Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, who is expected to easily win his Republican primary next week, is spending millions of dollars on ads featuring Rep. Jasmine Crockett, one of two Democratic candidates for Senate.

Crockett is disliked by Republican primary voters, and putting her in a pair of ads during early voting was aimed at boosting turnout, Abbott’s political advisers said.

The ads place Crockett alongside prominent progressives — including Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York City — who are admired by the Democratic Party’s base and loathed by many Republicans. Another ad features the former vice president, Kamala Harris.

Dave Carney, Abbott’s top political strategist, said the ads carried a simple message: “You vote for us Republicans, or you get this: AOC and Mamdani and Crockett.”

By portraying Crockett as one of the Democratic Party’s most polarizing figures, the ads may elevate a candidate that Republicans want to face in the general election for U.S. Senate. The governor’s campaign has spent $3.4 million on the two ads, according to his campaign.

The ads appeared to echo a strategy employed by Democrats in 2022 where they boosted hard-right Republicans in primary fights who they thought would alienate general election voters.

In that election cycle, the Democratic meddling worked best when a Republican primary candidate was running in a general election against a rival branded as a true Trump acolyte. Democrats ran ads that attacked the far-right Republican to elevate their profile with primary voters loyal to President Donald Trump on the theory they would fail with the broader electorate.

“Early on in this process, people thought, ‘Watch for Republicans to be promoting Jasmine Crockett and trying to push down James Talarico, because we would rather have Crockett in the general election,’” said Vinny Minchillo, a longtime Republican political consultant from the Dallas area who was not involved with the ads. “We would rather have Crockett in the general election.”

Crockett, a Dallas-area member of Congress known for her no-holds-barred confrontations with Republicans in Washington, is locked in a contested Democratic primary against a state representative, Talarico. The election is March 3.

Talarico said he has shaped his candidacy to appeal to voters fed up with partisan warfare. He wants to attract not only Democratic voters but Republicans displeased with the direction of the country under Trump.

Carney said that he viewed Crockett as a more vulnerable general election candidate, though he added that Talarico had backed similarly progressive policies, albeit more quietly.

“He has the same voting record,” Carney said. “No one knows it. They will.”

One of Abbott’s ads, which ran this month, includes video of Crockett saying, “It is not a criminal violation to enter the country illegally.” Another ad running this week begins with images of Ocasio-Cortez, Sanders and Crockett, calling them “the new radical left.”

The ads provided a preview of how Texas Republicans could attack any Democrat running in general elections this fall.

Crockett, who has portrayed herself as the better choice against Republicans, has noticed the attention.

“They really are scared,” Crockett said at a campaign event in Houston on Friday. “This is why the governor is spending over a million dollars a week right now against me.”

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By J. David Goodman/Kenny Holston
c. 2026 The New York Times Company