The Democratic primary for a U.S. Senate seat in Texas has been jolted by fresh controversy, one that has revived debates over race, power, and perceived political legitimacy in the Lone Star State and beyond.
The flare-up began on Sunday. A TikToker posted a video in which she says that Democratic Texas state Rep. James Talarico, who’s also a former middle school teacher and a Presbyterian seminarian, remarked during a private conversation in January that he had “signed up to run against a mediocre Black man, not a formidable, intelligent Black woman” — references to former U.S. Rep. Colin Allred of Texas and U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas.
Before he bowed out of the race in December, Allred had been locked in the closely watched contest against Talarico, who’s white. Allred served as the U.S. representative for Texas’s 32nd Congressional District — which covers parts of Dallas — from 2019 to 2025. He exited the race in December, just before Crockett entered.
Whoever triumphs in the March 3 Democratic primary will face the winner of a Republican contest featuring U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt of Texas, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. If Hunt or Crockett were to win in November, they would make history as Texas’ first Black U.S. senator.
The controversy is intensifying fraught questions around Black candidates’ supposed electability in a post-2024 national landscape, according to Ted Johnson, a senior adviser at the think tank New America.
“When Black candidates are [described as] ‘smart’ or ‘articulate’ or ‘well-spoken,’ those kinds of words suggest that there’s a bar for Black excellence and that they [white politicians] get to set where that bar is,” Johnson told Capital B. “It’d be like saying, ‘Well, Crockett would obviously be what W.E.B. Du Bois considered part of the talented tenth, while mediocre Allred wouldn’t make the cut.’”
Sandhya Raghavan, a spokesperson for Allred, condemned the alleged remark in a statement shared with Capital B.
“When a former NFL player, civil rights attorney, and former congressman can be dismissed as ‘mediocre,’ it reveals the impossible standards Black candidates are held to,” she said. “Colin refused to accept that disrespect in silence — and in doing so, he stood up for every Black professional who has had their qualifications unfairly dismissed.”
Talarico’s team released a statement on Monday saying that the TikToker’s claim is a “mischaracterization of a private conversation.”
“I described Congressman Allred’s method of campaigning as mediocre — but his life and service are not,” the statement read. “I would never attack him on the basis of race. As a Black man in America, Congressman Allred has had to work twice as hard to get where he is.”
Capital B was directed to the statement when the campaign was asked for additional comment.
Read on to learn more about how the controversy is unfolding and what it could mean with the primary only weeks away.
What Allred is saying
Following the accusations, Allred threw his support behind Crockett, and addressed the allegation against Talarico in a video posted on Monday.
“Let me just give you some free advice, James,” he said. “If you want to compliment Black women, just do it. Just do it. Don’t do it while also tearing down a Black man.”
Allred also used the video to encourage Black men.
“Let me just say to all the young Black men out there — all the young men that come from tough backgrounds, struggled growing up — who maybe think that someday you want to put yourself forward as a leader in your community,” he added. “Haters like this are gonna show up, OK? And you’re going to feel like you have to be twice as good, and jump twice as high, and talk twice as well. But you don’t have to.”
Key members of the Congressional Black Caucus endorsed Allred’s campaign last year. The backing was widely seen as a crucial show of support in an increasingly competitive race. Those members included U.S. Reps. Yvette Clarke and Gregory Meeks of New York and Joe Neguse of Colorado.
What Crockett is saying
While Crockett thanked Allred for his endorsement, she lamented that the two were being confronted by this controversy at all.
“It’s unfortunate that at the start of Black History Month, this is what we’re facing,” a spokesperson for Crockett said in a statement to ABC News. “In former Congressman Colin Allred’s video, he drew a line in the sand. He made it clear that he did not take allegations of an attack on him as simply another day in the neighborhood.”
A frequent and forceful critic of President Donald Trump, Crockett is no stranger to political flashpoints. She told CNN last year that she was “tired of the white tears” in the administration over diversity, equity, and inclusion measures.
“When you look and you compare me to [former U.S. Rep.] Marjorie Taylor Greene [of Georgia] or me to [U.S. Rep.] Lauren Boebert [of Colorado], there is no comparison. And that is the life that we have always lived,” she said. “The only people that are crying are the mediocre white boys that have been beaten out by people that historically have had to work so much harder.”
Crockett’s team hasn’t responded to Capital B’s request for additional comment.
What the controversy says about electability
In an interview with CNN on Monday, Allred said that he viewed the controversy as extending far beyond his own experience, as he touched on how Black candidates are routinely critiqued in U.S. politics.
“I responded not just on my behalf, but on behalf of Black candidates around the country — that even if you run 6 points ahead of your presidential candidate, you’re still called ‘mediocre,’” he said.
Allred was referring to his 2024 Senate campaign. Though he ultimately lost to U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, he ran about 5 percentage points ahead of former Vice President Kamala Harris statewide.
Scholars have long pointed out that Black candidates are often judged less by measurable performance than by more subjective and controversial notions of electability, a standard they say is both unevenly applied and hard to meet.
“There are many unfair expectations in American politics and in how we talk about Black people, particularly Black women,” Keisha N. Blain, a professor of Africana studies and history at Brown University, told Capital B in 2024.
She added that Harris, the Democratic nominee for president at the time, was “trying to navigate very delicate issues pertaining to race — but also gender.”
Talarico’s alleged comment could reshape a primary split along racial lines. Most Black voters are coalescing behind Crockett, and most white and Latino voters are backing Talarico, according to polling.
Questions of electability also surfaced earlier this year. In January, the co-hosts of the podcast Las Culturistas discouraged their listeners from donating to Crockett’s campaign.
“She’s not going to win a Senate seat in Texas, you guys,” co-host Matt Rogers said. “If Beto O’Rourke couldn’t do it, Jasmine Crockett is not going to do it.”
Co-host Bowen Yang signaled his agreement with Rogers.
They were quickly met with backlash, as some said that the remarks were, at best, dismissive and, at worst, racist. The co-hosts later apologized. While some have criticized Crockett’s bolder, more confrontational approach to politics, others have previously told Capital B that they firmly embrace her style, seeing it as a sign that someone “means business.”
Trump’s unpopularity — underscored by the recent defeat of a candidate he endorsed in a special election for a Texas Senate seat by a 14-point margin — has prompted Democrats to seriously vie for seats in traditionally red states.