AUSTIN, Texas - Despite Democrats not winning a statewide office in Texas since 1994, a highly competitive race is forming for who will represent the party in November's U.S. Senate election.
Early voting for the March 3 primary election begins Tuesday and U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett and state Rep. James Talarico are front-runners to determine who will challenge the winner on the Republican side. Businessman Ahmad Hassan will join them on the ballot.
This election cycle has many Democrats feeling they can turn the Senate seat blue. The seat is currently held by Sen. John Cornyn, who finds himself in a fierce battle for the Republican nomination against Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt.
U.S. Senators serve six-year terms in Congress. Two senators from each state serve in the legislative body. The U.S. Senate is currently made up of 53 Republicans and 47 Democrats; the current vice president serves as the tiebreaking vote in the chamber.
JASMINE CROCKETT (Photo by Randy Holmes/Disney via Getty Images)
Who is Jasmine Crockett?
Crockett, who represents a southern portion of Dallas, announced she was running for the Senate in December. She's served in the U.S. House since 2023. Crockett is on the House Judiciary Committee where she is a ranking member of the subcommittee on oversight. Crockett is the vice ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Crockett was the national co-chair of the Harris-Walz campaign. She was also invited to speak at the Democratic National Convention. Before her election to Congress, Crockett represented the 100th district in the Texas House from 2021 to 2023.
Crockett, known for her outspoken opinions on progressive issues, cast her Senate run as a response to what she described as a political system increasingly dominated by self-interest and partisan gamesmanship. She told supporters that Texans deserve "public servants, not kings," arguing that Republican leaders in Texas and Washington D.C. have placed themselves above the people they represent.
State Rep. James Talarico, a Democrat from Texas and U.S. Senate candidate, joined Joe Rogan’s podcast in September 2025, where he also claimed the Bible permits abortion. (Bob Daemmrich/The Texas Tribune/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Who is James Talarico?
Talarico has represented a portion of the Austin area since 2018, when he won the race for Texas District 52 — a district that voted for President Donald Trump in 2016. He later moved to District 50 after the state House map was changed to favor the GOP in his first district. The Presbyterian seminarian has risen to online fame for viral House moments and his mix of progressive policy and Christian values.
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Talarico is an eighth-generation Texan, a former middle school teacher and Presbyterian seminarian.
Ahmad Hassan
Who is Ahmad Hassan?
Hassan is the third person in the Democratic race for Senate. He is running on a platform of making Texas affordable and safe and no deportation without due process.
Hassan is the owner of Alexandria Realty and Mortgage.
He has run for office several times, including seeking the Democratic nomination for Senate in 2024 and twice running for the U.S. House of Representatives.
Who is leading in the polls?
The most recent poll by the Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston shows 47% of likely voters intend to vote for Crockett in the primary, while 39% say they support Talarico. Two percent of voters said they support Ahmad Hassan. Undecided voters make up 12% of the poll.
The Source: Information in this article comes from previous FOX 7 reporting. Latest poll numbers come from the Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston.