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The Texas Primary, Electability, and the Mobilization Myth

The Talarico v. Crockett race has gotten nasty, but the electability debate is about more than the two candidates

Dan Pfeiffer

Feb 26

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In less than a week, Texas Democrats will decide whether James Talarico or Jasmine Crockett will be their nominee for Senate. This is a massively consequential decision because the Lone Star State may be in play this cycle, and Democrats may need it for the majority.

Talarico and Crockett are well-liked, admired figures in the party. Both have been cast as rising stars in a party desperately seeking a brighter future. They are excellent communicators who have built profiles that exceed their political station.

Yet they are now on a collision course in an increasingly nasty primary that threatens to damage the eventual winner and divide the party at a time when we can least afford it. A Super PAC supporting Talarico ran an ad claiming Crockett couldn’t win the general election. Crockett accused the Super PAC of darkening her skin in the ad and called their tactics racist. Crockett then ran an ad asserting that Talarico was cut from the same cloth as Republican Ken Paxton and Trump.

Supporters of each campaign have been squabbling online, with the nastiness increasing by the day.

I’ve really resisted writing about this race because I like both candidates. I have long admired Talarico. Crockett’s communications skills are incredible — something other Democrats should model.

But this discourse has gotten so nasty that dipping one’s toe into it seems genuinely unpleasant. The Texas primary is also a warning about what the 2028 Democratic presidential primary could look like, not to mention the big Senate primaries in Michigan, Maine, and Minnesota. All of these issues are worth examining — for this race and the ones to come.

A Race About Electability

Elections are dynamic exercises in many interconnected and often conflicting issues, but one issue dominates the conversation in the Talarico-Crockett race: electability.

Supporters on both sides are fighting about which candidate has the best chance to become the first Democrat to win a Texas Senate seat in 38 years...