A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
After weeks of speculation, Representative Jasmine Crockett officially launched her U.S. Senate campaign in Dallas yesterday. Crockett has garnered national attention for her outspoken criticism of President Trump. And now she's aiming to do something no Texas Democrat has done since 1994, and that's win a statewide election. Bekah Morr from member station KERA in Dallas reports.
BEKAH MORR, BYLINE: As Jasmine Crockett told supporters at her campaign announcement in south Dallas Monday night, her gloves have been off, but now she's jumping into the ring.
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JASMINE CROCKETT: Because, Texas, this moment we're in now is life or death. It's all or nothing. It's now or never.
MORR: Texas Democrats know that unseating the incumbent Republican John Cornyn won't be easy but think their best chance is with a more polarizing candidate, like Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. He's running against Cornyn in the GOP primary. Paxton is a Trump loyalist with a controversial background. Democratic organizers hope that makes him vulnerable given recent trends, and a candidate Crockett could beat. In last month's election, voters showed strong support for Democratic candidates in typically Republican strongholds. And Crockett's hoping to capitalize on that shift.
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CROCKETT: My message - rooted in slashing costs, making home ownership and entrepreneurship attainable for all, strengthening and growing the middle class - is one that Texas, all of Texas from the panhandle to Port Arthur and from El Paso to east Texas, can believe in.
MORR: And polling shows Crockett may have the best chance of all the Democratic hopefuls. In a recent survey from the University of Houston's Hobby School of Public Affairs, she received the majority support of likely voters in a hypothetical contest against Texas state Representative James Talarico and former Congressman Colin Allred. She'll only face Talarico in the primaries, though. Allred dropped out to avoid a runoff and to maximize the chance of Democrats flipping the seat. But doing so in a reliably red state will be an uphill battle. Crockett urged her supporters not to let that deter them.
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CROCKETT: For most of us, a Republican-controlled Texas is all we've known. But we cannot let that diminish our faith and belief in what can be.
MORR: If Crockett is successful in her Senate bid, she'll be the first Black woman to ever win a statewide election in Texas.
For NPR News, I'm Bekah Morr in Dallas.
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