SAC.“Texas Upended: Jasmine Crockett’s Surprise Senate Run Sparks Frenzy — What Is She Plotting Next?”
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The announcement by the congresswoman, a rising star in the party, came hours after another prominent candidate, Colin Allred, dropped out.
Dec. 8, 2025Updated 7:09 p.m. ET
Representative Jasmine Crockett, a Democratic firebrand from the Dallas area, said Monday she was running for Senator John Cornyn’s seat in Texas, shaking up the Democratic primary for what could be the party’s best chance in years to win statewide office.
Her entrance into the campaign, hours before the deadline for candidates to file, immediately upended the primary contest that had focused on two prominent and well-funded candidates: Colin Allred, a former Dallas congressman who ran for the U.S. Senate last year, and James Talarico, a state representative with a growing national profile in the party.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Allred said he was dropping out of the race and would instead seek to return to the House of Representatives. Mr. Talarico said in a statement that he welcomed Ms. Crockett to the primary, scheduled for March 3.
Ms. Crockett made her announcement to a room full of supporters in Dallas after showing a political ad featuring a still shot of her face and audio of President Trump insulting her repeatedly.
“What we need is for me to have a bigger voice,” she said at the start of her 40-minute speech. “We need to make sure that we are going to stop all the hell that is raining down on all of our people.”
Mr. Allred said his decision to drop out was in part out of concern among Democrats that, with three candidates in the race, a runoff was likely and could hobble the party’s chances in the general election. The Democratic winner would face Mr. Cornyn or one of his main Republican primary opponents, Attorney General Ken Paxton or Representative Wesley Hunt.
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J. David Goodman is the Houston bureau chief for The Times, reporting on Texas and Oklahoma.
A version of this article appears in print on Dec. 9, 2025, Section A, Page 11 of the New York edition with the headline: Crockett Jumps Into Race For Senate Seat in Texas As Allred Abandons Run. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
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