Everything you need to know about Texas Senate race and claims of misogynoir against Jasmine Crockett

The outcome of the March 3 primary will determine which Democrat will advance against the Republican nominee and the future of leadership in a traditionally red state that has not elected a Democrat since 1988.

The contentious Texas U.S. Senate primary between U.S. Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett and State Rep. James Talarico will soon come to an end as Election Day nears on Tuesday.

The outcome of the March 3 primary will determine which Democrat will advance against the Republican nominee and the future of leadership in a traditionally red state that has not elected a Democrat since 1988. The potential to make history is also on the line, as Crockett would become the first Black woman to be the party’s nominee and could be the first African American elected to the U.S. Senate in Texas if victorious in the November general election.

While all eyes will be on the race between Crockett and Talarico, many Democrats are eager to see the contest come to an end. The messy primary has politically battered the two contestants and divided voters. In early February, Talarico was accused of calling former U.S. Senate candidate Colin Allred a “mediocre Black man” (a claim he denied); and since Crockett entered the race in December 2025, she has commanded massive media attention and stymied what many saw as Talarico’s great momentum. As a result, Crockett has faced what she and her supporters say is subtle and not-so-subtle racial and gender bias.

“Don’t waste your money sending to Jasmine Crockett. Do not do it,” said comedian Matt Rogers on “Las Culturistas” podcast, to the displeasure of supporters of Crockett. “She’s not going to win a Senate seat in Texas, you guys.” Rogers and his co-host, Bowen Yang, quickly apologized for dumping on Crockett’s campaign after receiving public backlash and accusations of perpetuating racist and sexist stereotypes on a Black female candidate.

“We need a fighter. And I was so ready to vote for Jasmine Crockett, because I love her, but I voted for Talarico because we need somebody who can win,” said Sonya Bernhardt, a white Houston voter who cast her early ballot. Bernhardt explained that she loved Crockett’s fiery style as a politician and her ability to go toe-to-toe with Republicans, particularly in committee hearings on Capitol Hill. She told CNN, “That was one of the most difficult votes I’ve ever voted in my entire life.”

In a previous interview with theGrio, Crockett said questions of her electability and whether she can win a statewide race is frustrating and rooted in misogynoir.

“We know that the most loyal voting bloc, when it comes to Democrats, no matter what part of the country you look at, is actually Black women. And it is all good for us to labor…we allow this party to continue to say, yes, yes, yes, we need Black women, go ahead and pull up [but] we’re not even going to focus on sending our dollars to you,” said Crockett, who raised less money than Talarico and led a nontraditional campaign focused on digital and grassroots outreach that has included meeting potential voters in Texas nightclubs.

The former civil rights attorney and public defender added, “No one is looking at the credentials. Like, holler at me and say that you have an issue as relates to my credentials.”

It’s hard not to see the primary race between Crockett and Talarico without a racial lens when you consider polling shows that most white voters (57%) lean toward Talarico while an ovewhelming majority Black voters (80%) back Crockett. Talarico also commands a majority support from Hispanic voters at 59%.

Crockett has made clear her strategy to victory is to turn out record numbers of Black and Hispanic voters who do not traditionally vote in Texas. The Lone Star State has one of the lowest voter turnouts in the country. According to a poll from HIT Strategies, 700,000 registered Black Texans did not vote in the 2024 election. There are approximately 4 million Black people living in Texas. In total, 1.7 million Black and Brown voters in the Lone State sat out the election that handed Donald Trump the presidency for a second time.

Crockett explained that more women than men, 57% or more, are expected to vote in Texas’s primary on March 3. By the general election on Nov. 3, more women are also expected to vote than men, she claimed.

“Frankly, I think with a strong woman at the top, we may be able to run that number up even more,” the U.S. Senate candidate told theGrio.

Early voting shows 1.3 million Texans have already cast their ballots in the Democratic primary and is on track to break a record set by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton set in the 2008 presidential primary contest.

Unlike Talarico, Crockett has faced tough criticisms online for some of her past statements and policy positions, including her vote in favor of funding military aid for Israel’s deadly military campaign in Gaza and use of the term “slave mentality” when discussing Hispanic voters who supported President Trump’s aggressive immigration policies.

Clarifying her “slave mentality” remark, Crockett told CNN, “I don’t believe that the people that voted for Trump believe in what they’re actually getting…What Trump said is that he was going to kick out the bad guys. And that’s what I was talking about.”

She explained, “But at the same time, I knew what Trump meant because Trump had a record. Trump had a record of locking up kids and putting them in cages. So I knew what Trump meant. And so that’s why it wasn’t making sense to me.”

Crockett added, “Some of those people may have voted for Trump. I don’t know. But they agree that what he’s doing now is wrong. And it’s about right versus wrong and not right versus left and he sold them a bag of goods and I knew that that’s what he was selling because I knew his record.”