Democratic Representative Jasmine Crockett on Monday formally launched her bid for a Texas Senate seat at an event in Dallas, ending months of speculation. She will face state lawmaker James Talarico in the Democratic primary, whose fundraising and faith-first message have turned heads in the party. Crockett announced her Senate campaign at the Dallas event, drawing parallels between her effort and Barack Obama’s upstart 2008 presidential campaign. Her campaign played a video at the event featuring President Trump repeatedly referring to Crockett as a “low-IQ person.” Her announcement came just hours after Texas Democrat Colin Allred said he was dropping out of the Senate race and would instead run for a US House seat. Democrats are aiming to oust long-serving Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) in next year’s midterms, Axios reported. Her bid came at the time when Court has accepted Texas’ redrawn congressional maps, which leave three Dallas-area House Democrats with just two Democratic-leaning districts to run in. The US Supreme Court last week ruled that Texas may use its new map, which adds five Republican-leaning seats, for the 2026 midterms. Allred said Monday that he would run for the redrawn 33rd congressional district.

Is she a right choice?

As soon as her name got locked for the Texas Senate seat, several critics felt that she’s made what was already a difficult task even harder.Crockett heads into the primary as a strong favorite, bolstered by national name recognition and firm progressive bona fides — assets that could give her an edge over Talarico in the Democratic race. But those same strengths may prove trickier in a general election, where Democrats will have to win over a much wider swath of Texas voters, NBC reported.Republican Senator John Cornyn’s campaign released a video on the social media platform X over the weekend attacking Representative Jasmine Crockett’s record and urging her to run for the US Senate. Republicans have already been goading her to run, viewing her as a manageable opponent in a general election. Cornyn had posted “Run Jasmine, run!” on X back in July. His campaign’s weekend video opened with a narrator saying, “From open borders to socialist economics to unhinged attacks on anyone who disagrees, Jasmine Crockett isn’t representing Texas. She’s representing the far-left fringe.” The video highlighted some of Crockett’s controversial comments, including saying that “it is not a criminal violation to enter the country illegally”; labelling GOP Governor Greg Abbott, who uses a wheelchair, as “Gov. Hot Wheels”; and criticising Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., as a “bleach blonde bad built butch body.”On Monday, responding to news that Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett was entering the GOP nomination race for the U.S. Senate, Cornyn called her “radical, theatrical and ineffective.” “As the GOP nominee for US Senate, our campaign will make sure every Texas voter knows how absurd her candidacy is, and in the process provide up-ballot support to down-ballot Republicans, including the five new congressional seats that President Trump has made a priority,” Cornyn said, referring to the redrawn House seats. Cornyn told reporters that he did not have a preference for a Democratic opponent, saying of Crockett and her rival, Marc Talarico, “I think both of them are flawed candidates, and so I’d be happy to run against either one of them.” Attorney General Ken Paxton also released a statement dubbing the congresswoman “Crazy Jasmine Crockett” and predicting she would lose a general election. “The announcement is likely extremely upsetting for John Cornyn, who counts Jasmine Crockett as one of his best friends,” Paxton said. “Cornyn even went so far as to call Jasmine Crockett his ‘dance partner,’” Paxton added, referring to Cornyn’s comments last year to the Texas Tribune about working with Crockett on legislation. Crockett has said her campaign has conducted polling showing her in a strong position. “The data says that I can win,” Crockett said in an MS NOW interview after the Thanksgiving holiday, saying she can build a coalition of “Black and brown” voters.