Texas Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett is taking further steps toward launching a Senate campaign, including spending significant money on polling and meeting with a potential campaign manager.
Crockett told POLITICO’s Dasha Burns in an episode of “The Conversation” that she’s “seriously weighing” a bid to replace GOP Sen. John Cornyn and is commissioning polling to see how she stacks up against a potentially crowded primary field.
“I am seriously weighing it, to the extent that I’m about to spend a lot of money to get data,” she said.
Crockett has raised her profile since first entering Congress in 2023 through memorable and divisive attacks on Republican opponents like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott and President Donald Trump — becoming a frequent target of Trump’s attacks in the process.
But Crockett said elevating her profile with Texas voters is only the first step in mounting a serious statewide campaign.
“I don’t think that we have the luxury, especially with us having such an early primary, of actually doing what we normally do, which — we spend about $100 million to get someone’s name ID up,” she said. “But the way that I look at elections is that that’s just first base.”
Crockett said she’s had “multiple conversations” with someone she’d potentially tap to lead her campaign, without naming them. She said they discussed her chances in a general election against the field of Republicans in the primary, noting that Cornyn would be a stronger challenge than Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt.
“I’m going to be flat out with you and tell you that I don’t think that there’s a Democrat that can take out Cornyn,” she said. “For me, I would be making a very last-minute decision because it’s not just about winning the primary. You gotta win the general.”
If Crockett does jump into the race, she’d join state Rep. James Talarico and former Rep. Colin Allred in the Democratic primary. Former Reps. Beto O’Rourke and Joaquin Castro have also left the door open to Senate bids in a race that Democrats will likely need to win to maintain a chance of regaining control of the Senate.
Crockett said she hopes that “by the time we start spending money” in the race, voters will know enough about her to get behind her brand of politics, which she defined as aggressively fighting for “vulnerable” people.
“We don’t necessarily need all this machismo directed at some of the most vulnerable people. What we need is people that are going to be strong and fight for the most vulnerable amongst us,” she said. “And I think that that is the brand that I have set out for myself, is that I want to fight for the American dream.”