OPINION: Two Truths and a Warning
Graphic by Habib Salami.
BY RANN MILLER | Pressing Forward
After a spirited campaign and an equally spirited election night, Jasmine Crockett lost the Democratic primary to James Talarico for a Texas Senate seat.
The Associated Press called the race in the wee hours of the morning. Crockett has since conceded and endorsed her primary opponent in the general election.
There will be plenty of time to assess where the Crockett campaign and Crockett herself went wrong. Blame for her loss will be tossed around as well.
Black men may be blamed, mistakenly, as they were when Kamala Harris lost the presidency in 2024. Black voters in general may get blamed. The Texas Republican Party will be blamed first for redistricting Crockett’s House Seat and for their 11th-hour stunt on election night.
CBS may be blamed for unintentionally giving Talarico an audience after not airing his interview with Stephen Colbert. Crockett and the campaign will catch some blame for their approach.
The good news, however, is that there’s enough blame to go around… because two or more things can be true at the same time.
The Republican Party in Texas sabotaged Jasmine Crockett’s Election Day chances by changing the voting location for voters—due to a recent rule change—impacting Crockett’s home district, thereby preventing likely Crockett voters from voting on time and meeting the Texas 7 p.m. deadline.
A Dallas judge extended the voting deadline to 9 p.m. However, Ken Paxton, the Texas Attorney General, asked the Texas Supreme Court to hold all votes cast between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. until the matter could be properly adjudicated. The Court agreed, and that confusion threw Crockett’s campaign into doubt.
To be fair, Paxton’s last-minute theatrics impacted two polling places in Talarico’s Williamson County.
Make no mistake, Crockett got sabotaged by Republicans from the get-go. They successfully initiated a redistricting scheme at Donald Trump’s behest to help maintain a majority in the House of Representatives. Crockett was a casualty of that, and Republicans were happy for it.
That, and Colin Allred dropping out of the race, likely played a role in Crockett’s decision to run for Senate. Tuesday night’s stunt by Ken Paxton was another part of the sabotage. It was also a foreshadowing of what’s to come in November. Put a pin in that thought. \
The sabotage notwithstanding, Crockett and her campaign failed to win the support necessary to pre-empt any Election Day shenanigans by conservatives. Again, two things can be true at the same time.
When Crockett announced her campaign in December, I urged Black voters to approach Crockett’s candidacy with cautious optimism, noting that she’s shown herself to be more moderate than progressive. That take, I believe, ran counter to the popular narrative out of concern that it could compromise the Crockett campaign.
For some, additional Black representation can serve Black people well, especially in the U.S. Senate. I get it. Representation matters. However, Black faces in high places are no guarantee of racial justice.
I cite the scholarship of the late scholar Robert Staples about how “a number of Black politicians have been nothing but neo-colonial pawns,” including the Congressional Black Caucus that Crockett is part of. What concerned me most was that Crockett aligns with traditional American foreign policy: economic sanctions and military intervention.
Yet she’s attempted to walk a fine line. That matters for Black voters because, as I mentioned previously, American Imperialism is, and has always been, dangerous if not outright deadly for Black people.
The Crockett campaign hedged its bets on Black voters turning out in large numbers to vote for her. I liked their path to victory. Wesley Snipes told us to always bet on Black. But an establishment democratic playbook that assumes Black voters will vote for the Black candidate won’t get you victory in any election. It didn’t work for Kamala Harris, and it didn’t work for Jasmine Crockett.
It likely won’t work for any Black candidate part of the Democratic establishment.
Sadly, Black voters will be criticized for sitting out of this race. But we need to stop blaming Black voters because they face some challenges. The first is the Democratic Party, which feels entitled to the Black vote, especially when there’s a Black candidate. Like it or not, it’s an impediment to securing the Black vote and is a lesson Democrats still have yet to learn.
The second challenge is the Republican Party, which is determined to suppress the Black vote.
What Ken Paxton did Tuesday night was bigger than Jasmine Crockett, James Talarico, and the state of Texas.
What he did was suppress voters, specifically Black voters. He was able to do that because of the Supreme Court’s decision in County v. Holder (2013), which struck down the preclearance clause of the Voting Rights Act, allowing states in the former Confederacy and theJim Crow South to change election rules without permission from the executive branch.
The ruling of Chief Justice John Roberts was made possible by his being selected by President George W. Bush… the same George W. Bush whose election was made possible because of voter suppression, confusing ballots, and manipulated recounts in a Republican controlled state.
What happened Tuesday night, I believe, is a warning of what may happen in November.
If there is an election on November 3rd, I suspect there will be reassigned voting locations, long lines, and court challenges, especially in areas with many Black voters, in cities where elections can determine power in Congress… Philadelphia, Houston, Detroit, Atlanta, Chicago, Milwaukee, Dallas, Los Angeles.
If Democrats win control of the House and Senate, the chances of Trump’s impeachment and conviction would increase, likely due to the release of hidden Epstein files.
There are many lessons to learn here.
For Democratic candidates, don’t assume you’ll get the Black vote just because you’re a Democrat. You’re not entitled to it. Work for it. Earn it. You can do so by offering a platform based on real solutions to improve our community, with a clear strategy suited to this political climate. Fighting Donald Trump, while necessary, isn’t enough.
For Black voters, especially in states where Republicans control voting rules, stay informed about any changes to your voting location. If early voting is an option, take advantage of it. If you vote by mail, do it ASAP.
Don’t wait. And for the white nationalist in office, just know that Black folks ain’t going anywhere. We resisted white supremacy in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. We’ll keep resisting.
BIO: Rann Miller is a writer, author, and educator. A graduate of Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Rann teaches AP United States History, is the author of Resistance Stories from Black History for Kids, and is an opinion columnist, featured in various news outlets exploring the intersections of race, education, politics, culture and history. You can follow on “X” @RealRannMiller, on IG, and TikTok @realrannmiller.
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