I think Crockett’s fortunes were hampered by the fact that she didn’t really have a plan for winning over voters who are not part of the Dem base, and even in a Dem primary that’s just not enough in Texas. Talarico did far better with Hispanics (can’t win without over performing that demo) and white voters. Both candidates had nearly indistinguishable policy stances so it wasn’t really “Left vs Center” (interestingly I can say the same about Fetterman vs Lamb—style, not substance). Crockett might have done better if she entered the primary earlier, spent time presenting herself to the state’s primary voters (most have no idea who she is—they don’t follow her viral bits like we political junkies do), and made her pitch “here’s how I’m going to fight Trump’s outrageous shit and fight for you normal people”.
And the LAST thing you ever want to do is say the people opposing you are doing it because of your race/sex. Sounds weak, sounds whiny, and voters hate when you imply that not to vote for you makes them bigots. Even if you think it does.
These are all excellent points. Also, too, Talarico campaigned hard for months before Crockett entered the election. As exciting as it is when a deep closer wins the race, most of the time the winner is, if not the frontrunner, at least in contention by the quarter poll. It's like Porter crying about Schiff, and the Bernard Brothers complaining about Clinton. It's not a conspiracy, the winner was better prepared. Which, it should go without saying, is an important leadership quality you would want in a politician.
"Jasmine Crockett is extremely strong within a particular lane of the Democratic electorate, especially younger voters, highly online progressives, and urban Black voters who appreciate her combative style and willingness to publicly challenge Republicans. Those qualities have made her a powerful communicator and quickly elevated her to national prominence. But national visibility and coalition building are not the same thing.
In Texas politics especially, successful candidates often have to build bridges across multiple blocs: older Black church voters, Latino communities, suburban moderates, organized labor, and Democratic donors who tend to be more cautious about political messaging. When a candidate becomes strongly identified with a single ideological lane, expanding that coalition becomes much harder."
Now I am going to state my uninformed opinion. I don't think there was anything wrong with Crockett. She got a later start. And I've been seeing Talarico videos in my social media feed for a while. The guy is a good speaker as I would expect of someone who was going to make his career public speaking. Like a particularly good preacher, he made you feel like we could do better, while pointing out the ways we had failed. It wasn't condemnation as much as "come on, you're better than that."
And he got a publicity boost from the whole CBS/Colbert thing.
I've liked the guy because he speaks Christianese and hopefully can communicate to some of the White Evangelicals out there that they can stop being assholes without betraying their faith.
As for Crockett, I think she should stay in the public eye. Whether that is in media, social media, or a different political position.
Someone needs to try and take out the odious Cruz.
Meh, while I am fine with Talarico, it hasn't been lost on me that people online keep yelling at Democrats, "Fight, fight," "Meet the moment" and then the voters are like, "no," in non-safe districts. Online they're like "We want pit fighters yeah! And they need to say the Pretty Words What Democrats Like too!"
And it really is only Dems that have to have gravitas. Good ol' Murc's Law! There is no way the numerous out-and-out cranks and neer-do-wells in the Republican Party even approach that...especially when you consider the 88-ring circus that is Maladministration 2.0.
For example, Coach Shouty is leading a committee. The man doesn't do a single thing for his district. It's all a bunch of people there to gum up the works so their unreconstructed state-based regimes of terror can wild out.
But hey we'll see if Talarico has got it this fall as long as people make sure they're ready to do the thing.
I agree about the “fight!” thing and think if Crockett had stuck with that as her theme, started earlier, and used that theme in selling it to those outside the base, she might have won. My concern about Talarico is he might try the Buttigieg approach of being nice and genial but not willing to go for the kill (yes, TX voted for Trump but you can appeal to voters with buyers remorse with a “he betrayed your trust” pitch).
Crockett at this point could cross the state rallying the base and attacking Trump/Paxton and drawing their fire. If Talarico wins and she’s credited for helping him she might be a contender for the next statewide race.
