In many years of observing politics, I’ve seen a lot of nasty, negative ads between primary opponents who belong to the same party. But for sheer volume of vitriol, the latest John Cornyn ad against Ken Paxton, his opponent in the Texas GOP Senate primary, is hard to top:
As Inside Elections reporter Jacob Rubashkin points out, this wildly negative ad is co-sponsored by the Senate Republican Campaign Committee, whose fundamental purpose is to maintain GOP control of the upper chamber. Cornyn’s seat is one that could very well become the key to a Democratic takeover of the Senate, which was thought to be highly improbable just months ago. So the very people running this ad calling Paxton a despicable family-wrecking, corrupt, and LGBTQ-loving piece of garbage may soon be backing his general-election candidacy to the absolute hilt. Paxton is the favorite in a toxic contest that will almost certainly go to a May runoff, in which his brand of fierce MAGA conservatives are likely to dominate turnout.
Democrats have their own issues in this race: U.S. representative Jasmine Crockett and state legislator James Talarico are locked in a close and increasingly fractious primary of their own. But at least Democrats are very likely to know the identity of their Senate nominee six days from now (barring a virtual tie that allows a minor candidate’s vote to deny either major candidate a majority). They will have many months to heal their divisions as Cornyn and Paxton drag each other to the bottom of the sea like sharks taking down their prey.
It’s unclear how effective the savage (and lavishly funded) attacks by Cornyn and his D.C. friends will be in eroding or eliminating Paxton’s long-standing lead in this race. The intensely combative attorney general’s many ethics issues involving both his personal life and his finances are very well known. Republican voters may have already discounted them, much like Donald Trump’s many vices, as acceptable considering his longtime service to right-wing causes like stamping out abortion and blowing up public education in favor of private (and often religious) schools.
The Texas GOP is in the midst of an ideological revolution against a “Republican Establishment” typified by Cornyn. In 2024 Paxton, along with Texas governor Greg Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, led a high-profile primary purge of Republican legislators who resisted a school-voucher push and voted to impeach Paxton on corruption grounds (he was acquitted by the Texas Senate). To put it simply, the Texas party is racing to the right at an amazing pace, and the four-term incumbent simply hasn’t been able to keep up. Worse yet, Cornyn looks and sounds like a stereotypical senator, making him a “swamp” creature in the eyes of Washington-hating Texas Republicans (his self-depiction in his latest ad as a cowboy-hat-wearing “Texas Workhouse” probably inspires as much derision as admiration).
Team Cornyn had hoped his bacon might be saved by a Trump endorsement, but the president chose to endorse all three major candidates in the race (Cornyn, Paxton, and U.S. representative Wesley Hunt), a familiar tactic that operates as a permission slip for MAGA diehards in Texas to follow their own preferences. Any way the wind blows, the GOP is going to have a major restoration project come May to bring supporters of either the empty-suit RINO Cornyn or the adulterous “Crooked Ken” back into the party corral during what could be a very difficult midterm election for the party.
Things kicked off when Morgan Thompson, a Dallas-based content creator focused on Texas politics, recounted a story to her more than 185,000 TikTok followersregarding an off-the-record meeting she had with Talarico about the Democratic primary on January 12. Thompson claimed that during their conversation, Talarico made an offensive comment comparing Crockett to Allred, a former representative whom Talarico was initially running against. (Allred, who dropped his bid after Crockett entered the race, was also Texas’s Democratic Senate nominee in 2024, losing to Ted Cruz, and is now running for Congress again.)
“Talarico told me that he signed up to run against a mediocre Black man, not a formidable and intelligent Black woman,” Thompson said in a video posted on Sunday.
Thompson explained that she initially supported Talarico over Allred but expressed concern after his campaign pushed out a fundraising appeal under the name of James Carville, the storied political consultant who authored a New York Times op-ed last year looking to warn Democrats against embracing what he called “performative woke politics.”
“I’m always going to advocate for Black people ’cause I don’t care about how much you talk about affordability, housing, health care, whatever. If ‘woke politics’ is not included in that — which directly impacts Black people — then we’re left out of that conversation and policy,” Thompson said.
Thompson said she reached out to the campaign and shared her concerns to a staffer, who offered her the chance to speak with Talarico one-on-one about the issue. In a subsequent video, Thompson said her conversation with Talarico had been going well and that the comment came as talk turned to which offices the various candidates could have run for besides the Senate. Thompson acknowledged that she doesn’t have a recording of their conversation. She has since endorsed Crockett’s campaign and said the representative was not involved in her decision to speak about her interaction with Talarico.
