The one character trait Rep. Jasmine Crockett and former President Barack H. Obama share
Texas missed out on its best senatorial choice: Crockett
The following post is part of my former Substack publication “One Black Woman’s Vote” that is now in “I Do See Color.” To see more OBWV posts from 2026, click here. For 2025 OBWV posts, click here. For 2021-2024 OBWV posts, click here. New OBWV posts will be published by the second Saturday of each month.
I looked at the senatorial results in Texas — 1,212,571 votes for James Talarico and 1,068,387 votes for Rep. Jasmine Crockett — and immediately started humming Wyclef Jean’s “If I Was President.” Talarico’s 52.4% compared to her 46.2% was not a bad fight at all — regardless of foolish articles complaining about Crockett losing because she didn't have a campaign manager.
Crockett could have had Talarico’s campaign manager, ignored all of her Divine 9 stops, skipped all the Black-owned businesses and not popped up at a Tyrese concert. And guess what? The same people trying to find a scapegoat for why she lost would've picked someone else regardless.
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I’m willing to bet that the same Texans who wouldn’t humor the idea of voting for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or former Vice President Kamala Harris as commander in chief also skipped voting for Crockett. Any excuse would do to avoid pointing out that there is a historical bias (read: racism, sexism) that just cannot handle a woman being in charge. (Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison is the only woman who has ever served as a U.S. senator in Texas.)
After all the excuses I heard about not voting for the very qualified white woman and the equally qualified racially ambiguous-looking Jamaican and Indian woman, that same crowd definitely was not going to choose someone who is about my skin tone. This includes voters who swear they want more congressional leaders who will stand up to Trump. Besides Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, no one stands up to Trump quite like Crockett. Even Trump knows that!
However, that still doesn’t stop me from humming the Wyclef song. If I had it my way, Crockett would’ve bypassed a Senate seat to be the president. In fact, she’d have gotten my vote had she ran for president at the same time as both women mentioned above. But the person I want to see in the White House doesn’t look like, act like or talk like those who might possibly be running in 2028. (Selfishly, because I live in Chicago, I’d prefer Pritzker to remain being our governor and not run for president.)
Somehow, I tried to be optimistic before the Texas race. If Lisa Blunt Rochester and Angela Brooks could become the first Black women to represent the U.S. Senate in Delaware and Maryland, maybe Texas would smarten up. The problem is I have a tough time saying whether the southern state did or didn't, primarily because of the bizarre voting rule changes.
Texas creates a nightmare for voters and Election Judges
Voting problems in Texas started in two counties — Dallas and Williamson, north of Austin — both of which were directed to different precincts after a recent change in how the primary was conducted. Why? Texan voters, who used to be able to cast their ballot anywhere in their county for years, were turned away this time because local Republican parties opted out of countywide voting.
This meant that in order to vote for Crockett, people had to go to certain locations to even see Crockett’s name on the ballot. For first-time or infrequent voters, this ballot stunt was an easy way to believe Crockett either lost already or they couldn't vote for her in that county. As both a voter and a two-time Election Judge, this ballot decision was not only tedious and spiteful. It was also counterproductive and confusing for Election Judges who more than likely had to keep explaining this all day long — and hung around for two extra hours to explain it some more. But imagine hundreds of people from 13 precincts waiting in line for hours to vote at one precinct with three voting machines because of Republicans being opposed to countywide voting.
To no one's surprise, the county with the greatest number of disenfranchised voters was in Dallas — the hometown for Crockett.
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One trait Crockett shares with former President Barack H. Obama
Without missing a beat — and I assume that loss (arguably because of unapologetic cheating) had to be a hard pill to swallow — Crockett went right back to focusing on her current duties in the House until her term expires. She’s also openly pointed out her support for Talarico.
Her work ethic reminds me of Obama’s after he lost his first bid for a congressional seat in the House of Representatives in 2000 to incumbent Bobby Rush. In many ways, Obama’s and Crockett’s personalities couldn’t be more different. She can rile herself up within milliseconds while he is the epitome of the vibe I got while traveling in Maui and Oahu. Not all the time though — I learned during the Obama-Bruce Springsteen podcast that the 44th president can curse like a sailor (or Crockett).
And while Crockett has made no mention of running in the House or Senate ever again like Obama did in 2004, she’s not being a sore loser about it. She’s not going on an “I told you so” tour. She’s keeping her head in the congressional game.