Texas Senate Primary Gets SPICY. How Will AI Define the Midterms and Beyond? (with Tom Merritt)

Jasmine Crockett has a new ad, and it’s everything you’d expect out of 2026 so far. It’s a TV ad utilizing an anime style — and potentially some AI. It is inventive, loud, and undeniably designed to cut through clutter. In a vacuum, it might even be smart. Anime specifically has real cultural traction, especially with younger and Black voters, and the ad signals energy in a race where attention is scarce.The problem is context. Crockett is getting creative on television very late in the game, after being outspent roughly 19 to 1, and amid reporting that suggests her campaign lacks clear leadership and strategic direction. The theory of the campaign seems to be that message intensity can compensate for organizational weakness. That is a risky bet. Strong words without disciplined execution rarely scale, especially statewide.Politics Politics Politics is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.What turned this race from messy to combustible was Colin Allred’s response to an influencer claim that James Talarico privately referred to him as a “mediocre Black man.” Allred did not hedge. He endorsed Crockett, appeared with her, and went on television saying Talarico refused to apologize. That escalated the race instantly.At this point, Crockett’s campaign is no longer merely contrasting policy or style. It is prosecuting a character case aimed directly at Black voters. If there were any functional party leadership involved, they would be trying to de-escalate this immediately. Burning Talarico to the ground may help Crockett in the primary, but it risks destroying a Democrat many believed could be viable in future statewide races. Instead, the attacks have intensified, and Talarico’s response has been uneven at best.His ads have not helped. They feel staged, overly cinematic, and oddly reverential, as if he is preaching rather than connecting. Authenticity is supposed to be his calling card, yet his campaign keeps placing a layer of polish between him and voters. That disconnect is now showing up in the data.A University of Houston poll taken in late January shows Crockett up nine points on Talarico, despite her spending disadvantage. That is a flashing warning sign. It suggests Talarico is not breaking through, and that Democratic primary voters are responding more to confrontation than caution.On the Republican side, the implications are enormous. If Crockett emerges as the nominee, the GOP path depends heavily on who survives its own primary. John Cornyn remains the establishment preference, backed by Trump’s former campaign leadership, but recent polling shows Ken Paxton leading. If Paxton is the nominee, Republicans will have to spend aggressively in a race they would normally ignore. If Cornyn is the nominee, the race likely snaps back to lean Republican.That is why this primary matters beyond Texas Democrats. A Crockett win followed by a Paxton nomination would force Republicans to defend ground they assumed was safe. If Texas flips, even into wave watch territory, it will not be because demographics finally arrived. It will be because campaigns failed, misjudged, or overreached at exactly the wrong moment.Chapters00:00:00 - Intro00:03:09 - Texas Dem Senate Primary00:17:26 - Update00:17:47 - DHS Funding00:20:27 - Epstein00:25:44 - Susan Collins00:26:41 - Tom Merritt on AI’s Impact on the Midterms01:07:49 - Wrap-up This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.politicspoliticspolitics.com/subscribe