Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn has welcomed Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s entry into the race for his seat, calling the announcement of her campaign “a gift.”
Crockett, 44, well known for trash-talking the opposition in media appearances and in House committee hearings, revealed her run for the upper chamber of Congress Monday, with fellow challenger Colin Allred abandoning his own plans to battle Cornyn for the seat hours later.
“Am I hiding my glee? I’ll try to wipe the smile off my face, I would say it’s a gift,” Cornyn told Semafor in reaction to the developments.
“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.”
Crockett joins state representative James Talarico in her party’s primary for the chance to run for the seat currently occupied by Cornyn, who must see off challengers from his own side too if he is to secure a fifth term, among them Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and GOP Rep. Wesley Hunt.
Crockett’s national profile and popularity with her party’s younger members would appear to give her a clear edge in the Democratic contest. Still, Talarico has worked hard to build his own brand in Washington and beyond after Texas became the front line in a redistricting war this year, in which both parties fought to secure a more substantial House majority.
Crockett announced her run by posting an unusual video on social media in which she stood in profile, wearing all black, listening unmoved to audio of President Donald Trump issuing a series of insults against her, most notably claiming she was a “really low IQ person,” before turning to the camera and smiling.
The clip attracted inevitable derision from conservatives, with some complaining that she announced no policy positions in the video and one person declaring: “Bragging about being stupid as the reason why people should vote for you is truly Peak Democracy.”
A member of the House Judiciary Committee, she has previously attracted viral fame for clashing with Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, memorably insulting her “bleach blond bad built butch body.”
More recently and less successfully, Crockett attracted headlines for invoking the wrong Jeffrey Epstein, attacking former New York Republican congressman Lee Zeldin, now director of the Environmental Protection Agency, for taking donations from Epstein, not realizing it was a Long Island neurosurgeon of the same name and not the infamous pedophile, who was deceased at the time the money was paid.
Republicans clearly believe Crockett is capable of talking herself into trouble and out of contention, but have problems of their own in Texas.
Cornyn might have hoped to hang onto his seat with ease in the deep-red Lone Star State. He is not a popular figure within the MAGA wing of the Republican Party because of his past criticism of Trump over the Capitol riot and his efforts to tighten gun control legislation.
Paxton, a firebrand by comparison, is likely to be his main opponent and could well win their primary, but has been caught up in a messy divorce and has been accused of pursuing multiple extramarital affairs.
