Talarico defeats Crockett in Texas Senate Democratic primary

State Rep. James Talarico won the Democratic primary for Texas Senate, defeating Rep. Jasmine Crockett and giving party leaders the candidate they had quietly viewed as the strongest option to flip the ruby ​​red state.

The race was defined by questions of electability and simmering racial tensions, as Talarico and Crockett worked to bring together the party’s fractured multiracial coalition. This continued through Tuesday, with both candidates raising concerns that voters had been disenfranchised in Dallas County, Crockett’s home base, which includes large numbers of black voters.

The legal dispute over Dallas polling places could cast a shadow over his victory. Crockett told his supporters not to expect a final call on election night.

Talarico, a progressive seminarian, took a big tent approach to his campaign by appealing to voters from both parties and independents. He will face either Sen. John Cornyn or Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is mounting a right-wing challenge to the four-term incumbent.

Texas Democrats have failed to win statewide in three decades, but they believe they have a rare opportunity to flip the Senate seat in November, due to backlash over the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts and handling of the economy — especially if Paxton emerges from the GOP runoff.

There have been few nonpartisan public polls in the general election, but a recent memo from the National Republican Senatorial Committee shows Cornyn leading Talarico by three points, while Talarico would lead Paxton by three points.