Why the panic over Crockett is premature—and misses the bigger picture

This past Monday, Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett dropped a political bombshell, entering the Senate primary, prompting one fellow Democrat to bow out and jolting both the electorate and the state’s political establishment.

Even in progressive circles, the critiques of her came quickly. Her launch video—focused almost entirely on her disdain for President Donald Trump—was dismissed by some as a self-indulgent introduction that offered little sense of what she’d do for Texans in the Senate.

The instinct to panic is familiar. In a state like Texas, where Democrats haven’t won statewide since 1994, “electability” becomes a kind of religion. And Crockett is no sure bet. Though polling is sparse, one new survey from Texas Southern University puts her 8 percentage points ahead of fellow Democrat J