After losing their respective Senate primaries, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett are still signaling doubts about their party’s nominees—keeping Democrats and Republicans from fully closing ranks ahead of November’s Texas Senate general ele
For Texas Democrats heading to their state convention this week to energize and organize ahead of November, one familiar name will be missing: U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas.
Crockett declined an invitation from James Talarico, the Senate nominee who defeated her in March, to headline the event. In a recent interview with The Dallas Morning News. she said she hadn’t listened to Talarico’s message asking her to speak. describing the invitation as an “afterthought.” She also told the paper she had “no idea” whether she’d be actively campaigning for her primary opponent. saying she was focusing more on down-ballot candidates.
On the Republican side, the tension doesn’t look like it’s thawing either. U.S. Sen. John Cornyn. whose feud with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton helped shape the GOP Senate primary last month. is still not backing Paxton with the kind of support that could smooth divisions heading into the general election.
In recent interviews, Cornyn said he would not campaign nor raise money for Paxton. He also stands by sharp criticisms of the attorney general from the primary, calling him corrupt and unfit for office.
A month after the Senate race in Texas was set. Cornyn and Crockett remain among the most notable skeptics of their party’s nominees. Their refusal to fully align with the statewide standard-bearers is forcing both parties to reckon with the fallout from deeply divisive primaries—vulnerabilities that could matter most once voters start making up their minds for November.
Crockett’s doubts land in a place that is especially sensitive for her party’s base: Black voters.
In her comments to The Dallas Morning News, Crockett pressed on whether Talarico has won enough belief from Black Texans. She said, “I’ve not heard a bunch of kumbaya,” and added, “People don’t seem to be convinced at this point, but there’s a lot of time between now and November.”
Matthew Wilson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University, said that kind of hesitation can make it harder for a campaign to turn momentum into Election Day turnout.
“There’s some sour grapes on both the Democratic and the Republican sides about the way that things ended up playing out. ” Wilson said. “While in the end both Cornyn and Crockett will signal support for their party’s ticket. the level of enthusiasm that they bring to that is going to be pretty limited.”.
Crockett’s office and Talarico’s campaign insist the endorsement and the race are real—even if the relationship is strained.
In a statement, Crockett spokesperson Karrol Rimal reiterated Crockett’s endorsement of Talarico. Rimal pointed to the fact that Crockett issued the endorsement the day after she lost the primary and reiterated it during a social media livestream Saturday. Rimal said. “The congresswoman is a lifelong Democrat who wants to see Dems retake the House. Senate. governor’s mansion and the state Legislature.” He added: “Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett will continue being a force for change. civil rights and equal representation with or without a title.”.
Talarico’s spokesperson. JT Ennis. responded in a statement that said. “James is honored to have Congresswoman Crockett’s endorsement in this race.” Ennis added. “While Republicans. Independents and Democrats continue to reject Ken Paxton’s corruption. Texans are coming together in this election to do something extraordinary: End thirty years of one-party rule and give hope to working people left behind by this broken. corrupt political system rigged by billionaire megadonors and puppet politicians like Ken Paxton.”.
Cornyn’s campaign declined to comment for this story.
Paxton spokesperson Madison Cercy also did not directly address Cornyn’s remarks or Republican divides. Instead, Cercy issued a statement about racial tensions among Democrats, calling on Talarico to “publicly apologize” for what she cast as “sexist and racist attacks” during the primary.
That fight over tone and character is part of why this cycle has stayed personal even after the votes were counted.
Brendan Steinhauser. a Republican strategist not involved in the race. argued that the emotional residue is normal this late in the cycle and doesn’t necessarily point to a deeper. lasting revolt. He said the tenor of conversation right now is “normal for competitive and often emotional primaries. ” and “not necessarily indicative of a deeper or lasting discontent among Cornyn and Crockett’s supporters with their party’s nominee.”.
“It’s a long way from November, and eventually Republicans and Democrats are going to come home,” he said.
Even with that optimism, Texas GOP leaders have pushed hard for unity. They have warned that failing to close ranks could hand Democrats a path to an upset in November.
Cornyn has said he will “support the Republican ticket.” But he has also kept attacking Paxton, including from positions that have left his criticism more difficult to manage on the campaign trail.
Cornyn told Semafor he would leave it to President Donald Trump to shell out the tens of millions of dollars Paxton’s campaign will need for the general election. Cornyn also predicted to The New York Times that Trump—who granted Paxton an 11th-hour endorsement—would regret doing so. and that Paxton’s nomination would threaten GOP control of the seat and down-ballot races.
“It’s going to make things harder, certainly more expensive in Texas, and make it harder around the country,” Cornyn said. Trump is “going to have the most miserable two years of his life in the last two years of his term, I think, because I think November is going to be a disaster.”
