Top Republicans believe that state Rep. James Talarico has an edge over Rep. Jasmine Crockett in Texas' Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate, and that he will be tougher to beat by whoever becomes the GOP's candidate in the state's general election.
Axios detailed that, at the same time, Republican strategists believe Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is set to beat incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in the party's primary. That could be its worst case scenario, as the party's establishment supports the incumbent over the challenger.
"A Paxton vs. Talarico match in November would be unnecessarily competitive and costly" for the GOP, an operative told the outlet.
Republicans prefer to face Crockett, who has a much more combative stance and has sharply criticized President Donald Trump on the national stage. In fact, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is spending millions of dollars in ads featuring Crockett to galvanize potential Republican voters who dislike her, according to a recent report.
Citing political advisers of Abbott, The New York Times detailed that the ads were in fact aimed at boosting turnout. They featured Crockett alongside prominent Democrats like Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Zohran Mamdani.
Moreover, a report from last year noted that Republicans' campaign arm in the Senate executed a coordinated plan to have her run for the Upper House.
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.
However, a poll released during the weekend showed Talarico beating Crockett ahead of the Democratic primary. Conducted by Emerson College Polling/Nexstar Media, it showed Talarico getting 52% of the prospective vote, compared to Crockett's 47%.
The organization noted that support for Talarico increased by five percentage points compared to the previous survey. It was conducted among 850 likely voters in the Democratic primary. It had a margin of error of +/- 3.3%.
Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, said Talarico "holds a sizable advantage among voters who voted early, 58% to 41%, while Crockett leads the Election Day vote, 50% to 39%, suggesting the outcome will depend on which group shows up in larger numbers by the end of Tuesday."
© 2025 Latin Times. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
