Jasmine Crockett, James Talarico taking Texas Democrats to church | Opinion

FORT WORTH

The battle for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate is coming soon to a mailbox near you.

But so far, it’s been waged somewhere unusual for Texas Democrats: in churches.

Both U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Dallas and state Rep. James Talarico of Austin have taken their campaigns to churches, the first stops on a breakneck rush to Feb. 17 and the start of voting in the March 3 party primaries.

It is not unusual to see Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian and frequent guest preacher, deliver a sermon like he did Dec. 14 at Central Presbyterian in downtown Austin.

We see Crockett, a lawyer who represents south Dallas and southeast Tarrant County, more on national TV news. She’s usually delivering saltier comments and litigating the case against Congress, the current Washington leadership and President Donald Trump.

“I know I may have a potty mouth here and there, but my dad is a preacher,” Crockett said Sunday.

She was meeting reporters at a restaurant in far east Fort Worth after visiting worship at Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church, New Breed Christian Center and Pilgrim Valley Missionary Baptist Church.

“All the civil rights movements were born in the Black church,” she said, “and right now, we are definitely in a moment where we need a movement.

“ … So that is why, absolutely, as many Sundays as I get, I’ll most likely be in church praising God and meeting people.”

Don’t get me wrong.

It is not unusual for a Presbyterian seminarian and a United Methodist pastor’s daughter to be in church on Sunday.

But it is unusual for rival Texas Democrats to make religion a front-and-center part of their campaigns.

In particular, white Democratic voters are mostly not church regulars, according to the Pew Research Center.

The three recent Democratic nominees for Senate — Beto O’Rourke, M.J. Hegar and Colin Allred — did not mention church or faith prominently.

O’Rourke did talk occasionally about the Roman Catholic church’s power, and Allred talked about his days at Southern Baptist-affiliated Baylor University.

It’s clear already that no matter whether Crockett or Talarico is the nominee, this campaign won’t be like those.

In his sermon in Austin, Talarico preached about Christ’s message of love — as in “I was a stranger, and you welcomed me” — and support for those on the margins of society.

“Do you know people who love Jesus and don’t seem to love anyone else?” Talarico was quoted as saying by the Houston Chronicle.

“That kind of religion that says you can treat people however you want, as long as you have a personal relationship with Jesus, is an abomination. It is a cancer on the body of Christ.”

Crockett isn’t a preacher like Talarico. But she can also talk liberation gospel.

That contrasts with Republican frontrunner Ken Paxton’s message about martyrdom — his own — and how Christians should resist Islamist governance.

At Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church, Crockett apologized to worshippers up front, saying, “You know it’s political season when the candidates show up.”

She delivered completely different messages in the Fort Worth churches but focused on having a U.S. senator “putting people first” for Texans who feel like their votes don’t count.

“We have two senators that were elected to represent 30 million people,” she told reporters later, “but they have decided that they only want to represent the 1-percenters.”

Crockett said faith isn’t a major theme of her campaign: “It’s just who I am. … I’ve got to remain true to who I am and my roots, and so my faith is a part of that.”

The road to the Democratic Senate nomination runs through a lot of town squares.

And down some center aisles.

This story was originally published December 27, 2025 at 4:31 AM.