Jasmine Crockett Dumps Cold Water on James Talarico’s Texas Polling Surge: ‘Looks Like Status Quo’

(Photos via AP Photo/LM Otero and James Talarico on YouTube)

Outgoing Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) does not sound like she will be placing a bet on James Talarico (D) to win his Senate race, despite some strong recent polling.

NBC News political journalist Sahil Kapur reported Crockett “doesn’t buy” the polls and told him “I don’t know” when asked if Talarico can beat his Republican opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R).

The lame duck representative said she thinks the “status quo” in the Lone Star State will hold, especially once Republican donors start pouring money in.

Here is what she told NBC News on Tuesday night:

When I look at the money, if Republicans start spending money in Texas, then I’ll be convinced. But right now, national Republicans decided they wanted to dump money into North Carolina, as well as Georgia. That’s where they’re fighting, and national Democrats have not decided to dump money into Texas either… I look at: where does the NRSC stand? Where does DSCC stand?

Right now, neither one are investing, which tells me that their internals are saying the same thing. So it looks like status quo. I won’t get on the ground to really start to feel it until maybe end of September, October, as I start to dig into which races I’m going to help out in, the races that I really feel like we can win.

Crockett’s pessimism comes a few months after Talarico defeated her in the state’s Democratic primary. It also follows several polls giving Talarico a slight edge on Paxton, who received President Donald Trump’s endorsement over Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX).

The latest poll from Texas Southern University on Tuesday gave Talarico a 47% to 45% advantage on Paxton, shortly after a Fox News poll had Talarico up 51%-48% and a Texas Public Opinion Research survey had him up 45%-40%.

Axios reported while Paxton is “scandal-plagued,” GOP officials don’t believe he has the “kind of problems that money shouldn’t be able to solve.” Paxton received $9 million in funding last quarter, while Talarico raised $30 million.

In related news, The Texas Tribune and ProPublica published reports on Wednesday showing Talarico  “may have violated state voting laws” by voting in five elections using his parents’ address instead of the one where he actually resides. The reports follow Talarico accusing Paxton of committing voter fraud by making the same violations.

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