Senate candidate James Talarico faces resistance from prominent Texas Democrat as Jasmine Crockett says she won’t show up for him on the campaign trail after primary loss

Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico is facing resistance from a prominent member of his own party as he battles Republican Ken Paxton in a closely watched race.

Jasmine Crockett won’t campaign with James Talarico

Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who lost to Talarico in the Democratic primary, told CNN she has no plans to campaign alongside him as he attempts to break Republicans’ grip on statewide politics.

“I will be campaigning downballot,” Crockett said when asked whether she would join Talarico on the campaign trail.

Crockett endorsed Talarico after losing the March primary, calling him to congratulate him on his victory. However, her concession statement emphasized Democratic unity rather than personal enthusiasm for his candidacy, a position she reiterated during her CNN appearance.

Jasmine Crockett defends her decision

Crockett pointed to Beto O’Rourke’s unsuccessful 2018 Senate campaign against Republican Sen. Ted Cruz as evidence that Democrats need to focus beyond the top of the ticket. Cruz defeated O’Rourke by 2.6 percentage points.

“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, Crockett said she intends to focus on down-ballot Democratic candidates who risk being overshadowed by the high-profile Senate contest.

“That’ll give something more to voters to make them say, you know what, it may be raining outside but I gotta go get there because I gotta get there for this person and this person, plus I don’t like Trump,” she said.

Doubts surrounding James Talarico

Crockett also expressed doubts about enthusiasm for Talarico among Black voters, a key Democratic constituency.

“I don’t think that there is excitement,” she said. “I don’t know that Black voters are practical. So at the end of the day, I don’t know that they’re gonna have to be the most excited.”

That could be significant after Crockett performed particularly well with Black voters during the primary. Talarico defeated her 52.5 percent to 46.2 percent, a margin of roughly 144,500 votes among more than 2 million cast.

Despite the lack of enthusiasm she described, Crockett predicted Black voters would ultimately support the Democratic nominee because of their opposition to Republicans.

“They are looking at our Black lives,” Crockett said. “We have been the target of Republicans. And so I think that those that are paying attention, they’re gonna vote no matter what, whether they’re excited or not.”