Jasmine Crockett

Jasmine Crockett is a Democratic congresswoman from Texas. She is an outspoken civil rights advocate, known for her forceful criticism of Pres. Donald Trump and her highly publicized verbal tussles with Republican lawmakers. In December 2025, she announced she would run for the U.S. Senate in 2026 midterm elections, but she lost the Democratic primary to state legislator James Talarico.

• 2026 midterms: Everything you need to know

Early years

Crockett was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. Her parents are Joseph Crockett, a teacher and preacher, and Gwen Crockett, a former postal worker. She later credited her father for motivating her in Congress: “It’s my daddy’s leadership and love in the church that raised me and inspires me to this day to be the best congresswoman I can be,” she posted on Instagram in 2023.

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At age 13, Crockett thought she wanted to be an anesthesiologist. Instead, after graduating from Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, she earned a law degree from the University of Houston Law Center in Houston.

A quick rise in politics

After law school, Crockett went to work as a public defender in Bowie county, Texas. She worked as a civil rights and criminal defense attorney before running for and winning a seat in the Texas House of Representatives in 2020. She made a name for herself by sponsoring many bills, although none became law. In 2021 her political star rose higher as she played a key role in a walkout by 62 Democratic legislators to halt action on a Republican bill to limit voting rights. In 2022 she ran for Congress in Texas’s 30th congressional district, which includes a large part of Dallas county. The incumbent, Democrat Eddie Bernice Johnson, who was retiring after nearly 30 years, endorsed Crockett, giving her a huge boost. Crockett easily defeated Republican James Rodgers to win the historically Democratic district.

A high-profile congresswoman

During the 2024 election Crockett became a key surrogate for Vice Pres. Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, serving as a national cochair of the campaign and campaigning for Harris in all seven swing states. Crockett gave a raucous speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago that summer, blasting Trump as “a vindictive, vile villain.” She also talked about Harris, recalling a meeting with the vice president when Crockett was harboring doubts about becoming a congresswoman: “I immediately began crying, and the most powerful woman in the world wiped my tears and listened.”

Crockett’s record in Congress has included votes to support Israel after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack and in support of funding for Ukraine. She has expressed concern about reproductive rights in Texas and support for LGBTQ rights as well as gun control and diversity, equity, and inclusion.

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She has also become known for fiery exchanges with colleagues across the aisle. In May 2024 Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a conservative from Georgia, taunted Crockett at a House Oversight Committee meeting, saying, “I think your fake eyelashes are messing up what you’re reading.” The strikingly personal exchange escalated as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, scolded Greene with “How dare you attack the physical appearance of another person?” Crockett fired back, referencing Greene’s “bleach-blond, bad-built butch body.” The moment went viral, and Saturday Night Live spoofed the exchange, labeling Crockett “the bad girl of C-SPAN.”

Crockett’s rhetoric hasn’t always won her support, however. In January 2025 Crockett infuriated Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina at another hearing when Crockett said to her, “Child, listen.” Mace snapped, “I am no child, do not call me a child.…Don’t even start.…If you want to take it outside, we can do that.” Crockett referred to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott as “governor Hot Wheels” in a March 2025 speech. Abbott, a Republican, was paralyzed in a 1984 accident and has used a wheelchair since then. Also in March she expressed support for anti-Tesla protests aimed at Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, saying, “On March 29, it’s my birthday, and all I want to see happen on my birthday is for Elon to be taken down.” Crockett later said that she was supporting only nonviolent protests.

2026 Senate run

In December 2025, Crockett entered the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate with a video that highlighted the many times Trump has criticized her. She ultimately lost to Texas state Rep. James Talarico, whose profile has risen in Texas politics.