DALLAS — Rep. Jasmine Crockett endorsed James Talarico Wednesday after conceding her loss to him in the Texas Senate Democratic primary — but the far-left firebrand told The New York Times she would not “make plans” to campaign for the state rep.
The freshman House Democrat had secured high-profile endorsements from Vice President Kamala Harris and rapper Cardi B but underperformed in the Tuesday primary — a loss she blamed on confusion among voters at Dallas polling locations due to last-minute court rulings.
Crockett said in a statement that Democrats “must remain united” as Talarico continues to campaign amid a runoff race between incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and state Attorney General Ken Paxton for the GOP nomination in the Senate contest.
“This morning I called James and congratulated him on becoming the Senate nominee,” she added. “With the primary behind us, Democrats must rally around our nominees and win. I’m committed to doing my part and will continue working to elect Democrats up and down the ballot.”
The freshman congresswoman had left a voice message with Talarico — but didn’t commit to campaigning for him in the general election.
She said would not “make plans for other people’s campaigns,” according to The Times.
At her campaign watch party Tuesday, Crockett claimed — without evidence — that Republicans had been trying to steal the election from her through changes to polling locations.
“Unfortunately, this is what Republicans like to do, and so they specifically targeted Dallas County, and I think we all know why,” she said.
“If one person has the right to vote, and they weren’t allowed to cast their vote, we should all be standing together. Democrats, Republicans, and we should all be raising hell,” Crockett also said. “We cannot allow this type of behavior to be rewarded, because so long as they know that they can win, even if it means cheating, then they will continue to do it.”
The Texas Democrat then departed her own watch party, suggesting results wouldn’t be finalized that evening.
“People will not turn out because of what’s happened, in my opinion, especially if no one fights for their votes to be counted,” she also later told The New York Times.
With more than 95% of ballots counted as of Wednesday, Talarico won 52.4% of all votes, compared with Crockett’s 46.2% after the Associated Press called the race — meaning her margin of defeat was likely too large to overcome even given smoother voting in Dallas County, her home district.
The Texas Supreme Court ordered a lower court Tuesday night to issue provisional ballots after polls closed at 7 p.m. CT to account for delays and other issues.
Harris endorsed Crockett in the Democratic primary race in late February, but flipped her support to Talarico following his victory early Wednesday.
The ex-vice president has only endorsed one other Democratic candidate since leaving office, Dan Koh, who is running to replace a seat left vacant by Rep. Seth Moulton in Massachusetts.
Republicans will head back to the polls on May 26 to decide whether Cornyn or Paxton will be their standard-bearer in November.
Neither the sitting Republican senator nor the Texas AG won a majority of the Republican primary vote on Tuesday — though Cornyn secured a 41.9% plurality and Paxton was close behind with 40.7%.
