Democrats’ Texas Senate Primary Grows Ugly After Leading Candidate Allegedly Calls Former Opponent a ‘Mediocre Black Man’

The simmering tensions in the Texas Democratic Senate primary are boiling over after one former candidate, Congressman Colin Allred, responded to unverified claims that he was referred to as a “mediocre Black man” by a leading candidate in the race. The other candidate, state representative James Talarico, is raising money hand-over-fist in his long-shot bid to flip the state’s Senate seat blue. The Senate race was expected to be a cordial affair between Messrs. Talarico and Allred, who was the party’s nominee for Senate in 2024. Mr. Allred has since dropped his Senate candidacy and is now running to reclaim his seat in Congress from a fellow Democrat under new maps adopted by Republicans last year. After Mr. Allred dropped his bid, Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett filed to run in the Democratic primary on the last day to register herself as a candidate, leading to fears that the primary could bruise whoever emerges as the general election candidate. Ms. Crockett is well-known across the country for her scathing criticism of her opponents.On Monday, Mr. Allred endorsed Ms. Crockett after responding to allegations that Mr. Talarico had called him a “mediocre Black man.”“Did you ever have a coach, somebody, a leader in your life tell you that when you make an accusation, you often have a bit of confession in it?” Mr. Allred asked in a video posted to X. He went on to criticize Mr. Talarico, a devout Christian and former public school teacher, of using religion to prop himself up as a more virtuous public official. “Maybe you used the word ‘mediocre’ because there was something creeping into your mind about yourself,” Mr. Allred said. “You are not saving religion for the Democratic Party or the left. We already have Senator Reverend Dr. Raphael Warnock,” he said, referring to Georgia’s senator, who served as the senior minister at Ebenezer Baptist Church at Atlanta. “You’re not saying anything unique,” Mr. Allred told Mr. Talarico, urging voters to support Ms. Crockett in the March primary.Mr. Talarico’s office denied any racial undertones to his comments. “In my praise of Congresswoman Crockett, I described Congressman Allred’s method of campaigning as mediocre — but his life and service are not,” the state representative said. “I would never attack him on the basis of race.”The allegation that Mr. Talarico had called Mr. Allred a “mediocre Black man” stems from accusations made by a Texas social media influencer who goes only by the name Morgan. She says that during a private conversation between herself and Mr. Talarico, he lamented that he signed up to run against the “mediocre” Mr. Allred, not the “formidable and intelligent” Ms. Crockett. There is no evidence that Mr. Talarico made the comments besides Morgan’s own claims. In a video, Ms. Morgan says Mr. Talarico called Mr. Allred “mediocre” following a town hall on January 12 in a private conversation, though there is no recording of such comments. Morgan first made the accusation on Sunday, three weeks after her meeting with Mr. Talarico. Democrats have high hopes that the Texas Senate seat may actually be in play this year, given President Trump’s unpopularity with Hispanic voters and recent special election results over the course of the last several months. On Saturday, voters in a deep-red state senate district in the Dallas-Fort Worth area elected a Democrat in a special election. Mr. Trump won that state senate district by 17 points in 2024, though Democrats won it this weekend by a margin of 15 points. What could buoy Democrats even further is the possibility that Senator John Cornyn — a legislator for nearly 25 years — could lose the Republican nomination to the state’s scandal-plagued attorney general, Ken Paxton, who was impeached by the Texas house of representatives and remains deeply unpopular in the state outside of MAGA circles. He was indicted on corruption charges, though they have since been dropped. His own ex-wife, herself a state senator, divorced Mr. Paxton on “biblical grounds.”

Democrats’ Texas Senate Primary Grows Ugly After Leading Candidate Allegedly Calls Former Opponent a ‘Mediocre Black Man’

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