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Dallas Democrat Jasmine Crockett has made expanding the electorate and driving up turnout around the state core pieces of her newly launched campaign for the U.S. Senate.
"This election is about adding voices to our electorate," Crockett said at her campaign announcement in Dallas.
But while many believe Crockett will be able to create new energy in Houston and Dallas to drive up historically low turnout among Democratic voters, some worry she could have a problem connecting with Latino voters based on comments she made last year to Vanity Fair. In talking about why Trump did so well with Latinos in 2024, particularly on the issue of border security, Crockett said "the immigration thing has always been something that has perplexed me about this community."
"It's basically like, I fought to get here, but I left y'all where I left y'all and I want no more y'all to come here," she said.
Later, she added: "It almost reminds me of what people would talk about when they would talk about kind of like 'slave mentality' and the hate that some slaves would have for themselves. It's almost like a slave mentality that they have. It is wild to me when I hear how anti-immigrant they are as immigrants, many of them."
CNN anchor Jake Tapper pressed her on the comments earlier this week and whether she thinks Latinos who voted for Trump really have a "slave mentality."
"No, and that's not what that said at all, to be clear. It did not say that every Latino has that type of mentality," she said.
She said she was talking about Republicans trying to win Latinos over by telling them Trump was going to stop criminals from crossing the border, but the White House really planned to widen the target tolegitimate asylum seekers and so many others.
"I don't believe that the people that voted for Trump believe in what they're actually getting. That is number one. What Trump said is that he was going to kick out the bad guys. And that's what I was talking about," Crockett said.
Last year, after the comments in Vanity Fair first drew criticism, her office release a lengthy statement explaining the remarks.
"I used the term 'slave mentality' in the way it has commonly been used to refer to Black Americans who support anti-Black politicians and policies: voters who throw their support behind people who have openly ridiculed their communities and promoted policies that would directly harm them," she said in the statement. "I did not use this language with the intention to divide Black and Brown communities — in fact, I use this language to point out our common struggle while highlighting the hurdles that stand between us."
There's no doubt Tapper won't be the last one to raise questions about the comments, given how important Hispanic voters are in a Democratic primary. Texas has the second-largest number of Hispanic eligible voters in the U.S., and more than a quarter of all Texas voters are Hispanic.
Exit polls in November 2024, showed 46% of Hispanics nationally voted for Trump. In Texas, that was 55% — up 14 percentage points from Trump's support among Hispanic voters in Texas in 2020.
Who's Up, Who's Down
A daily stock market-style report on key players in Texas politics.
Up: Military City USA.
The Pentagon under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has yanked two military headquarters and most of their 1,100 workers from San Antonio. But it may be helping to balance that by moving a major agency dealing with the military's health care system to the city. The move could bring as many 3,300 people and their families to Military City USA if the entire headquarters relocates, thought exact details remain scarce.
Down: Donald Trump.
The White House suffered two key blows this week in its effort to push Republican states to redraw congressional districts in hopes of offsetting expected losses in next year's midterm elections. While Texas gave Trump what he wanted, Indiana refused to redraw its districts and Democrats in Missouri submitted hundreds of thousands of signatures on a petition that could trigger a statewide ballot initiative to stop the redistricting plan there. And while Florida is solidily Republican these days, GOP leaders there aren't quite all on the same page about when and how do redraw lines there.
What do you think? Hit reply and let me know.
What else is going on in Texas
 Photo by: J. Scott Applewhite, AP |
Four million Texans take advantage of the credits that help offset the cost of health insurance bought through the Affordable Care Act marketplace. Read More |
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 Photo by: Jason Fochtman - Houston Chronicle / Talia Sprague - Associated Press |
The survey of likely Democratic voters comes just days after the filing deadline to enter the March 3 primary. Read More |
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 Photo by: Kirk Sides, Houston Chronicle |
The four-term senator is getting a big boost from Rick Perry's group Lone Star Freedom Project, which has put in nearly $18 million to Cornyn's reelection bid. Read More |
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 Photo by: Melissa Phillip, Staff Photographer |
The Texas power grid is expected to hold up through most weather conditions this winter, though the emerging data center boom adds a new layer of risk, grid officials said. Read More |
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 Photo by: Shell / Shell |
Oil and gas companies spent $300 million in bids on more than 1 million acres, a decline of around 27% compared to the last auction in 2023. Read More |
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Pick of the day
Photo by: Susan Barber
One week has changed a lot in Texas politics. On this week's episode of the Texas Take Podcast, we break down how Jasmine Crockett shook up the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate while Republican Wesley Hunt became a much bigger problem for U.S. Sen. John Cornyn on the GOP side. Reporters John Moritz and Bayliss Wagner help break it all down and get into how President Donald Trump may have upended GOP chances in one key South Texas race. And tune in for my interview with Tejano music star Bobby Pulido, who has put his career on hold to run for Congress. While he has an uphill battle in his Rio Grande Valley-based district, I'll shed light on why Democrats are increasingly hopeful about his chances as they see trend lines with Hispanic voters developing in other parts of the nation.
What else I'm reading
Christmas tree farms are surging in the Lone Star State. Both the number of farming operations and total acreage have grown dramatically over the last few years, according to Sarah Fuller at Texas A&M AgriLife Today. The Texas Christmas Tree Association told the Texas Tribune that they are seeing 10 to 15 new tree farms every year.
