Texas’ leading Democratic contenders for the U.S. Senate used high-profile TV appearances Tuesday to sharpen their cases ahead of the March 3 primary.
U.S. Jasmine Crockett of Dallas appeared on ABC’s The View for a freewheeling talk about her race, the fifth anniversary of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, and the U.S. capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife.
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James Talarico, a state representative from Austin, taped a segment for NBC5’s Lone Star Politics, arguing his record of flipping Republican districts makes him the strongest nominee. The program airs Sunday.
Crockett and Talarico are competing for the seat held by Republican John Cornyn. With few policy differences between them, the contest may turn on style and electability. As early voting begins Feb. 17, media visibility is becoming central to both campaigns.
On The View, Crockett On the show, Crockett framed her candidacy as part of a broader reckoning over democracy and accountability:
Prospects for winning: Crockett acknowledged that it won’t be easy to win in the general election in a state politically dominated by Republicans. She said her path to victory hinges on expanding the electorate with more Democratic votes.
“If the electorate remains the same electorate that it’s been for the last 30 years will get the same results, so the only way to win is to actually expand it,” she said.
Capitol riot anniversary: Crockett and the panel marked the anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the Capitol. She linked it to the U.S. capture of Nicolás Maduro, arguing that former President Donald Trump tried to overturn a legitimate election.
“Everyone wants to talk about how Maduro was illegitimate,” Crockett said. “Somebody else was trying to be a Maduro of the United States…The difference is Maduro was successful.”
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She also said Trump should have notified Congress before ordering the strikes in Venezuela. She said it’s hard to take the “moral high ground when you are actually executing something in an unconstitutional way.”
GOP attacks: Crockett discussed criticism lobbed at her by President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance. She responded to a clip of Vance saying “she wants to be a senator, though her street girl persona is about as real as her nails.”
“I understand what happens in the streets, but I don’t have to be a street girl,” Crockett said, adding that her nails are real. She said her appeal to voters without college degrees unsettles Republicans, a bloc Democrats have struggled to hold.
On Lone Star Politics, Talarico laid out his case to Democratic voters, highlighting his coalition-building efforts and the broader stakes of the campaign.
Campaign momentum: Talarico said his campaign has momentum and that Crockett’s entry did not alter his approach. He described himself as the “underdog” and the “new kid on the block.”
“We’re running the same campaign that we’ve been running since day one, and it’s about something bigger than any one candidate,” he said.
Voter outreach: Talarico acknowledged that polls show Crockett beating him among Black voters. Otherwise, he said, support among most of the Democratic electorate.
“I’ve got to do the work to introduce myself to voters all over the state, to earn their trust, earn their respect and earn their support,” he said.
Fighting extremism: Talarico said that while Texans were concerned about pocket book issues, he said it was important to not only “fight back against Republican extremism, but beat it.”
“Texans rejected the extremism that they saw on January 6, rioters storming our Capitol in Washington,” he said. “They’re also deeply concerned that we have an economy that seems to only work for the ultra wealthy, and it doesn’t seem to work for the rest of us.”