(DCNF)—Democratic Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett filed to run for U.S. Senate on Monday, shaking up the crowded race to unseat Republican Texas Sen. John Cornyn.
Crockett, a left-wing firebrand who is one of President Donald Trump’s loudest critics in Congress, is expected to announce her candidacy in an event touted as a “special announcement” later on Monday. Crockett’s entry into the race comes after several months of teasing a Senate run during which she repeatedly stated she would launch a bid if polling showed a path to victory.
Crockett’s paperwork filing was immediately preceded by Democratic Senate candidate Colin Allred suspending his campaign on Monday morning. Crockett and Allred are both black Dallas-based Democrats who would have likely competed for the same minority coalition of voters to capture the party’s nomination.
Allred’s exit to run for a Dallas-area House seat will give Crockett an easier path to the nomination, though she will still have to overcome a primary challenge from Texas state legislator James Talarico, who is widely regarded as a Democratic rising star.
Crockett called Talarico and Allred to discuss internal polling last week, the Dallas Morning News first reported.
“The numbers say what I’ve said publicly: they say I can win,” Crockett told the outlet.
Crockett has not publicly released her internal polling nor shared it with any news outlet.
Crockett’s entry into the primary contest could increase the likelihood the March 3 primary advances to a run-off election. In Texas elections for federal office, the top vote-getter must notch at least 50% of the vote to avoid a run-off.
The three-way Republican primary race between Cornyn, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt is also likely heading to a run-off election slated for May.
Crockett, 44, appears to be betting that her combative personality will translate to strong fundraising numbers and backing from an energized base, who are urging elected Democrats to show more fight against Trump’s policy agenda.
Crockett has regularly sparked controversy in her two terms serving her Dallas-based district in the House of Representatives, which Republicans are likely to spotlight in attack ads.
The Texas Democrat has refused to retract her false claim that Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin, who previously served in the House, received a campaign contribution from deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“I have no amendments,” Crockett told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins before repeating her defense that she did not have enough time to verify which Epstein made the contributions.
“I had maybe 20 minutes. We researched the FEC [Federal Election Commission] and, because I like to speak with specificity — that’s kind of what comes with being an attorney — I made clear that there was a Jeffrey Epstein,” Crockett said.
Crockett also referred to Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbot as “Governor Hot Wheels” during a March speech in Los Angeles. Abbot has used a wheelchair since an accident in 1984 left him partially paralyzed.
The left-wing firebrand also characterized Trump supporters as mentally ill in June.
Crockett has trounced her Democratic primary competition in polling for months despite having no experience running statewide.
The Daily Caller News Foundation reported exclusively on the first survey of a hypothetical primary field showing Crockett would lead the competition if she entered the race.
The July survey, conducted by Senate Republicans’ campaign arm, went viral on social media with many national Republicans urging Crockett to run. Though Crockett is likely to perform well in a Democratic primary, she could struggle appealing to moderate Democrats and independent voters in a general election.
Crockett was drawn out of her current House seat during Texas’ Republican-led mid-decade redistricting, which the Supreme Court on Thursday allowed to stand for the midterms. Texas’ new GOP-friendly House map decreased the amount of heavily Democratic seats in the Dallas-Fort Worth area from three to two.
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