But she’s got to tell the “she lost because Democrats are too bigoted to nominate her” crowd to sit down.
I hope she can. I am confident though that Jasmine Crockett knows the assignment and, like Stacey Abrams will still try to help Democrats even though in the end they didn't want to elevate either to higher office.
Can't really upvote this enough. Scream for fighters, vote for coalition builders. What about Murphy? At least he's a white man, right? Obama was a spirited speaker benefiting from a Dow under 10k and Hillary hate. I liked Obama as a speaker, a man, not so much as President.
Barack Obama honestly transformed my life, and that's all in the context of the Herculean effort it took to get the ACA. Until a lot of Americans understand that "racism is the reason for the season" we're not going to be able to get around or understand the existential fight we have against conservatism in the United States.
To wit: Conservatism in the USA is firmly rooted that government spending is excessive because of minorities (chiefly among them Black people) and thus it must be suppressed. This is of course orthogonal to their belief that the liberation of women is done at the expense of men and destroys society.
Accordingly Democrats (especially Black Democrats) operate in a particularly tiny space of acceptability and structural changes have to be done incrementally.
And we have to consider the number of people who believe that Obama stole their money to give to Black people as reparations via the ACA. That is one reason when people refer to the ACA as Obamacare many of the racists hate it, but when it's referred by their state's branding they're loving it.
I've rambled a lot but in my own personal book Barack Obama was a great president, and Biden did even better but alas, it was never meant to be. And nobody wanted to continue moving the ball forward.
I am definitely an island when it comes to my political beliefs (especially in online lefty spaces) and I have come to peace with that.
Being that guy has worked for trump (why, I will never know), but he always has been given the benefit of the doubt (why, I will never know) by too many Americans. That seems to be wearing off, although for a brief moment after J6, the blinders were off, but too soon, they were back on (once again, why, I will never know). What may be different this time is that he's surrounded himself with "yes" people who only care about memes, going viral, and kissing his ass. They are all evil and stupid, which is a toxic brew. In his first term, there were a few people in his administration with gravitas, but he made sure that there was none of that in his second.
I like Crockett and think that she would have made a great senator, but you make a great point about being a firebrand to go viral versus having gravitas to govern well. Being an internet sensation doesn't mean that someone won't be serious about governing, but there should be substance to back it up. AOC has gotten in some zingers, but they are more pointed and specific to the person and/or situation. Crockett has voted the right way on issues, which is why she would have been a good senator. Her zingers don't turn me off, but I can see why they would turn off others, who actually agree with her on most issues.
I actually liked a lot of her zingers (usually when she’s taking down a GOP vote on some shit). Had she started early and covered all demos in the state using the “read some Trump policy fir filth” tactic (and yes, draw the contrast with normie Dem policy she supports) she might have pulled it off.
Talarico seems like a good guy and it’s time Democrats made a serious nonapologetic play for Christian votes (not the BS “I claim to be Christian just to make Jews uncomfortable” types on the Right), but I hope he’s got the fight in him. Texas Republicans are a special kind of scum.
This is exactly why I exhort the Internet faves like AOC to get in the ring and actually go statewide, not just in safe districts. Because I want to see exactly what the electorate does. And I want to see how the Internet faves deal with non-friendly areas. We get people yelling about Schumer all the time online. Yet nobody, not a single Internet fave in fact...is even trying to challenge him (you have to declare early). And the same with Gillibrand, who to this day suffers from people sore at her (and only her) about her following her principles vis-a-vis Al Franken.
I think Crockett’s fortunes were hampered by the fact that she didn’t really have a plan for winning over voters who are not part of the Dem base, and even in a Dem primary that’s just not enough in Texas. Talarico did far better with Hispanics (can’t win without over performing that demo) and white voters. Both candidates had nearly indistinguishable policy stances so it wasn’t really “Left vs Center” (interestingly I can say the same about Fetterman vs Lamb—style, not substance). Crockett might have done better if she entered the primary earlier, spent time presenting herself to the state’s primary voters (most have no idea who she is—they don’t follow her viral bits like we political junkies do), and made her pitch “here’s how I’m going to fight Trump’s outrageous shit and fight for you normal people”.
