The candidates focused on style and tone more than policy differences during their first debate at a labor convention in Georgetown.
Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune via POOL
WASHINGTON – Texas’ Democratic Senate candidates mixed it up in their first debate Saturday, offering competing ideas on what will attract voters and finally end the party’s three-decade losing streak in statewide politics.
During the largely friendly forum, hosted by the Texas AFL-CIO in Georgetown, Texas, U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Dallas and state Rep. James Talarico of Austin trained their sharpest attacks on President Donald Trump and Republican policies.
Both blamed Trump for economic insecurity at home and instability abroad, criticized the administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement and said GOP actions are driving up costs for families.
Crockett said she’s the best one to make that case in the general election because she does the edgy things no political consultant would recommend but are demanded by the unprecedented times.
“This isn’t about games. It’s not about politics as usual. It’s not about who sounds as clean as possible,” she said. “It is about tapping into the rawness of this moment.”
Talarico urged voters to look at his record as a state lawmaker, standing up to the agendas of billionaire donors financing Republican campaigns.
“We will not win this race in November with the same old politics of division,” he said. “Billionaires want us looking left and right at each other, so we’re not looking up at them.”
The contrast reflected a broader party debate this year: whether Democrats win by mobilizing frustrated voters through confrontation or by broadening the electorate through outreach, even as both candidates left the stage unified in their criticism of Republicans.
It was voters’ first opportunity to see them side-by-side ahead of the March 3 primary. The setting also gave them a chance to appeal directly to the Texas AFL-CIO before the union decides its coveted statewide endorsements, which could come as early as Sunday.
Both candidates aligned closely with labor, talking up protections for workers.
Organized labor has long been influential in Democratic campaigns, typically bringing financial and rhetorical support, along with volunteers knocking on doors, making calls and getting supporters to the polls.
The debate revealed little policy differences between Crockett and Talarico. They favor bolstering the Affordable Care Act, curbing Trump’s immigration crackdown and increasing taxes on billionaires.
The Democratic nominee will face the winner of a three-way Republican primary among Sen. John Cornyn, Attorney General Ken Paxton and U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt of Houston.
Samantha Cantrell, regional press secretary for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said before the debate that Crockett and Talarico are out of step with Texas voters as they’re “only interested in fighting and obstructing President Trump.”
Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune via POOL
Among the debate highlights:
Electability
Crockett is known as an unapologetic rhetorical brawler whose sharp takedowns of Republican foes produce viral online clips.
The former public defender and civil rights attorney said her brand of unflinching straight talk will pull alienated Democratic voters off the sidelines.
Asked to explain why her blunt style is the right approach to win statewide, she pointed to polling she said showed her leading among working-class voters, Black men and women.
She said Texans want a nominee “unafraid in the face of what we are facing right now,” including what she described as a president who “believes he’s a king.”
Talarico, a former middle school teacher, has said he can deliver victory by focusing on building a coalition and appealing to disaffected Trump voters.
Asked about his style, Talarico said he’s been fighting at the state level against billionaires pushing for Gov. Greg Abbott’s “private school voucher scam.”
“We need a proven fighter for our schools, for our values, for our constituents in the halls of power in Washington,” he said.
Immigration
Both candidates slammed what they called the administration’s overly aggressive immigration enforcement, saying they support impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
“We absolutely have to clean house, whatever that looks like I am willing to do it,” Crockett said when asked if she supports defunding or abolishing the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
Crockett said ICE isn’t following the law and that by going after U.S. citizens and documented immigrants the agency is overstepping its bounds and “turning us into Nazi Germany.”
“I don’t understand how we are sitting here and acting like this is normal,” she said.
Talarico called ICE “this secret police force” and said it should be replaced with one focused on public safety.
“We should be cracking down on the cartels, not our communities,” he said, adding that agents should be “prosecuting gang members, not small business owners” and “hunting down human traffickers, not moms and babies.”
He said Congress should prosecute agents who have abused their power and haul “these masked men” before Congress so the world can see their faces.
The debate, live streamed by Nexstar Media Group, is available for playback on its local station websites, including CW33 in Dallas. The moderators were Gromer Jeffers Jr., political writer, The Dallas Morning News, and Daniel Marin, anchor, KXAN-TV, Austin.
Joseph Morton covers the intersection of business and politics in the Washington Bureau. Before joining The News, Joseph worked for CQ Roll Call and the Omaha World-Herald. He graduated from the University of Missouri School of Journalism.
This story, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, is reprinted as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News and Texas Metro News. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas.
