Texas Dem Senate primary fractures over race rhetoric as ‘mediocre’ jab, ‘oppressor’ remarks ignite backlash
Heated racial rhetoric in Texas is flaring this primary season, as Democratic contenders lean into identity-focused messaging that Republicans say is divisive and a clinic in "wokeness at its worst."
Texas Democrats are heading into primary season with an intraparty fight that is increasingly spilling into race and identity. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who is running for the Senate, has suggested racism would be to blame if she loses, while former Rep. Colin Allred accused Crockett rival and Austin state Rep. James Talarico of calling him "a mediocre Black man" in a political spat affecting races in the Senate and House.
"These disgusting comments are wokeness at its worst and the silence is deafening from Democrats," RNC spokesman Zach Kraft said of the recent rhetoric out of Texas in recent months.
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Crockett, who is running for the Senate to replace Republican Sen. John Cornyn, offered a fiery response.
"You think I didn't know I was a black woman when I woke up and decided that I was going to run for the U.S. Senate? You think I didn't factor in and make sure we had enough room to account for that?"
Racially focused flare-ups have broken out in recent weeks as Democrats eye high-profile races and try to energize blue voters in the red state.
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"Look no further than the Senate primary to see how the woke mind virus has spread like wildfire among the ranks of Texas Democrats. James Talarico spent last week apologizing for his ‘white privilege,’ and Jasmine Crockett is taking a page out of Kamala Harris' playbook by preemptively blaming racism and sexism for why she will lose," Kraft told Fox News Digital.
Just this month, Texas Democratic state Rep. Gene Wu, the minority leader of the Texas House, drew backlash over a resurfaced clip from a 2024 interview in which he described white Americans as "oppressors" of "non-whites."
"That there is a sense of, ‘America really just belongs to White people,’ that this was that a lot of people believe that God gave America to White people to rule, and that any time that immigrants, minorities make progress in this country, that that is seen as a slight against them," Wu, of Houston, said in 2024 on "Define American" podcast with Antonio Vargas.
Wu, who was born in Guangzhou, China, added that Latinos, Asians and Black Americans — "everybody" — are kept divided because powerful forces have spent time and money ensuring they do not unite. Instead, he argued, those groups are pushed to see each other as rivals even though they share the same oppressor, and he claimed the oppression "comes from one place."
"I always tell people the day the Latino, African-American, Asian and other communities realize that they are — that they share the same oppressor is the day we start winning, because we are the majority in this country now," he continued. "We have the ability to take over this country and to do what is needed for everyone and to make things fair."
The clip set off swift condemnation from Texans as it circulated online, including Republican Sen. Ted Cruz saying, "The Democrat party is built on bigotry."
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Allred recently told former DNC chairman Jaime Harrison of South Carolina on his podcast that Talarico made another disparaging comment about him in private while the former Tennessee Titans linebacker was still a candidate in the Senate race.
Allred has since dropped out and is seeking a newly drawn 33rd Congressional District near Dallas. The current 33rd District in the Metroplex is represented by Democratic Rep. Marc Veasey.
"He's said some things to me that I don't like. He said to me before he got into the race that he thought that he would be a better candidate because he doesn't have a family, and that… he could spend more time campaigning," Allred said.
"As you know, Jaime, like I didn't know my dad, so I'm like all about being a father to my two boys, right? I was like, no, no, no, I run because of my family."
A TikTok influencer named Morgan Thompson originally claimed Allred made the "mediocre Black man" comments, recounting the conversation from a Talarico rally in Plano.
"James Talarico told me that he signed up to run against a mediocre Black man, not a formidable and intelligent Black woman," Thompson said, adding she now supports Crockett.
Talarico released a statement soon after calling the situation a "mischaracterization of a private conversation" and said he was talking about Allred’s "method of campaigning," not his life.
"I would never attack him on the basis of race," Talarico said. "As a Black man in America, Congressman Allred has had to work twice as hard to get where he is. I understand how my critique of the Congressman’s campaign could be interpreted given this country’s painful legacy of racism, and I care deeply about the impact my words have on others," Talarico said, according to the Texas Tribune.
Talarico recently announced that he raised $7.4 million in the first six weeks of the quarter in his contest against Crockett.
He did not respond to a request for comment. Crockett’s campaign also did not respond to an inquiry left in its campaign inbox, which is separate from her official congressional office due to the Hatch Act.
Fox News Digital’s Marc Tamasco contributed to this report.