GOP Will Regret Pushing Jasmine Crockett To Run for the Senate [View all]

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/amanda-marcotte/115684/gop-will-regret-pushing-jasmine-crockett-to-run-for-the-senate

GOP Will Regret Pushing Jasmine Crockett To Run for the Senate
by Amanda Marcotte | December 13, 2025 - 6:37am

— from Salon

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As NOTUS reported on Tuesday, there was a massive “AstroTurf recruitment process” to lure Crockett into the race, complete with GOP-funded polls showing her leading — which she cited during her campaign announcement. Republicans pretending to be Democrats blanketed progressive voters with calls and text messages in an effort to “urge voters to contact and advocate for Crockett to join the race.”

It’s not hard to see why Republicans think they’re being clever by baiting Crockett into running. The bombastic congresswoman has leaned full force into the Donald Trump era, returning the playground taunts and cheap shots MAGA leaders so enjoy right back at them, such as calling Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican who is bound to a wheelchair, “Governor Hot Wheels.” (Crockett claimed she was misconstrued, but no one appears to believe her.) This behavior has endeared her to the highly partisan, deeply engaged Democratic voters who tend to determine primaries and would likely see her as the rare Democrat willing to put up a real fight against Trump and Republicans. But the GOP is betting her loud mouth will alienate independent voters, making it easy to persuade them she’s a “radical,” despite having a standard Democratic policy agenda.

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Republicans may regret propping up a candidate whose qualities they believe make her “unelectable,” which may instead draw attention and passion that pushes her over the top. As Jill Filipovic wrote at Slate, there’s a real appetite for “table-flipping, insult-lobbing, and attention-grabbing” politics that “might actually beat MAGA at its own game.” But even if Republicans are right and Crockett will lose — since she doesn’t get the same hall pass that a white man like Trump does — they may come to rue the day they helped lift Crockett to an even bigger platform.

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Crockett’s candidacy will likely empower even more Democrats to believe they can do more than lie low and hope to survive long enough to pick up the pieces after Trumpism implodes. Win or lose, she will show that doing things differently is at least possible. Crockett will empower a lot of people, both political leaders and everyday citizens, to take the fight to MAGA. This isn’t just a few Democrats in Congress using curse words. A lot of people are sick of feeling hamstrung. They’re eager to lash out at the right, even if it means dispensing with previous taboos against mocking people’s bodies or identities.

Republicans found the low road to be useful and beneficial, in no small part because it was a clear path for them. But with Crockett leading the way, they may find there’s a surge of progressives ready to create a pile-up on Interstate Insult Comedy. It could be bad for our overall political health. Or it could be good, reinvigorating people who were checking out. But one thing is for certain: Republicans aren’t going to like a world where Democrats start giving as good as they get.