SAN ANTONIO — Democratic Texas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett’s showdown with local Dem state rep James Talarico has become the latest flashpoint in the battle between moderates and firebrands for the soul of the party.
While Crockett has tried to mobilize the party’s far-left base as a raw, brass-knuckled fighter who won’t play nice with Republicans, Talarico has sought to broaden the Democrats’ tent in the pair’s primary race by making overtures to moderate voters and disillusioned conservatives while remaining a progressive.
Both pols are vying for their party’s nod to go after the Senate seat held by GOPer John Cornyn.
“If you voted for Donald Trump but you are fed up with the extremism and the corruption in this government, you also have a place in this campaign,” Talarico told voters while stumping in San Antonio on Sunday.
The stakes for the Dem foes’ bruising primary are high, given that party leaders are eyeing a potentially rare shot at realizing their longstanding dreams of flipping the Texas Senate seat blue.
They are hoping they are helped along by the bitter primary battle between Cornyn and Republican contender and state Attorney General Ken Paxton, which has been ripping Republicans apart.
Talarico and Crockett may not be as ideologically splintered as the classic far-left and traditionalist divide within the party that is dominating the Democratic 2026 midterm primary contests, but their fight represents a just as pressing rift roiling the party.
“I don’t like some of the things that she has agreed to,” said April Cruz, a Talarico supporter, to The Post, referring to Crockett. “Her funneling money over to Israel, [that’s] something that I’m not a fan of.”
Despite her brash persona, Crockett’s voting record in the House is in the ideological middle of her party, according to GovTrack. At times, she has dinged lefties, bashing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-NY) and Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) “Fighting Oligarchy” tour as being overly self-promotional.
She’s remained a staunch defender of former President Joe Biden, too.
But Crockett has also embraced a fiesty slash-and-dash style of politics that has made her a darling of the left.
“I think that we have all seen the attack ads that have come on behalf of my primary opponent,” Crockett grumbled last month. “He doesn’t have anything to say about the negative ads, the ads that are darkening my skin and this continual kind of if she wins, we lose.
“It’s not even undertones right now. It is straight-up racist.”
She also has built a name for herself in the House with fiery fights against MAGA firebrands such as former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), whom she ripped as having a “bleach blonde, bad-built, butch body.”
Crockett has faced her fair share of controversies and questions about whether she is ready for prime time, too. For example, her campaign website’s issues page was marred with blunders, including instructions to “write out your bullet points here” in its mental health section.
Meanwhile, Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian, has focused on courting more of the mainstream elements of the Democratic Party and trying to win over moderates and disillusioned conservatives, partly through his faith-based appeal.
“I think the biggest part was about healing, about extending your hand to those that don’t agree with you and trying to make forward a path where we can all be together,” said Mike Torres, a Democrat who lives in San Antonio, to The Post about what appealed to him about Talarico’s message.
“We don’t have to agree on everything,” the father of three said. “We just have to be able to tolerate each other, live with each other, and make the world better for each other.”
Domminyck DeLarosa, 26, who comes from a conservative family, similarly resonated with Talarico’s point about unity.
“We’re not supposed to be fighting each other. It’s really us, my background is coming from a very poor-income family, and seeing the ways at the top is really trying to keep us down,” DeLarosa told The Post.