Talarico-campaign spokesman J.T. Ennis confirmed to CNN that Thompson and Talarico did meet in Plano, adding that “the Talarico campaign works with lots of creators in Texas to keep them updated on the campaign.”
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JUNE 13: Rep. Jasmine Crockett speaks onstage during Storytellers – Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett during the 2025 Tribeca Festival at SVA Theater on June 13, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images for Tribeca Festival)
Cindy Ord
Getty Images for Tribeca Festiva
Texas congresswoman Jasmine Crockett compared the actions of federal agents in Minnesota, where an agent shot dead a man Saturday, to “Nazi Germany” during a Democratic debate for the U.S. Senate.
Crockett and state Rep. James Talarico are the leading candidates in the Democratic primary, hoping to win in March and be on the ticket in November for Sen. John Cornyn’s seat.
The two Democrats took the stage in Georgetown, north of Austin, shortly after federal immigration agents in Minneapolis had shot 37-year-old Alex Jeffrey Pretti, an intensive-care nurse for a VA hospital. The shooting came just weeks after Renee Good was shot and killed by an immigration officer in the same city.
The Saturday killing was recorded by bystanders from different angles, showing a group of federal officers tackle Pretti as he appeared to be using a phone to record them. Pretti was legally carrying a handgun, according to Minnesota authorities, and was shot multiple times after he was on the ground. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told reporters that the fact that Pretti carried a weapon “looks like a situation where an individual arrived at the scene to inflict maximum damage on individuals and to kill law enforcement,” contradicting video evidence of the encounter.
At one point during Saturday’s debate, the moderators asked Crockett and Talarico about how they’d balance their feelings toward ICE while also representing Texans who support deporting undocumented immigrants.
“As it relates to the enforcement that we see right now, let me be clear: They are supposed to do immigration and customs enforcement,” Crockett said. “Not going after U.S. citizens. Not going after people that are documented. That is not what they are supposed to do, but that is what they’re doing. They are turning us into Nazi Germany by saying they’re going to go door to door.”
She continued, “They’re going after people because of their accent or the color of their skin, because this Supreme Court gave them carte blanche ability to do so. So all we want ICE to do is to do what ICE was created to do, and unfortunately, that’s not what they are doing.”
Asked the same question, Talarico said the southern border should be like a front porch.
“There should be a giant welcome mat out front and a lock on the door,” he said. “We can welcome immigrants who want to live the American dream. We can build a pathway to citizenship for those neighbors who have been here making us richer and stronger, and we can keep out people who mean to do us harm.”
Earlier in the debate, Talarico also had sharp words about ICE, when asked whether he thinks the agency should be abolished or defunded.
“ICE shot a mother in the face,” he said. “ICE kidnapped a 5-year-old boy. ICE executed a man in broad daylight on our streets just this morning. It’s time to tear down this secret police force and replace it with an agency that actually is going to focus on public safety.”
Pressed again on whether he’d abolish or defund ICE, Talarico responded that the country has seen a historic increase in ICE funding.
“That money has come out of our health care, so what I would say is that we should take that money back and put it in our communities where it belongs,” Talarico said.
Crockett said “we absolutely have to clean house.”
“Whatever that looks like, I am willing to do it,” she said. “Because if there are truly Proud Boys that are currently in ICE, that’s a problem.”
Both candidates said they support impeaching United States Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.
ICE isn’t following the law, Crockett said.
“They’re killing people in the middle of the street,” she said. “They decided to execute a mother of three in broad daylight. I don’t understand how we are sitting here and acting like this is normal.”
Eleanor (Elly) Dearman is a Texas politics and government reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. She’s based in Austin, covering the Legislature and its impact on North Texas. She grew up in Denton and has been a reporter for more than six years. Support my work with a digital subscription
State Rep. James Talarico, left, and U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, Democratic primary candidates for U.S. Senate, shake hands prior to a debate at the Texas AFL-CIO COPE Convention in Georgetown, Texas on Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026.
Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune via POOL
Most political campaigns are way too long, but in the case of the U.S. Senate primary between Jasmine Crockett and James Talarico, it’s good that there are a few weeks left.
That’s because Saturday’s debate didn’t offer undecided Texas Democratic voters much to go on.
