The top two Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate in Texas showcased their disagreements over political tactics and style on Saturday, in the first debate of a primary race that has drawn national interest as an early test of the party’s direction in 2026.
The candidates — Jasmine Crockett and James Talarico — directed their sharpest words of the debate, which took place just a few hours after a 37-year-old man was fatally shot by federal agents in Minnesota, not at each other but at the Trump administration, and the aggressive tactics of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on American streets.
“It’s time to tear down this secret police force,” said Mr. Talarico, a state representative whose progressive Christian faith has attracted attention. “We need to prosecute agents who have abused their power. We have to haul these masked men before Congress so the world can see their faces.”
Ms. Crockett, an outspoken U.S. Representative with a national following, said that immigration agents were “turning us into Nazi Germany” with tactics that included going door to door and “going after people because of their accent or the color of their skin.” She added that “we absolutely have to clean house.”
The two candidates are young, social-media savvy politicians who largely agree on matters of policy, like increasing taxes on billionaires and opposing foreign policy adventurism by President Trump. So the race has focused instead on their differing approaches to how to win in Texas, where no Democrat has won a race for a statewide office in three decades.
Underscoring the importance of that difference, the debate, which was held by the Texas AFL-CIO on a stage outside Austin, began with the subject of electability.
“I will do the edgy things, the things that the political consultants will never tell you to do,” said Ms. Crockett, who occasionally struggled to fit her responses to questions into the allotted time. “It’s not about who sounds as clean as possible. It is about tapping into the rawness of this moment.”
Ms. Crockett, 44, a former defense lawyer, is betting that her willingness to spar with Republicans in the House and her ability to attract attention online will bring new voters to the polls, and that she will be able to persuade Democrats to turn out who might otherwise have stayed home. She has only been in the race for a month, but she already has greater name recognition among Democrats than her opponent.
It was a point Ms. Crockett made herself, in remarks that approached criticism of Mr. Talarico.
“He’s not as known right now, because I have engaged in these fights,” she said.
By contrast, Mr. Talarico, 36, a seminarian and former middle school teacher, has been campaigning not only to court Democrats, but also to reach middle-of-the-road voters and Republicans who have been turned off by the Trump administration. He spent much of the debate stressing his alliance with Ms. Crockett on issues, while attacking “billionaires,” whom he said were ruining politics and making life unaffordable for Americans.
“We’re not writing off any voter or any community,” Mr. Talarico said. “We will not win this race in November with the same old politics of division. Billionaires want us looking left and right at each other, so we’re not looking up at them.”
Early voting in the Texas primaries begins Feb. 17.
Democrats see an opportunity in Texas this year, which is why the argument within the party about who would offer the best chance of victory against a Republican candidate has been so acute.
At times, supporters of Mr. Talarico and Ms. Crockett have argued with each other online. But the candidates know that whoever wins the March 3 primary will need their rival’s supporters as well as their own in order to win what will probably be a close general election race in November.
Part of what gives Democrats hope is that there has been even greater internal strife among Republicans during their primary campaign. Senator John Cornyn has been trading bruising attacks with his main challenger, Attorney General Ken Paxton, as well as with a third candidate in the race, U.S. Representative Wesley Hunt. Their primary is likely to go to a runoff, extending the G.O.P. intramural fight to the end of May.
“In November, we have a moral imperative to win,” Mr. Talarico said in his closing remarks on Saturday.
Ms. Crockett similarly closed by citing the high stakes she saw in both the election and the political fights to come in Washington.
“Whoever goes to the United States Senate is going to have to be ready for real war,” she said, referencing a recent death threat she had received and the killing of two people by federal agents in Minnesota. “I am here to tell you that it is life or death.”
J. David Goodman is the Houston bureau chief for The Times, reporting on Texas and Oklahoma.
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