Transcript: Why Crockett v. Talarico Is Down to the Wire in Texas

Journalist Justin Miller explains why both the Democratic and Republican U.S. Senate primaries in Texas are are so close.

This is a lightly edited transcript of the February 26 edition of Right Now With Perry Bacon. You can watch the video here or by following this show on YouTube or Substack.

Perry Bacon: So let’s start with the Democratic race, which is probably of more interest to our audience. Jasmine Crockett, congresswoman, very famous. James Talarico, state representative, who has become somebody who a lot of my friends have seen videos of. He’s become sort of a popular figure as well.

So I guess my first question is: you told me in September or October, Jasmine Crockett is going to run against somebody. I would have said, oh, she’s going to have a big advantage because she’s like a famous person and so well known, and nobody knows who a state representative is. So how did he get to the point where this race is either tied or very close, or maybe he’s even leading? How did he do this?

Justin Miller: Yeah. I’ve been seeing Talarico as a bit of a rising star in the State House. He’s been on the front lines of fighting back against extremist Republican policy in the legislature. And I think people have been seeing him, over the past couple of years, as a likely candidate for higher office — whether it was Senate or I think a lot of people were thinking originally, governor.

For a time, the only other declared candidate was Colin Allred. And then there was the disorganized Democratic Party, any chances of an organized slate, and obviously Crockett got in very late into the race. And I think that overlaid a lot of the dynamics of the race.

Bacon: She entered in November or December?

Miller: Right before the filing deadline — I think it was very early December. She had been saying throughout November, and maybe even back into October, that she was seriously considering running for U.S. Senate.

There were some public polls showing that she had obviously the highest name recognition of any candidate, including against Beto O’Rourke. That, combined with the redistricting, which reoriented a lot of the political lines up in Dallas County, she said gave the basis for her considering to run for U.S. Senate. So yeah, it was definitely a very late entry.

Bacon: So he had a three- or four-month head start — that’s part of what he did, right? He was running before she started running. That’s a big part of the story here, right?

Miller: Yeah, he had at least a couple of months’ head start, and of course he was starting with much lower name recognition. And honestly, I think his own campaign got off to a slower start than I would have thought and struggled to gain traction right out of the gate.

And then, when Crockett entered, he reconsidered his strategy and everything, and I think he was caught on his back foot. But now you see in the past several weeks, I think his campaign has hit its stride. It’s been aided a lot by a ton of national media attention, going on talk shows and everything. So yeah, it’s been a definitely abnormal primary, but also a very hotly contested one that we haven’t seen in quite a while.

Bacon: So as a person following this nationally, what I’ve seen is: he seems to be, one, very articulate, and two, he’s talked about being religious and that drawing on and having a moral politics. He’s not the only religious Democrat — Raphael Warnock, and there are plenty of Black Democrats who are very religious, particularly. But Joe Biden was religious, Nancy Pelosi as well. But I think the national story is there’s this charismatic young guy who’s very religious. That’s unusual.

Is that the story in Texas? What’s drawing people to him among the actual voters who might vote for him?

Miller: Yes, that’s definitely become like the core part of his identity. Going back to the legislature, a lot of his most viral moments on the Texas House floor have come from him using his command of and beliefs in Christianity and his studies as a seminarian to turn scripture back against Republicans as they’re trying to push Christian nationalist-type policies in schools and in state government and all of that.

I think, yes, it’s framed as this unique thing — a Democrat who’s a Christian is somehow this completely unique thing, which obviously, as you said, it isn’t. I think his use of his religion, and quoting scripture and everything, to advance a progressive platform intrigues a lot of Democratic voters. Especially, maybe, non-Christian voters who see in this something they imagine will be convincing to knowable voters in the middle, and even staunch Republicans. That’s obviously a pretty big proposition and one that hasn’t been tested yet so far.

Bacon: So I’ll be blunt: I’m often leery of electability arguments in a primary,........

© New Republic