Crockett, the bombastic Dallas congresswoman, and Talarico, the more-measured Austin-area state representative, largely agreed on immigration, health care, the economy, foreign policy and taking on Donald Trump. Over the course of an hour, they had no significant exchanges airing either policy or stylistic differences with each other.
Squint, though, and you could see some separation. Crockett was more blunt about Trump, pointing to the latest horrendous killing by federal agents in Minnesota and framing the current political atmosphere as a dangerous, “unprecedented time.” Talarico blasted the president, too, but he also offered a broader attack on billionaires and corporations.
Their policy prescriptions were variations on the same theme, and standard Democratic fare at that. Both would raise taxes on the ultra-wealthy but declined to say where they would draw the line on who pays more. Both supported sweeping expansion of government-funded health insurance. Both condemned Trump’s recent actions in Venezuela.
Moderators Daniel Marin of Austin’s KXAN-TV and Gromer Jeffers Jr. of The Dallas Morning News, seeming to anticipate the reluctance, opened the debate by trying to draw the two out on their stylistic differences and who could fulfill the ultimate Democratic priority: winning a statewide race in Texas for the first time in more than three decades. Crockett argued that she is a brawler who does better with constituencies Democrats need to win back, including Black men and the working class.
Talarico repeated his message that he is a progressive Christian while also insisting that he’s a fighter who has taken on education cuts and pharmaceutical companies during his three terms in Austin. “I have fought tooth and nail for our values,” he said.
What’s a Texas Democrat to do? When Crockett entered the race at the last minute in December, she seemed like a shoo-in, given her national profile for caustic combativeness toward Trump and other Republicans, especially Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. But Talarico has shown impressive fundraising strength and built a quieter national profile of his own, winning praise from figures such as podcasting king Joe Rogan.
Reliable polls are scarce, and even among the few released so far, the results swing wildly. Each candidate appeals to different constituencies in the party, and it’s hard to measure who will turn out to vote between Feb. 21, the start of early voting, and Election Day, March 3. And turnout could be higher than usual because Democrats smell vulnerability on the Republican side, especially if the GOP nominates the tarnished Ken Paxton over incumbent John Cornyn.
That deeper interest isn’t reflected just yet. Talarico and Crockett were understandably reluctant to brawl with each other in a sleepy Saturday afternoon debate when Texans are thinking more about wind chills and chili than primaries and polls.
But if the candidates are the fighters they claim to be and the prize is as attainable as they want to believe, they’d better start throwing punches soon — and not just at Trump and Paxton.
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Ryan J. Rusak is opinion editor of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He grew up in Benbrook and is a TCU graduate. He spent more than 15 years as a political journalist, overseeing coverage of four presidential elections and several sessions of the Texas Legislature. He writes about Fort Worth/Tarrant County politics and government, along with Texas and national politics, education, social and cultural issues, and occasionally sports, music and pop culture. Rusak, who lives in east Fort Worth, was recently named Star Opinion Writer of the Year for 2024 by Texas Managing Editors, a news industry group.
U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett and State Rep. James Talarico will debate for the first time on Saturday afternoon, as they bid to represent Texans in the U.S. Senate.
Crockett and Talarico are the frontrunners in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate seat that is currently held by Sen. John Cornyn, a longtime Republican lawmaker who is in the midst of a heated primary of his own. The winner of each primary will face off in the Nov. 3 general election.
Crockett and Talarico will go head-to-head in the Jan. 24 debate in Georgetown hosted by Texas AFL-CIO, a labor federation representing union workers across the state. The debate is set for 2 p.m and aligns with a convention hosted by the group’s political arm.
The debate is set to last one hour and will be livestreamed on cw33.com and on the CW33+ app in North Texas. KXAN anchor Daniel Marin and Dallas Morning News political writer Gromer Jeffers are moderating.
Texas’ primary elections are on March 3. Early voting starts Feb. 17 and runs through Feb. 27.
Eleanor (Elly) Dearman is a Texas politics and government reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. She’s based in Austin, covering the Legislature and its impact on North Texas. She grew up in Denton and has been a reporter for more than six years. Support my work with a digital subscription
U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett greets well-wishers at Nana’s Kitchen in Fort Worth, Texas, Dec. 21, 2025. She is accompanied by staffer Kendyll Locke.
Bud Kennedy
bud@star-telegram.com
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.
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.
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This story was originally published December 27, 2025 at 4:31 AM.
