Trump foil Jasmine Crockett launches Senate campaign in crucial 2026 showdown

Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas, a progressive activist and outspoken critic of the president Donald Trump Republicans have filed papers to run for the US Senate, according to a party spokesman.

A Texas Democratic Party spokesperson confirmed to Fox News Digital on Monday that Crockett has filed paperwork to run for Senate. She is expected to officially launch her campaign in the Senate on Monday evening in a race that could determine whether the GOP holds a majority in the chamber next year.

Crockett’s campaign announcement, which had been expected, is likely to generate more interest and intense competition Racing in Texaswhich includes, on the Republican side, incumbent Senator John Cornyn and GOP primary rivals State Attorney General Ken Paxton and Representative Wesley Hunt.

The official announcement from the rising Democratic star, who has a large social media footprint and currently represents a district in Dallas, will come hours after one of two Democrats already running for Senate in 2026 abandoned his bid.

The former NFL star drops Senate bid as Jasmine Crockett closes in on major announcement

Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a two-term Democratic Texas House member, on Monday launched her 2026 campaign for U.S. Senate. (Getty Images)

Former MP. Colin AllredHe, who was making his second straight bid for Senate in the right-leaning state of Texas, ended his campaign on Monday morning and instead launched a campaign for Congress as he seeks to return to the House of Representatives.

But Democratic state Rep. James Tallarico, a former middle school teacher and Presbyterian seminarian who is also seen as a rising star in the Democratic Party, remains in the Senate primary, setting up a showdown between two rising contenders with massive fundraising.

Tallarico responded to Crockett’s entry into the race by saying: “We are building a movement in Texas – fueled by record grassroots fundraising and 10,000 volunteers working to defeat the big billionaire donors and puppet politicians who have taken over our state. Our movement is rooted in unity rather than division – so we welcome Congressman Crockett to this race.”

Crockett held an event to announce her decision about 90 minutes before the deadline on the last day for candidates to file for the state’s March 3 primary.

Crockett had teased a potential bid for weeks, and was commissioned to conduct the survey to make her case for a job Run the Senate In Texas, where no Democrat has won a statewide election in more than three decades.

Former Democratic Rep. Colin Allred of Texas announced Monday that he will abandon his 2026 U.S. Senate bid and will instead run to return to the House. (Reuters/Marco Bello)

Allred, who was making his second consecutive bid for the Senate after losing to conservatives Senator Ted Cruz By about 9 points last year, he said in a statement that he did not want to contribute to anything that would scupper Democrats’ hopes of flipping the GOP-controlled Senate seat in next year’s elections.

“In the past few days, I have come to believe that the bruising Democratic primaries and Senate runoffs will prevent the Democratic Party from fighting this crucial election united against the danger that Donald Trump and one of the Republican shoe-lickers Paxton, Cornyn, or Hunt pose to our communities and our Constitution,” Allred wrote.

by Out of the raceAllred would likely allow Democrats to avoid a costly and chaotic primary runoff in the spring, giving the party more time to rally around their nominee and raise much-needed campaign money.

On the other hand, with Cornyn, Paxton, and Hunt targeting each other in a potentially combustible primary, the GOP nomination could head toward a runoff, which could trigger if no candidate receives 50% of the vote in the primary.

Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas faces GOP primary challenges from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt, as the longtime senator seeks re-election in 2026. (Kevin Deitch/Getty)

Crockett, 44, who is black, is a former state representative and civil rights attorney. She won her seat in 2022 after Democratic Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, who was retiring, chose her as his successor in Congress.

Crockett, who won reelection last year, has become one of the country’s most popular Democratic politicians over the past two years, thanks to her widespread criticism of Republicans and her social media tirade with Trump, who has repeatedly questioned her intelligence. She made plenty of headlines during her time on the House Oversight Committee.

CROCKET is spending a staggering amount of campaign money on this

While her Senate run will likely interest many Democrats, thanks to her energy and proven fundraising ability, her frequent pushback against GOP politicians may energize Republicans.

Among her biggest blunders was calling Abbott, who is partially paralyzed and uses a wheelchair, “Gov. Hot Wheels.”

Crockett has also compared Trump to Adolf Hitler on multiple occasions while accusing aspects of the Republican Party of fascism.

I was specifically nominated for membership in the ranking of House Oversight Committee Earlier this year following the death of her former top Democrat, the late Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., she dropped out of the race after failing to win a leadership endorsement within her party.

But the Dallas-area Democrat has won plaudits from some party leaders, like former Vice President Kamala Harris, who revealed in her memoir “107 Days” that she supervised Crockett as part of her secret “star project” while in office.

Crockett spoke at the Democratic National Convention last year when Harris was selected as the party’s presidential nominee, a notable milestone for someone who was then a first-term House representative.

A big win for Trump and the Republican Party, as the Supreme Court gave the green light to a new congressional map in Texas

She was also facing some tough decisions in her House race after Texas’ new GOP-led congressional map appeared to take her home out of her current district.

The deadline for submitting applications came on Monday, a few days after the decision was issued supreme court He supported the state’s congressional redistricting, which was passed by the GOP-dominated Texas Legislature and signed into law by longtime Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. The new map creates five more right-leaning House districts in the Lone Star State, a key part of Trump’s aggressive national campaign to reshape congressional districts ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, when the GOP will defend its razor-thin House majority.

Democratic State Rep. James Tallarico of Texas in September launched his 2026 campaign for U.S. Senate. (Mark Felix/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Crockett’s entry into the Senate race, and her showdown with Tallarico, could shift the spotlight away from the GOP primary, where Cornyn, a longtime incumbent who hails from the establishment wing of the party, has cut into a significant lead by Paxton, one of the most prominent MAGA leaders, with Hunt in third place.

The concern among Republicans is that Paxton, who over the past decade has been hit by a series of scandals and legal troubles and is now dealing with a messy divorce, might compete for the seat if he wins the Republican nomination.

But Crockett’s run for Senate could change the political equation.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, seen during the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Tuesday, July 16, 2024, is running for U.S. Senate in 2026. (Hannah Beier/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

While her aggressive response against Trump and the Republican Party should resonate with the left, it may reduce her chances of winning next November among Texas general election voters.

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The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the GOP’s Senate campaign arm, last summer funded the costs of a Texas Democratic Party poll that showed Crockett as the favorite by double digits. The publicly released poll appears to have been conducted to encourage Crockett to enter the race, with the GOP assuming she would be more likely to beat Allred or Tallarico.

“Jasmine Crockett leading her primary is the latest sign that the Democratic Party is run by extreme leftists,” NRSC Communications Director Joanna Gonzalez charged in a statement to Fox News Digital after Crockett’s announcement.

Delaney Bomar, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, also chimed in, telling Fox News Digital that “Jasmine Crockett’s shenanigans are an embarrassment to Texas. Everything is bigger in Texas — except for her ability to win this race.”