessica Tarlov Defends Hasan Piker Because of Course She Does
The stakes for Talarico are enormous. Democrats desperately want to flip Texas, yet she is clearly unwilling to lend a hand like she’s afraid of breaking one of her fake nails.
You would think a race with that much riding on it is exactly the kind of contest Crockett would want to throw her full weight behind.
You would be wrong.
When Coates pressed her on whether it really comes down to an either-or choice between the top of the ticket and everything below it, Crockett didn't dodge. "It probably is," she said. Coming from the one Democrat who could be instrumental in shoring up black support for Talarico, that answer speaks volumes.
Crockett says she is simply stretched thin, pulled across her "really big state" for FIRE PAC business, tending to candidates she "didn't get to do anything for" while she was busy running her own Senate campaign.
Here's the simplest explanation, and it isn't complicated. Crockett is still feeling humiliated from getting beaten by Talarico, and staying away from his campaign is her way of telling the Democrat Party it should have nominated her instead. Call it strategy if you want. Everyone else can call it what it obviously is: a grudge.