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Bud Kennedy is a Fort Worth Star-Telegram opinion columnist. In a 54-year Texas newspaper career, he has covered two Super Bowls, a presidential inauguration, seven national political conventions and 19 Texas Legislature sessions.. Support my work with a digital subscription
An estimated 7,000 protesters gathered for a No Kings rally at Houston City Hall on Saturday, peacefully condemning President Donald Trump and his policies. No arrests were reported at press time, but several people were treated for heat exhaustion and dehydration at the sunny afternoon event.
The Houston rally was one of more than 2,700 across the country, the second time such gatherings have been organized this year — and a lot has happened since the last No Kings event in June.
President Trump influenced Texas Republicans to draw new redistricting maps in an effort to add five red seats to the U.S. Congress. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids have ramped up. The murder of Charlie Kirk on a college campus in Utah last month escalated partisan infighting and ignited a nationwide debate on free speech.
And the federal government shutdown earlier this month left millions of Americans worried that they won’t be able to afford healthcare in the near future.
U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas, took the stage as the four-hour protest kicked off at 2 p.m., accusing Trump and his administration of “wreaking havoc” on the country.
“If you continue to allow them to make you feel hopeless, they will win,” Crockett said. “Today is about showing the rest of the world who we are. We are bigger and badder than the bullshit that is coming out of D.C. We know what it is to love this country. We know what it is to say that we’re patriots.”
“We know what it is to love and honor our Constitution,” she added. “And we know what lawlessness looks like. Lawlessness looks like ICE going and disappearing people. Please continue to fight. Don’t just show up at the rallies. Show up at City Hall. Show up at the school board, and make sure you show up at the polls and vote.”
Spectators at Saturday’s No Kings protest angled to get a photo of U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett. Credit: April ToweryThousands of protesters attended Saturday’s No Kings rally at Houston City Hall. Credit: April Towery
Lisa Combest, dressed as a unicorn, and Lone Star College history professor Todd Rainer attended to “stand up to this regime.”
“We want to have a peaceful protest to show people that, one, the left is not radical and violent, and two, that we are not going to let this happen to us,” Combest said. “I believe what they’re doing with presidential powers is obscene and an offense to the Constitution.”
Rainer said he studies repressive military regimes and believes that the Constitution is being devalued by the current presidential administration.
“This country has forgotten our own history, the history of World War II and the lessons that we learned about facism,” he said. “I spent 10 years of my life protecting this country in the Army, the Navy and the Merchant Marines. Donald Trump accusing me of being a hater of America is complete and utter horseshit. The man doesn’t deserve to be a dog catcher.”
Lisa Combest and Todd Rainer were among thousands at Saturday’s protest. Credit: April Towery
Neil Aquino, founder of the Houston Democracy Project and a speaker at Saturday’s rally, said the “demands and attacks from Washington and Austin will only get worse.”
“Houstonians need to grasp that no level of government will aggressively fight for our civil rights and freedom,” he said. “Protests will often be over-policed on our own Houston taxpayer dime. When we oppose Trump, we’ll be called Antifa and terrorists and the elected officials in our Democratic-voting, diverse city will mostly be [missing in action]. There is nothing ICE can do that will be bad enough for the city to stand up for people. We are on our own.”
A criticism of the No Kings movement from Trump’s MAGA supporters is that the protesters don’t have clear messaging; they just don’t like the President. But at Saturday’s event and at the one in June, attendees held signs with specific complaints about Trump’s tariffs, immigration policies and cuts to healthcare and FEMA.
Dozens of Houston police officers, including those mounted on horseback, patrolled the area around City Hall on Saturday but there did not appear to be National Guard or ICE agents present.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced earlier this week he would deploy National Guard troops to a No Kings demonstration in Austin, calling it a planned Antifa (anti-facist) demonstration and garnering a negative response from the city’s mayor Kirk Watson.
“Texas will deter criminal mischief and work with local law enforcement to arrest anyone engaging in acts of violence or damaging property,” Abbot said in a press release.
Watson said he does not condone the militarization of public streets. “Much of what we see out of Washington is to create fear and chaos,” the Austin mayor said on social media. “Unfortunately, our state engages in this, too. We should not play into these politics.”
Texas Democratic Party Chair Kendall Scudder also pushed back against Abbott, saying the governor was “doing everything he can to suck up to Donald Trump, including taking a page from Trump’s authoritarian playbook, and intimidating people exercising their First Amendment right.
