Crockett goes negative in final stretch as Talarico avoids mudslinging
In the final weeks of the race, Jasmine Crockett has escalated her attacks on James Talarico, spreading claims that fact-checkers and opponents dispute as misleading.
When it first became clear that the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate would be a contested race, many Texas Democrats were hoping for a clean primary with minimal infighting. Their hopes were bitterly crushed this week as Jasmine Crockett began to directly attack James Talarico with claims that have been debunked as false or misleading.
Earlier this week, Crockett was at a press conference in Dallas where she claimed that James Talarico was a charter school teacher. Friends, family, supporters, and even former students came out to defend Talarico, pushing back on the claim. Talarico taught at Rhodes Middle School in San Antonio, which is a public magnate school with a focus on technology, and remains a part of San Antonio Independent School District. This claim by Crockett is misleading at best, because Rhodes is not a traditional private charter school that is ungoverned by local voters.
Later in the week at a gathering with supporters, Crockett told the room that James Talarico was “running away from Lis Smith.” Lis Smith is a Democratic political strategist who worked on Pete Buttigieg’s 2020 presidential campaign. Not only has Lis Smith publicly denied being involved with Talarico’s campaign, but FEC records also show that she is not an employee, consultant, or in any way involved with his campaign. Lis Smith is however involved with Elect the Bench, an independent committee supporting 19 candidates across the country, including Mary Peltola in Alaska, Mallory McMarrow in Michigan, and James Talarico here in Texas, but due to federal laws they legally cannot coordinate with any of their endorsed candidates.
After Talarico’s appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was shelved at the advice of CBS lawyers, Crockett took the opportunity to accuse both Talarico and Stephen Colbert of staging the controversy for political gain, aligning herself with the position taken by Donald Trump’s Federal Communications Commission.
During all of these attacks, Talarico has maintained the high road and has not directly criticized Crockett, keeping his message laser-focused on the needs of working people and the threat Republicans pose to our way of life. Meanwhile, a new social media ad from the Crockett campaign is lumping in her fellow Democrat with attacks against Donald Trump and Greg Abbott. Talarico’s record in the Texas House leans fairly progressive, so many people have called this out as an unfair comparison.
Many Democrats fear that these kinds of attacks coming from the Crockett campaign will only work to weaken whoever the eventual nominee is. In a red state like Texas, the Democratic nominee for a statewide race is not going to be able to spare any votes as they take on the well-funded Republican candidate. When Beto O’Rourke ran against Ted Cruz in 2018 and came within 3 points of a historic upset, he had the advantage of running a relatively-uncontested primary campaign, which allowed Democrats to avoid a bitter internal feud and unite against the Republican candidate.
Only time will tell if Crockett’s negative strategy will ultimately lead to victory or another bitter defeat for Democrats in the Lone Star state.