Dem strategists say Texas requires centrists — but their new Senate frontrunner is anything but

Rep. Jasmine Crockett enters Texas Senate race as progressive after Colin Allred drops out, sparking debate over Democratic strategy in red state.

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When it comes to the heavily contested Senate battle in Texas, former Rep. Colin Allred is out, Rep. Jasmine Crockett is in, and Democrats appear divided over whether Crockett's a political liability in the ruby-red Lone Star State as the party works to flip the crucial seat.
The stakes in the race are extremely high, as it's one of a handful across the country that will likely determine if Republicans hold their Senate majority in next year's midterm elections.
Crockett, a two-term lawmaker who represents a Dallas-area district, is a progressive firebrand and rising Democratic Party star with a large social media following who is known as a vocal critic and foil of President Donald Trump. Her launch will likely further rock the Texas ballot box showdown, which, on the Republican side, includes a very combustible battle between incumbent Sen. John Cornyn and GOP primary rivals state Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt.
"The Democratic Party’s aspirations to win statewide in a red state like Texas simply don’t exist without a centrist Democrat who can build a winning coalition of ideologically diverse voters," Liam Kerr, co-founder of the Welcome PAC, a group which advocates for moderate Democratic candidates, argued in a statement to Fox News Digital.
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Allred, who was making his second straight bid for the Senate after losing last year to conservative Sen. Ted Cruz by nine points, abandoned his bid on Monday and announced he would run next year to return to the House, hours before Crockett launched her campaign.
Crockett will now face off in her party's primary with state Rep. James Talarico, a former middle school teacher and Presbyterian seminarian who is also seen as a rising Democrat. The two surging contenders will face off in the March 3 primary.
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"I think we’re in a period where we’re looking for new fresh faces to lead the party, and that’s what you’ve got in Texas," veteran Democratic strategist Joe Caiazzo told Fox News Digital.
And Caiazzo, apparently pointing to Allred, said, "No more retreads. If you ran and lost, it’s time for something new."
Allred, facing the prospect of battling two younger rivals with formidable fundraising, opted to switch races.
"I don’t think he was pushed out of the race. I think he was considering it on his own. But I don’t doubt that he was certainly urged to continue considering it until he finally did it," a veteran Texas-based Democratic strategist told Fox News Digital.
The strategist, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely, said, "With Crockett getting into the race, she cuts into a lot of Allred’s base. They’re both pulling from the Black Democratic primary vote, and they’re both from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, except she’s in office right now with a huge following and making a lot of headlines. That’s a real threat to his Senate campaign."
With less than three months until the primary, political pundits list Crockett as the Democratic frontrunner.
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"I'm done watching the American dream on life support while Trump tries to pull the plug. The gloves have been off, and now I'm jumping into the ring," Crockett said as she announced her candidacy.
And her launch included a video playing several soundbites of President Donald Trump attacking her.
Kerr said Crockett as the party's nominee would be a problem in a state where no Democrat has won a Senate election in nearly four decades — since Sen. Lloyd Bentsen's re-election in 1988.
"We appreciate Rep. Crockett being so explicit that she's not trying to win over Trump supporters or persuadable voters, but that approach simply doesn't work in statewide Texas races. You can't win competitive or red territory without persuading less partisan, independent, and Republican voters," he argued.
But Michael Ceraso, a Democratic strategist and founder of Winning Margins, a communications firm, told Fox News Digital that "Rep. Crockett is running to change the political landscape in Texas."
"If she wins, she becomes a legend who can run for president. If she loses, she still becomes a political voice for years to come who gets the money to talk and move people."
Ceraso argued that the Democratic Party is "a reactionary party to President Trump and will be that way for the next few years. Crockett is turning this 'reaction' into a platform, and maybe she’ll stick the landing on policies that connect with voters."
Asked if Crockett is too far to the left to win statewide, the Texas-based Democratic strategist who asked for anonymity, pointing to the party's poor performances, said, "It can’t get any worse, right. We keep losing by 10 points. We may as well try something different."
Republicans are over the moon at the prospect of Crockett as the Democrats' 2026 Senate nominee.
"I think it says something about who the Democrats are nationally, not just in Texas. What it says is that they've been overrun by this radical left agenda that focuses on rhetoric, not reality," said Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital on Monday.
But Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin isn't buying the GOP messaging that all Democrats are far-left radicals.
"We have conservative Democrats, we have centrist Democrats, we have progressives, and we have leftists. And I've always said that you win elections through addition, not subtraction. You win by bringing people into your coalition and growing your party," Martin told Fox News Digital in a recent interview.
And Martin argued that "unlike the Republicans, who are fairly homogenous, who, you know, basically have one ideology and do not allow for any dissent, the Democratic Party has a lot of different thoughts and ideas which certainly share the same goals, but many different ways to get to those goals."