A Texas voter’s tearful admission that she didn’t vote for Jasmine Crockett in the upcoming Texas U.S. Senate primary election because she didn’t think the fiery U.S. congresswoman could win in the general election against the Republican nominee has gone viral.
“We need a fighter. And I was so ready to vote for Jasmine Crockett, because I love her, but I voted for Talarico because we need somebody who can win,” said Sonya Bernhardt, a Houston voter who cast her early ballot ahead of the March 3 primary contest between Crockett and Texas State Rep. James Talarico.
Bernhardt explained that she loved Crockett’s fiery style as a politician and her ability to go toe-to-toe with Republicans, particularly in committee hearings on Capitol Hill. She told CNN, “That was one of the most difficult votes I’ve ever voted in my entire life.”
Bernhardt’s admission enraged Crockett’s supporters online, who called out what they saw as a continued issue of white women voting against their own interests and the prevailing bias against female candidates and candidates of color.
“The question that she’s posing that we’ve seen throughout the course of this primary is the question around electability, and how electability is being framed, potentially through a racial lens, but also through a political lens,” said Jamarr Brown, a Democratic strategist and former executive director of the Texas Democratic Party. “I think that some of them are looking at race of the candidate, gender of the candidate, and then also maybe some of her records.”
He told theGrio that Crockett’s reputation for “fighting Republicans in Congress” is likely causing some Texas voters to think Crockett “may not be able to appeal” to more moderate or disgruntled Republicans who are “suffering at the hands of the Trump administration.”
However, Brown noted that, contrary to some beliefs, a Democrat pulling out a win in a traditionally Republican state like Texas doesn’t have to rely solely on conservative voters, or even white Democratic voters like Sonya.
“White Democrats vote the lowest among any constituency in the party,” he told theGrio. “You have to look at Independents and whether they will cross over for either Democratic candidate? And I think they will, but it depends on who it is.”
Ultimately, Brown said the pathway to victory for any Democrat in the general election will rely on the party’s base, which includes Black, Hispanic AAPI voters and young voters.
In a state with the highest population of Black Americans in the country, the Texas operative explained, “I think that we’ve got to bank on working in a Democratic Party that is deepening their base and deepening their bench with a strong coordinated campaign.”
In an interview with theGrio, Jasmine Crockett expressed frustration with critics who question her electability simply because she is a Black woman.
“We know that the most loyal voting bloc, when it comes to Democrats, no matter what part of the country you look at, is actually Black women. And it is all good for us to labor…we allow this party continue to say, yes, yes, yes, we need Black women, go ahead and pull up [but] we’re not even going to focus on spending our dollars to you, because we know y’all are gonna hold it down,” said Crockett. “No one is looking at the credentials. Like, holler at me and say that you have an issue as relates to my credentials.”
