Texas Democratic voters expressed doubts that Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, has a chance of winning a statewide election as they look toward the Senate primaries.
CNN’s Arlette Saenz spoke to several voters on Friday who took part in early voting for the Senate primary, where Crockett faces off against Texas state Rep. James Talarico for the candidacy.
Among the voters included Sonya Bernhardt, who grew emotional when she explained why she ultimately voted for Talarico despite loving Crockett.
JASMINE CROCKETT’S DEMOCRATIC OPPONENT TELLS ‘THE VIEW’ SHE COULD ‘ABSOLUTELY’ WIN A STATEWIDE RACE
“We need a fighter. And I was so ready to vote for Jasmine Crockett, because I love her, but I voted for Talarico because we need somebody who can win,” Bernhardt told CNN. “That was one of the most difficult votes I’ve ever voted in my entire life.”
An undecided voter, Richard Traylor, told CNN that he might “flip a coin” between the candidates, claiming that Crockett could struggle to win Latino voters in the general election.
“I have vacillated back and forth, and back and forth, and back and forth. I like her better than all of them,” Traylor said. “But I like winning better.”
On “Inside Politics” Monday, Saenz said that, though not all voters were against Crockett, she had heard from several other people who voiced concerns that Crockett could not win in a red state.
“You heard from voters who do have concerns about whether she could win, especially in a state like Texas,” Saenz said. “And, you know, Jasmine Crockett‘s campaign is really highlighting a lot of the debates within the Democratic Party when it comes to electability, when it comes to the type of voters that Democrats need to be reaching out to. She has made this case that the way to victory is by remobilizing the core base. Black voters, young voters, Latino voters, instead of trying to tack towards the middle. So it‘s interesting to see how her dynamics have been playing, especially in a red state like Texas.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Talarico and Crockett’s campaigns for comment.
Several progressive and Democratic figures have privately and publicly suggested that Crockett doesn’t have a chance of winning a Texas Senate race even if she wins a primary race.
“She might win a primary, but she ain’t winning a general in Texas,” one anonymous House member told Axios in December after Crockett launched her campaign.
Crockett has meanwhile accused her critics on the left of targeting her because of her race.
“The thing that is not normal is for me to be attacked from the left,” Crockett said. “That is the new wild card in this scenario. But it’s just interesting.”
“And you know, I’ve been asked a couple of times about it,” she continued. “And you know, I look at this specifically as a civil rights lawyer, and I see when they’re sending out ads, and they’re darkening my skin. And I’m just like, I know what this is, right?”
