Jasmine Crockett Lost the Texas Senate Primary, but Will She Stay in Congress?

After a hotly contested primary, James Talarico beat Jasmine Crockett to become the Democratic Party's nominee for Senate in Texas in 2026. The race was seen as a potential bellwether for the direction of the Democrats moving in the 2026 midterms, with Crockett representing a slightly more progressive, confrontational approach.

The news that Crockett lost the primary also leaves us with some practical questions, though, including whether she'll still be in Congress following this loss. Here's what we know.

Crockett has not said whether she will seek reelection for her seat in Congress, but she did not have to resign that seat to run for the Senate primary. For now, then, she sill continue to serve in Congress, and has already conceded to Talarico in the hopes that he can be the first Democrat in more than 30 years to turn the state blue. The campaign between them was hard fought, and Talarico's popularity grew over the months during which the two campaigned.

“Texas is primed to turn blue and we must remain united because this is bigger than any one person,” she said in a statement on March 4. “This is about the future of all 30 million Texans and getting America back on track. With the primary behind us, Democrats must rally around our nominees and win.”

Crockett left her election night party early, telling supporters that they shouldn't expect final results to come in that night.

Although Talarico emerged as the clear winner in the Democratic primary, the Republican primary is set to go to a runoff between sitting Senator John Cornyn and former Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has been endorsed by Trump.

Talarico has made his Christian faith central to his campaign, attempting to win over more voters in a state where a majority of the population is Christian.

"There is nothing Christian about Christian nationalism. It is the worship of power — social power, economic power, political power — in the name of Christ. And it is a betrayal of Jesus of Nazareth," he said in a 2023 sermon. "Jesus includes, Christian nationalism excludes. Jesus liberates, Christian nationalism controls. Jesus saves, Christian nationalism kills. Jesus started a universal movement based on mutual love; Christian nationalism is a sectarian movement based on mutual hate."

Democrats have been dreaming for some time of turning Texas blue, and thus far have not gotten all that close to achieving that goal. Talarico is a unique candidate who could prove to be uniquely appealing to Texans, and he'll now have two months to campaign while his Republican rivals continue to do battle against one another.

Texas might not go blue this time, but there are many prognosticators who feel like the state has as good a chance of going blue this year as it did in any election held in the state over the last 30 years.