How James Talarico defeated Jasmine Crockett in Texas rising-star battle

State Rep. James Talarico defeated U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Dallas in the Texas Senate primary Tuesday, March 3 in a battle of two national Democratic rising stars.

Talarico will face whichever Republican prevails in a May 26 runoff, either incumbent Sen. John Cornyn or embattled state Attorney General Ken Paxton. Talarico, 36, is a Presbyterian seminarian and former elementary school teacher now running a populist campaign in the Lone Star State with faith-based undertones.

The Democratic contest provided a stark contrast for Texas primary voters. Talarico, who is White, faced Crockett, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, in a race that raised questions about race, electability and stylistic differences. No Democrat has won a statewide race since 1994, but former Rep. Beto O'Rourke came within about 2.5 percentage points of Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018.

While Crockett entered the race three months after Talarico, she was the favorite due to her star power and fundraising prowess. She had gained nationwide fame for her cutting comments about Republicans, such as slamming former House peer Marjorie Taylor Greene as a "beach blonde bad built butch body" for insulting her false eyelashes.

Largely unknown outside of Texas, Talarico has long been considered a potential candidate for statewide office. Once Crockett's colleague in the lower house of the Texas legislature, he remained in the statehouse as she rose to Congress. He made national headlines in 2021 for pressing Fox News host and now-Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to admit during a live appearance that President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden.

Crockett skipped running for Congress after congressional district was redrawn in mid-decade redistricting. The newly formed Dallas lines were still safely Democratic and the primary for the seat was won by her pastor, Frederick "Freddy" Haynes III of Friendship-West Baptist Church.

Talarico ran campaign based on affordability

The March 3 election offered a window into the Democrats' future. Talarico's platform revolved around economic issues such as increasing wages and expanding access to affordable housing and childcare, winning messages in 2025 for both moderates like Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger and progressives like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Talarico launched his campaign with a cinematic ad standing on the bed of a rusted pickup truck, sleeves rolled up, outside a church. "The biggest divide in our country is not left vs. right, it's top vs. bottom," Talarico said in the ad, previewing his campaign focused on economic inequality.

Talarico was born in 1989 in Round Rock, Texas, to a single mother, per his campaign biography. When his father became abusive, his mother moved them to a hotel, and later an apartment, and raised Talarico in east Austin.

The University of Texas-Austin grad worked for Teach for America as a sixth-grade language arts teacher at Rhodes Middle School on the westside of San Antonio, a historically Mexican-American community. He then obtained a master's degree in education policy from Harvard University.

First elected in 2018, he has long served as a public-facing spokesperson for Texas Democrats during their disputes with Republican colleagues, including last year and in 2021 when Texas House Democrats fled the state to block the passage of Republican elections and redistricting bills. Some believed that Talarico's approach would be more successful in swaying Republicans and independents to cross over and vote for him in the general election.

Crockett's campaign launch ad showcased a different approach: the camera solely focused on her, while recordings of Trump hurling insults about her were the only audio.

While Crockett is known for her viral videos skewering Trump administration officials and other Republicans, the Talarico campaign leaned heavily into social media strategy as well. Crockett has 2.2 million Instagram followers and Talarico has just 100,000 fewer than her.

And while Crockett has nearly 1 million more followers than Talarico on TikTok, Talarico had more support where it mattered most: at the ballot box.

Contributing: Kathryn Palmer, Nicole Fallert, USA TODAY