Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas, a freshman lawmaker better known for viral outbursts than legislative achievements, now finds her current House seat on the chopping block and is attempting to fail upward into a U.S. Senate run.
Her Dallas-area district is being redrawn out of existence, a development that her allies will no doubt frame as punishment for a firebrand who speaks truth to power, even as her public record suggests more theatrics than substance. According to Western Journal, Crocketts brand of politics a blend of social-media grandstanding and progressive sloganeering has made her a darling of the left but a poor fit for the newly configured district, prompting her to seek higher office rather than face likely defeat at home.
Instead of moderating her rhetoric to appeal to a broader Texas electorate, Crockett has doubled down on the persona that made her infamous, not influential. Polls currently show her leading the Democratic primary field for Senate, a symbolic victory that would almost certainly set her up for a bruising loss in a state that has repeatedly rejected hard-left candidates.
Conservatives can be forgiven for seeing her prospective nomination as a political gift, the kind of matchup in which virtually any Republican up to and including cartoon characters, as some wry observers have put it would be favored. The image of election-night anchors solemnly announcing that Daffy Duck who-th nomination the Democrat-th called a de-th-picable th-tunt will beat Rep. Ja-th-mine Crockett by a wide margin captures the degree to which her candidacy is viewed on the right as more spectacle than serious threat.
On the national stage, Crockett remains a marginal figure, a backbencher whose influence on policy is negligible. Yet at the micro level in the world of podcasts, social media clips and partisan infotainment she has become a kind of walking caricature, so convinced of her own historical significance that she often resembles a sitcom character written to parody progressive excess.
That self-regard was on full display in her latest viral moment, a remark that managed to be both grandiose and unintentionally comic. Speaking on the Black Girls Politickin' podcast on Friday, Crockett declared, If I go to sleep, democracy may very well die.
The venue itself underscores how aggressively she is trying to manufacture relevance. The podcast, which had fewer than 500 subscribers after 23 videos as of early Saturday morning, suddenly drew attention not because of its reach or insight, but because Crocketts comments turned the interview into a political rubbernecking event the kind of train wreck people watch out of morbid curiosity rather than genuine interest.
Toward the end of the interview, the host asked Crockett about her willingness to campaign in rural Texas, a region where progressive Democrats typically struggle. Crockett began by referring to herself in the third person There are those that have a perception that Jasmine cannot go into rural areas because they refuse to actually learn about me and ended by suggesting that the fate of American self-government hinges on her ability to juggle her House duties with her Senate campaign.
So, I want to make sure that, like, no part of Texas feels left out, right? she said, in the portion of the video that has drawn the most scrutiny. I also want to show up when I can.
But I still have a full-time job that I was elected to do. And I am still showing up every single day at work while also trying to make sure that Texans know that I am serious about earning their support, she continued. So I am team no-sleep right now. But you know what? Democracy cant wait. And, uh, if I go to sleep, democracy may very well die.
Hearing the full exchange does little to soften the impression of a politician whose ego has far outpaced her rsum. One can almost picture Crockett imagining herself as Atlas, single-handedly holding up the democratic world, pausing only to fire off snarky posts on Instagram and X.
Remarkably, this inflated sense of self may not even be her most revealing admission about why she is running for higher office. Asked previously why she jumped into the Senate race against state Rep. James Talarico, a favorite of the progressive wing, Crockett replied, There was a reason that I entered the race, and it wasnt because of James Talarico. It was because of Jasmine Crockett.
For all the spin that followed, that statement may be the most honest thing she has said about her ambitions, laying bare a campaign driven less by public service than by personal brand-building. Whether she claims she is running because of Jasmine Crockett or insists that if I go to sleep, democracy may very well die, the through line is a level of self-importance that should give voters pause, even as Democratic primary polls still show her in the lead.
For conservatives, the spectacle is both troubling and oddly reassuring: troubling because it reflects a Democratic Party increasingly comfortable elevating performative radicals, reassuring because such candidates tend to fare poorly in a state like Texas that still values common sense over celebrity. If Democrats insist on nominating someone who treats the Senate as a stage and herself as the star, Republicans whether represented by a seasoned statesman or, metaphorically, by Daffy Duck are unlikely to object.
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