James Talarico has refused to go away, buoyed by the support of Democrats eager to prevent the party from throwing away a golden opportunity to steal a seat.
Back in December, when Texas Representative Jasmine Crockett announced her candidacy for the Democratic nomination for Senate in 2026, you could almost hear the faint echo of Texas Republican campaign professionals whooping “YEE-HAW!” and tossing their Stetson hats in the air.
Republicans have long been on high alert in the Lone Star State, given the likelihood of incumbent Senator John Cornyn losing his primary to the (intensely divisive and demonstrably corrupt) MAGA state attorney general, Ken Paxton. Trump’s approval numbers in Texas are currently hovering in the mid-40s — not much better than his national average — and everybody remembers how close even a scandal-free incumbent like Ted Cruz came to losing during Trump’s first midterm.
That was why Crockett’s late entry into the race — announced after she had been redistricted out of her seat by Texas legislators — felt like such a gut blow to Democratic hopes and a lifeline for the Republicans. Even as their own primary voters seem set on stabbing themselves in the throat by nominating Paxton, here comes Jasmine to bail them out by making the race all about herself.
I won’t rehearse all of the various reasons Crockett is a terrible candidate — for her state, of course, but really for any state — because I have covered them many times already: Crockett is an empty-headed phony, a glamour-obsessed headline chaser, the purest Democratic product yet to emerge from the tabloidification of politics in the Trump era.
For all these reasons and more, I have unswervingly supported Jasmine Crockett in her quest for the Democratic Senate nomination in Texas. (I feel like that dog in the Far Side, hiding in the shadows and hoping the cat will follow the “CAT FUD” signs into the clothes dryer: “Oh please, oh please . . .”) But something strange happened on the way to Jasmine Crockett’s coronation as Sass-Talking Senate Candidate: She had to run a primary.
And she has done that terribly. Not only has she proven to be a torpid and distant campaigner — which might have been predicted given her belief that politics is an act primarily conducted via social media and sound bite — she has had enormous money problems as well. Billed upon her entry into the race by the national media as a “fundraising juggernaut,” she has turned out to be the exact opposite, raising only $2 million since her announcement and burning rapidly through the war chest she had already amassed prior to that point. (One suspects that many once inclined to contribute to Crockett sealed their wallets after she got into the Senate race, viewing her as a destructive force.)
Meanwhile her primary opponent, state representative James Talarico, has refused to go away; buoyed by the support of both national and statewide Democrats eager to prevent the party from throwing away a golden opportunity to steal a seat, Talarico has turned into a far fiercer fundraiser than Crockett — a clear indication of the mood of the donor class, if nothing else. By mid-January, in fact, Crockett was trailing Talarico in some polls: Emerson had her at 38 percent to Talarico’s 47 percent. Primary polling is a most dubious endeavor, but there are clear signs that Democrats, long starved for a win in inhospitable territory, may choose electability over celebrity in Texas. (Which will be terrible news for Texas Republicans.)
This brings us to last night. You see, early voting for the primary begins today (two weeks before Election Day, March 3), and Talarico was set to appear on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to promote his campaign. That Colbert would have a statewide candidate on for the explicit purposes of electioneering was remarkable enough. (What an exciting show this must be on a nightly basis.) What was even more remarkable is what happened next: Colbert announced that he was being forced to pull the interview from the network broadcast, to avoid violating election laws.
The cries from social media were instantaneous: That dastardly Trump, he gawn and done it again! Will this foul tyrant ever stop trying to strangle democracy in its bed? The usual suspects were wailing, when CNN’s Brian Stelter interrupted the mob scene to reveal the truth:
This just in from CBS: “THE LATE SHOW was not prohibited by CBS from broadcasting the interview with Rep. James Talarico. The show was provided legal guidance that the broadcast could trigger the FCC equal-time rule for two other candidates, including Rep. Jasmine Crockett, and presented options for how the equal time for other candidates could be fulfilled. THE LATE SHOW decided to present the interview through its YouTube channel with on-air promotion on the broadcast rather than potentially providing the equal-time options.”
In other words, Talarico’s interview was demoted to the internet not because Stephen Colbert was worried about Trump, or feared the wrath of a MAGA FCC; it was demoted because Colbert did not want to be forced to give equal time to Jasmine Crockett. That suggests a significant, and well-coordinated, Democratic attempt to starve Crockett of the spotlight in hopes of denying her victory. Colbert is the living, breathing embodiment of the Democratic entertainment establishment, after all, and has always been extremely conscious about using his platform to promote politicians and causes that align with the party’s broader messaging.
The message of the day, apparently, is “To hell with Jasmine Crockett.” It’s amusing enough to realize that professional Democrats analyze the Texas Senate race pretty much exactly as I do, but even more amusing to realize that they may succeed in bringing down Crockett, a political celebrity assumed by many to have secured the nomination on the day she announced her campaign. We will see in two weeks. Until then, I want to exhort all of my Texas Democratic readers — I assume I must have tens of thousands of them, right? — to get out there and cast your primary vote for Jasmine. You’re not gonna let these Establishment muckety-mucks tell you what to do, are you?