At the Texas GOP convention last month, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick described Cornyn as one of two “sore losers” among Republicans who lost primaries, criticizing their unwillingness to throw their support behind their former opponents.
“I’ve already seen bad behavior by two” Republicans who lost, Patrick said. “We cannot have any people deserting our party in November of 2026 if we’re going to keep Texas red. We have to come together.”
Cornyn told Semafor that those remarks show Texas GOP leaders were “basically continuing to alienate what I would call traditional conservative Republicans like me, and the people who voted for me. Makes no sense whatsoever.”
Other Republicans have spoken publicly about reluctance to support Paxton.
Former Southlake mayor and state Senate candidate John Huffman. a Republican. posted on X: “Please explain to me how bashing Sen. Cornyn. a good man with a lifetime of service to the state of Texas and the country. is going to help convince his 900k supporters to vote for Ken.” He added: “Newsflash to the top of the ticket – YOU NEED US. Best you start acting like it.”.
That intraparty conflict, even if it doesn’t fully break the parties, is creating opening space for Talarico. He has made efforts to reach Cornyn supporters and disaffected voters across the political spectrum, a core part of his general election strategy.
Recent polling found Talarico narrowly trailing Paxton overall, but winning up to 30% of Cornyn supporters and trouncing the hardline attorney general among independent and moderate voters.
Steinhauser said he expected Paxton’s campaign to “recalibrate a little bit on focus and messaging for the general election” and coalesce Republican voters. He said Paxton will continue to be “that conservative fighter that the voters want to see. ” while also needing to appeal to Cornyn Republicans and to independents who lean conservative.
“They’re very aware that they need to do that, and I expect them to do so,” Steinhauser said.
For Talarico, mobilizing Black Texans is inseparable from that outreach effort—and Crockett remains an influential figure among them.
After the primary, Crockett endorsed Talarico quickly. But since then, the Dallas congresswoman has questioned whether voters behind the statewide ticket are fully unified. She said her focus will be largely on boosting down-ballot candidates through FIRE PAC. her new leadership PAC. rather than on the top of the ticket.
Crockett’s comments sparked an online firestorm and revived racial tensions from the primary. Many of Crockett’s social media allies viewed criticisms of her remarks as unfairly demanding she campaign for Talarico.
On Friday, Crockett posted on social media: “People seem to be obsessed with now dictating what I’ll do and when?!” She continued: “I said as a senate candidate that I’d be focused on the down ballot and my plan to do that hasn’t changed.”
Dallas Jones, a Democratic strategist not involved in the race, argued that Talarico needs to energize Black voters so Democratic turnout can surge in November. Jones also said Paxton faces a different and tougher challenge: curtailing crossover voting.
Jones said the trouble with muted enthusiasm from Crockett could be that Talarico may struggle to show he is truly pursuing those voters. He said the pressure is especially acute for Black women. writing that they have been “the most loyal voting bloc in this party and suffering disappointments. ” which Jones called “Kamala trauma.”.
Roughly two-thirds of Black voters said they would support Talarico over Paxton, according to recent public polling. That share is lower than the proportion who backed the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate in previous cycles.
Talarico has pushed directly at that problem. Since the primary, he has visited Black churches and universities, met with Black leaders around the state, and rolled out a plan to tackle maternal mortality—an issue that disproportionately impacts Black women.
Numerous Black elected officials have campaigned and served as surrogates for him. They include Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis and state Sen. Royce West of Dallas.
Texas Organizing Project, which supported Crockett during the primary and is dedicated to mobilizing Black and Latino voters, endorsed Talarico last month.
Ellis predicted Talarico would win “a tremendous amount of support in the African American community because Black Texans more than anybody else — we’ve had the brunt of disadvantages in the state, and we know how important it is to end this one-party rule in Texas.”
“I was for Jasmine Crockett in the primary — that was then, this is now,” Ellis said on stage at a Talarico campaign rally in Houston last month. “There’s too much at stake to be petty.”
Two parties are trying to move beyond their primaries on different tracks. Cornyn says he won’t campaign or raise money for Paxton. even as he still promises to support the Republican ticket. Crockett. for her part. reiterates her endorsement of Talarico while saying she hasn’t heard the unity she wants to hear from his coalition—and that her work is going to down-ballot races.
The schedule may soon force both campaigns to pivot into the general election. But for voters still watching, the distance between endorsement and enthusiasm is part of what feels unresolved—long after the primary banners have been taken down.
This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.
John Cornyn Jasmine Crockett Ken Paxton James Talarico Texas Senate primary losses FIRE PAC Texas GOP maternal mortality Black voters Rodney Ellis Royce West