XPost: alt.politics.elections, alt.politics.republicans, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns, sac.politics   
   From: noreply@mixmin.net   
      
   For decades, statewide Democratic primaries in Texas were low-octane   
   affairs.   
      
   Then came the 2026 election cycle. In a year that Democrats see as a   
   prime opportunity to finally flip Texas — amid flagging approval for the   
   second Trump administration, a vicious Senate primary on the Republican   
   side and the potential to face scandal-plagued Attorney General Ken   
   Paxton in November — Texas Democrats are waging a dogfight primary in   
   the contest for U.S. Senate.   
      
   For the first time this century, two Democratic heavyweights with   
   national profiles — U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Dallas and state Rep.   
   James Talarico of Austin — are battling for the party’s nomination,   
   making for an intensely competitive race that has drawn massive   
   attention, dollars and stakes, and cast the outcome of Tuesday’s   
   election as a window into the potential future of the Democratic Party   
   as it continues to grope its way out of the political doldrums of 2024.   
      
   “It’s very exciting,” said Beto O’Rourke, perhaps the party’s biggest   
   star of the past decade. “I was not alive the last time we had this kind   
   of talent in a statewide Democratic primary.”   
      
   . . .   
      
   Inherent in the electability debate is the reality of a Black woman and   
   a white man squaring off in an increasingly diverse state, as part of a   
   party that has grappled in recent years with the role of race and   
   identity politics in its elections.   
      
   . . .   
      
   If Talarico wins on Tuesday, he’ll need to embark on a concerted effort   
   to win over Crockett’s base, particularly the Black voters who form the   
   core of her support and remain elusive for him. The task will be all the   
   more challenging coming off a primary filled with attacks depicting him   
   as anti-Black — largely based on an allegation that he labeled a former   
   rival as a “mediocre Black man,” which he denies — and a Republican   
   plant based on sometimes misleading digs at his record. Crockett has   
   come under fire for comments she previously made about Latino voters — a   
   critical part of the general electorate — and faced concerns about her   
   ability to scale up a vigorous campaign in a general election context.   
      
   Crockett also drew scrutiny after her team booted a reporter from a   
   recent campaign event who had previously written a profile of the Dallas   
   congresswoman that she had sought to shut down. Crockett said Wednesday   
   there was “no evidence” a reporter had been removed. On Friday, The   
   Atlantic published the reporter’s recording of her being forced off the   
   property for being a “top-notch hater.”   
      
   Republicans watched with glee as the Democratic primary nosedived into a   
   pit of negativity.   
      
   “It is a full-on civil war among Texas Democrats,” said Republican   
   National Committee spokesperson Zach Kraft. “The nonstop fighting and   
   nastiness of this primary has left Democrats divided and dejected. No   
   matter who emerges from this dumpster fire, half the base will despise   
   them.”   
      
   Republicans have directly played in the race, too, working to boost   
   Crockett ahead of Election Day under the assumption that she would be   
   easier to beat in November.   
      
   https://www.texastribune.org/2026/02/28/jasmine-crockett-james-talarico-t   
   exas-senate-democratic-primary/   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)