What? Not Republicans pounce™? No seizing? No mention of dastardly GOP tricks?
I hear you gasp in disbelief, and I share your pain amusement. But in this case, the Washington Post focuses mainly on the real problem, which is a state party that seems to believe it's in California rather than Texas. Here's the headline, in case an editor figures out a way to blame the GOP later today:
They're not wrong, except in scope, which we'll look at in a moment. The WaPo assessment correctly focuses on the political ouroboros currently taking place as House Democrats play musical chairs with fewer seats:
Democrats saw a potential opportunity in flipping Texas earlier this year — a state that has eluded them for more than 30 years. But now they are eating each other alive.
I told you this was a feel-good story!
All of these head-spinning shifts are leading to what could be some of the most interesting primary fights next year. The Crockett-Talarico primary will pit two of the party’s most famous and popular influencers against each other in one of the biggest and most expensive states in the country. Texas Democrats have agonized for months over who would take on the near-quixotic task of breaking their party’s drought, and the latest swap with Crockett for Allred came as a shock across the party.
Meanwhile, Allred’s House run sets up a competitive primary fight against Rep. Julie Johnson (D), who succeeded Allred in Congress after his failed Senate run and thought she would have that seat for years. It’s the latest intraparty fight to have popped up since Democrats were lumped together under Texas’s new congressional map.
Democrats had seen an opportunity to win a surprise Senate election this cycle, thanks largely to potential disillusionment with Donald Trump and a nasty GOP primary fight between incumbent John Cornyn and MAGA favorite Ken Paxton, Texas' Attorney General. Had Democrats chosen someone with true centrist credentials and appeal to moderate Republicans, Democrats might have been able to take advantage of a fractured Texas GOP after the bruising Cornyn-Paxton primary concludes in March. It wouldn't have been a big opportunity, but even Robert Francis O'Rourke managed to come within four points of Ted Cruz in 2018 in a Democrat wave midterm.
Instead, one can almost hear the head shakes as WaPo reporters note the missed opportunity:
But Crockett’s late entry to the race has led to concern that the Democrats are wasting the opportunity. She can rile up the Democratic base and score points with resistance-aligned liberals. But she has never won a competitive general election. She regularly antagonizes Republicans with attacks that conservatives and many moderates find below the belt, including calling Gov. Greg Abbott (R), who uses a wheelchair, “governor Hot Wheels.”
That's not even the worst clip that will follow Texas Dems on the campaign trail. Crockett's attack on Byron Donalds for his interracial message will play very well in a state where interracial marriage is common:
As I wrote when Crockett first launched her trial balloon for the Senate race:
Bear in mind that Democrats nominated a black woman married to a white man as their presidential candidate a month later. Also, how many interracial marriages might there be in Texas? A lot. That's where the math around 30 million people comes into play.
Give the WaPo credit for addressing this honestly. There is not one use of pounce or seize in the entire article. The article only makes two passing references to the redistricting in Texas that forced these changes, both of which come in addressing other topics. However, the article assumes that this is strictly a Lone Star State phenomenon. Axios understands that the scope of this ouroboros is actually much larger, and much more organized by the progressive Left:
Hours after former NFL star Colin Allred quit the Texas Senate race Monday, rabble-rousing Rep. Jasmine Crockett jumped in — the latest sign that Democrats are facing a Tea Party-style revolt by progressives.
Why it matters: Senate Democratic leaders this year have tried to tip the scales in favor of their favorite 2026 candidates in several states — but they've lost some power as much of the party's base has turned on them in President Trump's second term.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee "probably could have tried to keep Crockett out" if they "were strong," a national Democratic strategist told Axios.
"But they're not. They're the weakest they've ever been."
This is the downside of the Schumer Shutdown. Chuck Schumer gambled and lost, gaining nothing out of the game of legislative chicken except an empty promise on a vote that would have taken place anyway. The media has tried to claim that Democrats won the shutdown, but their leadership's credibility evaporated amongst its base while not gaining a single substantive concession from Trump. Now their activists are in open revolt, ready to repeat the populist excesses of the Tea Party without any of its intellectual rigor or focus. It's not just in Texas either, but in states where Democrats might otherwise have better chances of winning otherwise – Ohio, Michigan, Maine, and Iowa, among others.
That's nationwide disarray, not just in Texas. And Democrats have earned every bit of the chaos they have unleashed upon themselves.
Editor’s Note: The Democrat Party has never been less popular as voters reject its globalist agenda.
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