Jasmine Crockett Leads Contender In Texas Democratic Primary For U.S. Senate, Poll Shows

Rep. Jasmine Crockett leads state Sen. James Talarico in a new poll regarding the Democratic primary for the election for U.S. senator for Texas.

51% of respondents favored Crockett, compared to 43% who supported James Talarico, according to the survey, which polled 1,600 likely Texas Democratic Primary voters between Decembre 9 and 11. The poll had a margin of error of +/- 2.45%.

Border Report noted that Crockett las a large lead among women (57% to 36%) and black voters (89% to 8%). Talarico, in turn, has narrower leads with latinos and whites. He also leads 63%-34% among voters under 34.

Talarico also lags Crockett in name recognition, as 21% of respondents said they didn't know about the former, the figure being 6% for the latter.

Crockett announced her candidacy on Monday and has taken the lead to become the Democratic candidate. That scenario is preferred by Republicans, to the extent that the party's campaign arm in the Senate reportedly executed a coordinated plan to get her to run.

Republicans included Crockett in a July poll showing her as the leading Democrat should she run, NOTUS reported. "When we saw the results, we were like, 'OK, we got to disseminate this far and wide,'" a source familiar with the planning told the outlet.

NOTUS added that the National Republican Senatorial Committee then worked to amplify the poll and is now taking credit for launching Crockett to the top of the political conversation in the state.

In fact, Crockett said she was encouraged to throw her hat in the ring following favorable polling. "The more I saw the poll results, I couldn't ignore the trends that were clear," she said.

"Not only was it getting positive news coverage, but her office was directly having traffic driven to it in terms of phone calls urging her to run," source added to the outlet when discussing the effort.

Now, after Crockett announced her run, Republicans are openly expressing joy at the scenario. "Am I hiding my glee? I'll try to wipe the smile off my face, I would say it's a gift," incumbent Republican Senator John Cornyn told Semafor.

"Colin, obviously, he wasn't successful before, but he was what I would call closer to a normal Democrat than Jasmine. (She) is something else," Cornyn added in reference to former Rep. Colin Allred, who dropped out of the race on Monday as Crockett was gearing up to announce her run.

Trump also said Crockett's candidacy is a "gift to Republicans," as her progressive and confrontational stance could give an edge to the GOP's candidate.

Speaking to The Hill's Julia Manchester aboard Air Force One, Trump called Crockett a "low-IQ person" and said he can't "imagine he wins."