“Our cities are not warzones or military training grounds, and we do not need an unnecessary display of force at the expense of taxpayers on a peaceful protest,” he said.
Police, firefighters and EMTs at the downtown Houston demonstration spent much of their time tending to overheated participants and handing out cold water bottles.
Several participants at Saturday’s No Kings protest were treated for dehydration. Credit: April ToweryA volunteer hands out water at a medical tent. Credit: April Towery
A woman who identified herself as “Nara” said she was protesting on behalf of her Hispanic and Vietnamese coworkers at a Houston costume shop who are concerned they could be deported.
“As with most costume shops, our primary workforce is older, immigrant people with limited English,” she said. “Either [ICE hasn’t] figured out that they’re there or they’re not interested in targeting us yet, but most of the people I work with are targets. I work with a woman who has a young daughter and she was born here but she says that doesn’t matter to [ICE}. And at what point do they decide that being Jewish means I’m not white either? I would care even if I was the whitest person on earth.”
Nara said she was protesting in support of her Vietnamese and Hispanic coworkers. Credit: April Towery
Criticism of the Houston Police Department’s relationship with ICE escalated earlier this week when Cesar Espinosa, executive director of the immigrant rights group FIEL, was removed from a city council meeting after accusing the mayor and police chief of lying about how they handled an incident with a 15-year-old boy with autism.
The teen, Emanuel Gonzalez Garcia, ended up in federal custody on October 5, after wandering off from his mother while they were selling fruit at an intersection.
Espinosa said HPD passed off Garcia to the Office of Refugee Resettlement, a branch of the federal health department that offers services for “unaccompanied alien children,” according to its website, and implied that minimal effort was made to reunite Emanuel with his family.
Police Chief Noe Diaz said Emanuel’s mother contacted police five hours after he went missing. When authorities located the child, he claimed to be homeless and from another country, Diaz said during a council meeting.
“Once we were not able to confirm the identity provided by the juvenile on scene and to find an acceptable party to leave them with for their safety, after exhausting all options, we contacted CPS,” Diaz said.
CPS said they couldn’t hold the child if he was from another country and could not provide contact information for any family members, so Emanuel was then transported to a federal facility.
Mayor John Whitmire addressed the matter publicly, saying, “HPD officers located the young man and spent over four hours working to reunite him with his family. When that was not possible, he was taken to Child Protective Services. Because he had no identification and could not give any names or information of family he was transferred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement.”
Whitmire has been accused of directing city police to cooperate with ICE, which he says he has not. By law, police who encounter a person with an outstanding warrant must notify the agency that issued it.
Thousands gathered for a No Kings rally at Houston City Hall on Saturday. Credit: April Towery
Houstonians at Saturday’s gathering said they don’t trust that local police are not cooperating with ICE despite Whitmire’s repeated explanation that his officers are just following the law. Several people at the No Kings rally were circulating a petition to recall the mayor.
The No Kings movement is supported by chapters of Indivisible, 50501, the American Federation of Teachers and the ACLU. Organizers say they are committed to nonviolent protest and community safety, providing their own security in addition to local police.
Nara said she has been attending peaceful protests since she was a child and it’s an important right in a democratic society.
“I think the most we ever accomplish by doing this is showing how many people object to what’s happening,” she said.
Before the start of many of the sessions at the 2024 Texas Tribune Festival, a short video starring the impossibly handsome, and oh, so very Texan actor Glen Powell warmly warned attendees that they would likely hear ideas they didn’t agree with. After all, the annual fall festival has for years made it a point to present speakers from both major parties, and from a variety of racial, ethnic, religious and social backgrounds…
Cook her meat. Photo: Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
Why can’t we have nice things? After Rep. Jasmine Crockett clapped back at Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene during a House Oversight Committee hearing earlier this week by bringing up her “bleach blonde, bad-built, butch body,” all eyes turned to Saturday Night Live. Surely the sketch show, and specifically Ego Nwodim, would make a meal out of that moment. Right? Well unfortunately, Nwodim took to Twitter midday Saturday to announce that despite fans (and the world at large) begging for her to take on the role, it isn’t happening. “Devastated to announce I will not be playing Rep. Jasmine Crockett tonight. Please respect my privacy as I grieve,” Nwodim wrote, bracing us all for disappointment. Crockett herself even replied, writing, “Let us all bow our heads and say a prayer for peace… like Lauren Boebert did during the hearing 🙄.”
