Crockett accuses liberal podcast hosts of racial motive in criticism of her Texas Senate bid

Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, said podcasters and comedians Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang were saying “the quiet part out loud” in their criticism of her Senate bid, suggesting the statement was about her race.

“I really do think that the host said the quiet part out loud, which basically was: If a White man couldn’t do it, then why would a Black woman even have the audacity to think that she could?” Crockett said in an interview in January, according to the Washington Post. “I don’t know however many White men, and they’ve all lost. The only thing we know for sure is that a White man can lose.”

Rogers and Yang, hosts of the “Las Culturistas” podcast, faced backlash after Rogers urged listeners not to donate to Crockett’s campaign, criticizing politicians who “make things about themselves.” Yang agreed with Rogers, but both apologized days later for the remarks.

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Crockett has argued that she will win her Senate election by reaching people who don’t always vote and appealing to minority voting blocs.

“I get that I’m not a traditional candidate. And that’s exactly why I’m going to win,” Crockett said, according to the Post.

The progressive lawmaker has compared her campaign to that of Beto O’Rourke’s Senate bid in 2018, which he lost by 3 percentage points.

O’Rourke told the Post that there was no bad outcome for the primary. Crockett is running against state Rep. James Talarico.

“I don’t know that I buy the conventional wisdom about either of them,” O’Rourke said.

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Rogers cited O’Rourke’s campaign as a reason why Crockett would not win during the discussion on their podcast. 

“She’s not going to win a Senate seat in Texas, you guys,” Rogers said. “Like, if Beto O’Rourke couldn’t do it, Jasmine Crockett is not going to do it.”

Crockett dismissed critics who think she can’t win in Texas.

“My theory of the case is this: If you believe we’re going to lose anyway, then what difference does it make if it’s me or anybody else?” Crockett said, according to the Post. “If you think it’s a losing cause, then who cares? But at least you could say we tried something new, and we learned something from this experience.”

Crockett also addressed the criticism from Rogers and Yang on Tuesday during a conversation with former Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison on his “At Our Table” podcast. 

“Yeah, people are afraid. And it’s not afraid of me losing. They are afraid of me winning, actually. That’s what I hear. What disappoints me is when I hear things from the left, I expect to hear certain things from the right, right? So that’s fine,” Crockett responded.

Texas has not elected a Democratic senator since 1988, when Lloyd Bentsen won re-election.