And the LAST thing you ever want to do is say the people opposing you are doing it because of your race/sex. Sounds weak, sounds whiny, and voters hate when you imply that not to vote for you makes them bigots. Even if you think it does.
These are all excellent points. Also, too, Talarico campaigned hard for months before Crockett entered the election. As exciting as it is when a deep closer wins the race, most of the time the winner is, if not the frontrunner, at least in contention by the quarter poll. It's like Porter crying about Schiff, and the Bernard Brothers complaining about Clinton. It's not a conspiracy, the winner was better prepared. Which, it should go without saying, is an important leadership quality you would want in a politician.
Dr Stacey Patton did a deep dive on Crockett's loss, and it touches on some of SER's points:
https://drstaceypatton1865.substack.com/p/blaming-misogyny-for-jasmine-crocketts
"Jasmine Crockett is extremely strong within a particular lane of the Democratic electorate, especially younger voters, highly online progressives, and urban Black voters who appreciate her combative style and willingness to publicly challenge Republicans. Those qualities have made her a powerful communicator and quickly elevated her to national prominence. But national visibility and coalition building are not the same thing.
In Texas politics especially, successful candidates often have to build bridges across multiple blocs: older Black church voters, Latino communities, suburban moderates, organized labor, and Democratic donors who tend to be more cautious about political messaging. When a candidate becomes strongly identified with a single ideological lane, expanding that coalition becomes much harder."
Read the whole thing, it's worth it.
I'm not in Texas and I don't know Texas politics.
Now I am going to state my uninformed opinion. I don't think there was anything wrong with Crockett. She got a later start. And I've been seeing Talarico videos in my social media feed for a while. The guy is a good speaker as I would expect of someone who was going to make his career public speaking. Like a particularly good preacher, he made you feel like we could do better, while pointing out the ways we had failed. It wasn't condemnation as much as "come on, you're better than that."
And he got a publicity boost from the whole CBS/Colbert thing.
I've liked the guy because he speaks Christianese and hopefully can communicate to some of the White Evangelicals out there that they can stop being assholes without betraying their faith.
As for Crockett, I think she should stay in the public eye. Whether that is in media, social media, or a different political position.
Someone needs to try and take out the odious Cruz.
White evangelicals have already betrayed their faith by supporting trump.
This helps clarify my thinking and understanding of important issues that are also meaningful to me. Thank you.
Meh, while I am fine with Talarico, it hasn't been lost on me that people online keep yelling at Democrats, "Fight, fight," "Meet the moment" and then the voters are like, "no," in non-safe districts. Online they're like "We want pit fighters yeah! And they need to say the Pretty Words What Democrats Like too!"
And it really is only Dems that have to have gravitas. Good ol' Murc's Law! There is no way the numerous out-and-out cranks and neer-do-wells in the Republican Party even approach that...especially when you consider the 88-ring circus that is Maladministration 2.0.
For example, Coach Shouty is leading a committee. The man doesn't do a single thing for his district. It's all a bunch of people there to gum up the works so their unreconstructed state-based regimes of terror can wild out.
But hey we'll see if Talarico has got it this fall as long as people make sure they're ready to do the thing.
I agree about the “fight!” thing and think if Crockett had stuck with that as her theme, started earlier, and used that theme in selling it to those outside the base, she might have won. My concern about Talarico is he might try the Buttigieg approach of being nice and genial but not willing to go for the kill (yes, TX voted for Trump but you can appeal to voters with buyers remorse with a “he betrayed your trust” pitch).
Crockett at this point could cross the state rallying the base and attacking Trump/Paxton and drawing their fire. If Talarico wins and she’s credited for helping him she might be a contender for the next statewide race.
