The Senate Democratic primary in Texas has taken an ugly turn, with the increased infighting threatening to complicate the party’s chances of flipping the seat in November.
The most notable incident came this week when former Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas), the Democratic nominee for Senate last cycle, ripped state Rep. James Talarico (D) for allegedly calling him a “mediocre Black man.” Talarico said the comments were a mischaracterization and that he was referring to Allred’s method of campaigning, not Allred personally.
Yet the escalating feud between Talarico and primary rival Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) — who quickly threw her support behind Allred in a statement without mentioning Talarico by name — is rattling some Democrats, who view it as an unhelpful distraction ahead of the March 3 primary.
“We’re taking our eye off the ball,” said Texas Democratic consultant Joel Montfort. “But that this is what Democrats are very good at doing. … We become distracted and we start infighting over things that aren’t particularly beneficial to winning races.”
The race for the Democratic nod for Sen. John Cornyn’s (R-Texas) seat has started to ramp up in recent weeks amid heated conversations around electability and polling suggesting the primary is getting tighter.
Crockett, a Black former Texas state lawmaker and civil rights attorney currently serving in the House, is seen by some as a controversial Senate candidate given some of her online and viral exchanges, including referring to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), who’s in a wheelchair, as “hot wheels” and former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) as having a “bleach-blonde, bad-built butch body.”
Last month, two comedians apologized after they said on a podcast not to support Crockett over Talarico, a white Presbyterian seminarian and former middle school teacher.
The discourse has irked some members of the party, who believe the conversation is aimed at discouraging voters from backing the Black candidate in the race.
“You’re running in the Democratic primary against U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett and there’s been a lot of discourse around her electability, and some would say that is code for they don’t think a Black woman can win statewide,” “The View” co-host Sunny Hostin told Talarico during his appearance on the show Monday.
Talarico said during that appearance he would fully back her if she became the nominee and believed she could win statewide in Texas, calling her a “friend” and saying he had “deep love and respect for her.”
Meanwhile, Punchbowl News reported last week, citing a top Crockett supporter, that the congresswoman’s campaign is planning a rollout of attack ads targeting Talarico.
Although Crockett’s team has not confirmed the reporting, Talarico responded with a statement stressing that the primary “should be a positive race” focused on their records.
The back-and-forth came just days after the Democratic rivals squared off in their first debate, a largely cordial event that saw both sides emphasize points of agreement.
Both Democrats are seen as ideologically similar, making the race more about approach and tone, with Talarico perceived to be more measured and Crockett cast as a firebrand.
“It becomes … seemingly inevitable that almost all of these things start devolving into some sort of negative vein as we get closer to the elections,” Montfort said.
Although voters do respond to negative primary material, there’s “a huge risk” it could backfire in the general election, he argued.
“It can completely undermine their campaign. You’ve got to be very careful what you do in the primary, because it can come back in the general with your real opponent.”
The primary took a surprising turn this week when a TikTok user alleged in a series of videos on her account that Talarico described Allred as a “mediocre Black man” and Crockett as a “formidable” and “intelligent Black woman” during a private conversation last month. The influencer said she didn’t have a recording of the conversation but defended the accuracy of it.
The comments angered Allred, who slammed the Texas state lawmaker and said he would endorse Crockett in the race.
“First of all, let me just give you some free advice, James: If you want to compliment Black women, just do it. Just do it,” Allred said in a video. “Don’t do it while also tearing down a Black man.”
Talarico in a statement argued the remarks mischaracterized his comments, saying he was referring solely to Allred’s campaign strategy.
“It’s unfortunate that at the start of Black History Month, this is what we’re facing,” Crockett said in her statement supporting Allred.
Monique Alcala, a former executive director for the Texas Democratic Party who worked closely with Allred’s Senate campaign last cycle, thought Talarico’s comments were “in poor taste.”
Yet she suggested Democrats could still keep themselves competitive heading into November “as long as we’re focused on working together and not all … this petty infighting and letting influencers drive the discourse.”
Democratic strategist Caitlin Legacki also suggested the recent infighting was unlikely to make a dent among voters in the fall.
“I have a hard time believing there are any voters — persuadable or otherwise — who are going to make their voting decisions in November based on [a social media] spat in February,” she told The Hill in a text message.
Recent polling has shown an increasingly tight race between the two Democrats as they vie for the nomination next month. An early January Emerson College Polling/Nexstar Media survey found Talarico up 9 points over Crockett in the primary, with 15 percent undecided.
A Texas Public Opinion Research poll released last week found the Democratic rivals neck and neck, with 38 percent supporting Crockett and 37 percent for Talarico. Another 21 percent were undecided.
Cornyn and Paxton also appear to be in a dead heat on the GOP side.
In hypothetical general election match-ups, the Emerson poll found Cornyn bested Talarico by 3 points and Crockett by 5 points. Talarico and Crockett both tied Paxton in their respective match-ups.
The infighting couldn’t come at a worse time for Democrats, who were riding high after flipping a Trump-won state Senate seat in Texas over the weekend, making them more bullish about their chances there in November. The results have raised concerns among Republicans about what it could mean for them in the fall.
“It’s going to be really up to these candidates to be able to really draw a distinction with themselves,” said Matt Angle, a Democratic strategist who founded the Democrat-focused Lone Star Project.
“There’s something to be said for a competitive primary in order to really suss out the stronger candidate, and a part of that is being able to take a punch and throw a punch. And so I think that’s what we’re going to see over the next several weeks.”
