The Democratic Party will have a new representative as Texas state Rep. James Talarico, whose Christian faith and populist message drew nationwide attention, pulled off an upset against U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett in the March 3 Senate primary for the Democratic nomination. The race — seemingly from the beginning— was in favor of Crockett until the day of voting, and that’s when everything started to change.
Hundreds of voters were turned away from polling places under a new voting rule adopted by Republicans in Dallas County, where Crockett’s current district is located. Voters were rerouted to their assigned polling precincts due to a switch prompted by the county Republican Party. In previous elections, voters were allowed to vote in any precinct of their choosing.
This led Crockett to speak out furiously, “Dallas County should have the second-largest voter participation of any county in this state. We don’t have any of the results because there was a lot of confusion today,” the 44-year-old lawmaker explained. Crockett declared, “People have been disenfranchised.”
As a result of the confusion, a judge ordered that polling times in Dallas County be extended to 9 p.m. CT. Votes cast by Democrats from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. were ordered to be counted as provisional ballots. However, the Texas Supreme Court later ordered that ballots cast after the original poll closing time of 7 p.m. must be removed from the official tally.
With 94 percent of the votes counted on Wednesday, March 4, Talarico had just under 53 percent of the vote, a comfortable lead over Crockett’s nearly 46 percent, according to the Associated Press.
Crockett has faced doubts cast on her candidacy, as many questioned whether she was the right Democrat to send to the general election. “I think that it speaks to the larger issue that a lot of minorities specifically have with the Democratic Party in general. We know that the most loyal voting bloc, when it comes to Democrats, no matter what part of the country you look at, is actually Black women,” Crockett told theGrio during an interview last month. “It is all good for us to labor, and then there are all kinds of excuses that have nothing to do with credentials.”
Talarico made some eyebrow-raising comments leading up to the election about the race. Talarico secured the victory despite a left-wing podcaster accusing him of calling former Democratic Rep. Colin Allred of Texas a “mediocre Black man” in a Feb. 1 video posted to TikTok. “James Talarico told me that he signed up to run against a mediocre black man, not a formidable and intelligent Black woman, and I want to explain why this is problematic, especially as he shifted his current approach in the Texas Senate race,” the podcaster, who goes by Morgan, said in the TikTok video.
Talarico, a former public school teacher and currently attending a Presbyterian seminary, entered the Senate race in September, vowing to re-center the Democratic party on “working people.”
“I congratulate James Talarico for his win and the inspiring campaign he continues to build. I appreciate that he is making the case for the kind of civic renewal our country needs,” Former Vice President Kamala Harris said in a statement through her office. “I offer him my full support in the months ahead.” She lauded Crockett’s campaign, saying the Texas Democrat “waged this campaign with the trademark fierceness that has defined her career so far,” adding that “she has a bright future.”