But she’s got to tell the “she lost because Democrats are too bigoted to nominate her” crowd to sit down.
I hope she can. I am confident though that Jasmine Crockett knows the assignment and, like Stacey Abrams will still try to help Democrats even though in the end they didn't want to elevate either to higher office.
Can't really upvote this enough. Scream for fighters, vote for coalition builders. What about Murphy? At least he's a white man, right? Obama was a spirited speaker benefiting from a Dow under 10k and Hillary hate. I liked Obama as a speaker, a man, not so much as President.
Barack Obama honestly transformed my life, and that's all in the context of the Herculean effort it took to get the ACA. Until a lot of Americans understand that "racism is the reason for the season" we're not going to be able to get around or understand the existential fight we have against conservatism in the United States.
To wit: Conservatism in the USA is firmly rooted that government spending is excessive because of minorities (chiefly among them Black people) and thus it must be suppressed. This is of course orthogonal to their belief that the liberation of women is done at the expense of men and destroys society.
Accordingly Democrats (especially Black Democrats) operate in a particularly tiny space of acceptability and structural changes have to be done incrementally.
And we have to consider the number of people who believe that Obama stole their money to give to Black people as reparations via the ACA. That is one reason when people refer to the ACA as Obamacare many of the racists hate it, but when it's referred by their state's branding they're loving it.
I've rambled a lot but in my own personal book Barack Obama was a great president, and Biden did even better but alas, it was never meant to be. And nobody wanted to continue moving the ball forward.
I am definitely an island when it comes to my political beliefs (especially in online lefty spaces) and I have come to peace with that.
Well, for a lot of reasons I agree with you on that, but I'm also willing to concede he was often shoveling shite against the tide.
I'll give you that.
Eli5 why anyone who voted for Israel funding should win a Democratic primary
Being that guy has worked for trump (why, I will never know), but he always has been given the benefit of the doubt (why, I will never know) by too many Americans. That seems to be wearing off, although for a brief moment after J6, the blinders were off, but too soon, they were back on (once again, why, I will never know). What may be different this time is that he's surrounded himself with "yes" people who only care about memes, going viral, and kissing his ass. They are all evil and stupid, which is a toxic brew. In his first term, there were a few people in his administration with gravitas, but he made sure that there was none of that in his second.
AOC also had clear policy positions. She was a liberal Paul Ryan in some ways. The Green New Deal was her big thing not just "impeach Trump!"
I like Crockett and think that she would have made a great senator, but you make a great point about being a firebrand to go viral versus having gravitas to govern well. Being an internet sensation doesn't mean that someone won't be serious about governing, but there should be substance to back it up. AOC has gotten in some zingers, but they are more pointed and specific to the person and/or situation. Crockett has voted the right way on issues, which is why she would have been a good senator. Her zingers don't turn me off, but I can see why they would turn off others, who actually agree with her on most issues.
I actually liked a lot of her zingers (usually when she’s taking down a GOP vote on some shit). Had she started early and covered all demos in the state using the “read some Trump policy fir filth” tactic (and yes, draw the contrast with normie Dem policy she supports) she might have pulled it off.
Talarico seems like a good guy and it’s time Democrats made a serious nonapologetic play for Christian votes (not the BS “I claim to be Christian just to make Jews uncomfortable” types on the Right), but I hope he’s got the fight in him. Texas Republicans are a special kind of scum.
This is exactly why I exhort the Internet faves like AOC to get in the ring and actually go statewide, not just in safe districts. Because I want to see exactly what the electorate does. And I want to see how the Internet faves deal with non-friendly areas. We get people yelling about Schumer all the time online. Yet nobody, not a single Internet fave in fact...is even trying to challenge him (you have to declare early). And the same with Gillibrand, who to this day suffers from people sore at her (and only her) about her following her principles vis-a-vis Al Franken.
I applaud Jasmine Crockett for trying.