Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s (D-Texas) congressional career is winding down — her district no longer exists after she lost her Senate primary — but she is still making waves in Texas Democratic politics. The question now is where she’s choosing to spend her influence, and the answer is conspicuously not on behalf of the man who beat her.
In an interview Thursday with CNN’s Laura Coates, Crockett was asked directly whether she would campaign with Senate nominee James Talarico, who defeated her in the Democratic primary. Coates pointed to Crockett’s proven ability to draw a crowd, noting Talarico “might very well need that magnetism.”
Crockett didn’t hesitate: “I will be campaigning down ballot,” she said.
Her explanation leaned on a familiar lesson from Texas Democratic politics — the cautionary tale of Beto O’Rourke, whose 2018 near-miss against Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) came up short despite massive fundraising and statewide enthusiasm.
“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,” Crockett said, “raising all the money, doing all the things, running around the entire state, but it’s not enough.” Instead, she said she prefers to spread her energy to lower-profile 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 tidy theory. It also happens to keep her off the trail for the Democrat she lost to in the primary.
A PAC With a Purpose — and a Message
Crockett isn’t just talking about lifting others. In May, she launched a leadership PAC called FIRE — Fuel Individual Rights Everywhere — aimed at boosting other Texas Democrats. All five candidates the PAC backed won their primary runoffs that month, and one victory in particular landed like a shot at Talarico: Former Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas) — endorsed by Crockett — beat Rep. Julie Johnson (D-Texas), who had Talarico’s backing, for a Dallas-area House nomination.
That outcome, combined with her refusal to appear alongside Talarico, has her rivals wondering whether Crockett is really acting on principle or nursing an expensive grudge.
Coates pressed Crockett on whether it truly comes down to an either-or choice between the top of the ticket and everyone else on the ballot. Crockett’s reply was blunt: “It probably is.”
Coming from the one Democrat who could be instrumental in shoring up Black support for Talarico in a tight race against Republican Ken Paxton, that answer speaks volumes.
Crockett says she’s simply stretched thin — pulled across her “really big state” for FIRE PAC business and tending to candidates she “didn’t get to do anything for” while she was busy running her own Senate campaign.
But the simplest explanation may be the most obvious one. Crockett spent months after the primary promising to back Talarico’s campaign — a promise that has since eroded. After enduring the humiliation of a primary loss, staying away from Talarico’s campaign is her way of signaling to the party that it should have nominated her instead.
Call it strategy if you want. Everyone else can call it what it looks like: a grudge.
Source: pjmedia.com — https://pjmedia.com/matt-margolis/2026/08/28/why-wont-jasmine-crockett-campaign-with-talarico-n4956665
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