Does this mean the finale will skip over the congressional sparring entirely? Or will someone else be taking on the role of Rep. Crockett? And if so, who? Maybe Sabrina Carpenter will address it in her “Nonsense” outro? Or perhaps Crockett herself will appear to dole out even more roasts? In any case, as a consolation to those mourning not getting to see Nwodim slay some C-SPAN humor — Bowen Yang has thankfully posted his annual Ego Nwodim end-of-season Instagram supercut. She is cutting up.
Gaetz said Sunday he would move forward and file a motion to vacate, forcing a vote to end McCarthy’s speakership, after the Republican leader defied his demands and worked with Democrats over the weekend to pass a temporary measure to keep the government funded.
“He likes the attention,” Crockett said, pointing to media coverage of Gaetz’s repeated threats to oust McCarthy.
“My deal is this: If you’re gonna do it, do it. but he loses all of his leverage,” Crockett said of Gaetz. “At the end of the day, there’s no one else that has the votes. So, if you can find somebody, great, but it’s not going to be somebody further to the right and, honestly, it’s probably not going to be anybody to the left of them either.”
“At the end of the day, for me and my vote right now, I’m looking at the soon-to-be Speaker of the House, and that is [Hakeem] Jeffries,” she added of the current House minority leader.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) mocked Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) as a “loser” who wages “losing battles,” following a week where he’s faced criticism from both sides of the aisle over his state’s new educational standards.
MSNBC’s Zinhle Essamuah, in an interview with Crockett on Saturday, asked for the Democrat’s reaction on DeSantis appearing to “be on the defense.” Florida is facing scrutiny for standards that say students should be taught that enslaved people had opportunities to develop skills that “could be applied for their personal benefit.”
“OK, so first of all, Ron DeSantis is a loser,” replied Crockett, who’d previously described the Florida governor as an “ignorant fool.”
“He’s going to continue to wage these losing battles,” Crockett said. “He lucked up and became the governor of Florida, and he has only taken Florida down.”
Crockett adds her name to a list of politicians who have knocked the Republican presidential candidate over his administration’s educational standards.
DeSantis, in a tense interaction with a reporter who asked whether there were “beneficial aspects” to slavery, claimed that it was “not what the curriculum says.”
Crockett noted that DeSantis has waged fights with Black Republicans and Mickey Mouse, before calling on him to exit the presidential race.
“Ron DeSantis needs to kind of chill out, and he honestly needs to suspend his campaign,” she said.
Crockett, who is Black, also expressed her surprise about Black Republicans criticizing the education standards, since they didn’t have “very much to say” on DeSantis’ war against so-called critical race theory in the state.
“This was just the next level ― they have decided that they are going to whitewash and completely act as if slavery was a benefit to Black folk,” Crockett said. “And my only question is, how many of them are willing to sign up for slavery today if that’s the case, if they are looking for those same good benefits that Black folks suffered under? I’ll wait for them to sign up.”
Crockett: Okay, so, first of all, Ron DeSantis is a loser.… Ron DeSantis needs to chill out, and he honestly needs to suspend his campaign. pic.twitter.com/VMxo59fqf9
Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) slammed Republicans over their allegations that President Joe Biden has ties to a bribery scheme as she contrasted GOP lawmakers’ responses to how they reacted to the federal indictment of former President Donald Trump.
“It is amazing that they can review one document and decide that we have the most corrupt president that ever existed,” said Crockett, who has gone after GOP lawmakers with a number ofcritical remarks in recent weeks.
She went on to look at how GOP claims about Biden conflicted with Republicans’ responses to “actual indictments” with “mounds of documents.”
“We’ve got actual indictments from New York as well as out of Florida from grand juries. Not necessarily the president as they tried to put out there, not necessarily our AG, not necessarily the special prosecutor but from citizens who sat down and reviewed not one document, but documents, mounds of documents,” Crockett said.
“And determined that there was enough to continue to go forward and decide whether or not Trump had violated law. And they say there’s nothing to see here,” she said.
Crockett later pointed out that the FBI allegedly received the document while the agency was part of Trump’s Justice Department.
“So yes, my chairman on oversight can’t find the witnesses,” Crockett said in a nod tocomments from Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) on the committee’s Biden family investigation.
“But we all know that Jack Smith has found all the witnesses that he needs to make sure that he can go forward with his prosecution of the former president,” Crockett said.
