The Daily Populous Monday February 23rd, 2026 evening edition
Authored by independent.co.uk and submitted by soalone34

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The Republican Party allegedly promoted favorable polls about Representative Jasmine Crockett as part of a plan to goad the outspoken Democrat into running for the Senate.

Crockett was reportedly the GOP’s preferred opponent in the 2026 race in Texas, but had not been considered as a potential contender in the race by her fellow Democrats.

That prompted Senate Republicans to disseminate a poll in July suggesting that she would be the frontrunner in the Democratic primary.

“When we saw the results, we were like, ‘OK, we got to disseminate this far and wide,’” a source familiar with the plan told NOTUS.

Shortly after that poll went viral, Crockett was included in successive surveys, many of which put her in first place in a hypothetical primary.

Meanwhile, the GOP worked behind the scenes to amplify the polls, according to the source.

open image in gallery Jasmine Crockett’s chances at winning the 2026 Senate elections were allegedly promoted by the GOP ( AP )

The unnamed insider told NOTUS that the GOP helped “orchestrate the pile on of these polling numbers to really drive that news cycle and that narrative that Jasmine Crockett was surging in Texas.”

The mammoth effort even included an “AstroTurf recruitment process,” which blitzed progressive digital spaces with the polls.

Recruitment phone calls and text messages were also sent to voters, urging them to encourage Crockett to run.

“That was really a sustained effort that we orchestrated across the ecosystem for several months,” the source said. “Not only was it getting positive news coverage, but her office was directly having traffic driven to it in terms of phone calls urging her to run.”

Crockett has become a lightning rod for MAGA in the first year of Trump’s second presidency, thanks to her regular criticisms of the administration.

Her suggestion that Latino voters who cast their ballot for Trump “hate” themselves was particularly poorly received.

"It almost reminds me of what people would talk about when they would talk about kind of like ‘slave mentality’ and the hate that some slaves would have for themselves," she told Vanity Fair, before later walking back those remarks on CNN.

open image in gallery John Cornyn said that he would try to ‘wipe the smile’ off his face when he heard that Crockett was running ( Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved )

That meant her first-place position in the poll gave Republicans hope in an otherwise challenging election. Incumbent Senator John Cornyn faces a tough battle in the GOP primary, with challenges from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Representative Wesley Hunt.

Ultimately, the alleged GOP scheme proved successful, with Crockett confirming on Monday that she would be running for a seat in the U.S. Senate.

When she revealed that she would launch a bid for the Senate, Cornyn joked that he would “try to wipe the smile off my face.”

Meanwhile, Paxton mocked Crockett on Newsmax’sThe Chris Salcedo Show for supposedly “running in the wrong state.”

During her announcement speech, Crockett even suggested that her stunning success in the polls had motivated her to run.

“The more I saw the poll results, I couldn’t ignore the trends that were clear,” she said.

Her fiery announcement included a direct callout to the president, as she confidently told supporters that she planned to turn “Texas blue.”

“Trump, I know you’re watching, so let me tell you directly,” she said. “You’re not entitled to a damn thing in Texas. You better get to work because I’m coming for you.”

The insider, though, said that the GOP’s covert plan is not yet complete, telling NOTUS that conservatives still need to steer Crockett through what could be a bruising primary.

To support her primary campaign, the source claimed that the GOP has contacted outside entities to set up “off-shoot brands” and “independent expenditure arms” that are not overtly Republican.

Instead, these groups would bolster Crockett’s campaign and would allow them to run against someone they consider to be “very vulnerable.”

The Independent has contacted the Texas GOP and Jasmine Crockett for comment.

Jokerang on February 23rd, 2026 at 12:44 UTC »

Look at how GOP internal polls show Talarico gets Beto 2018 margins or better, along with trying to keep the man off of The View and Colbert, and it really makes a lot of sense. They know Crockett has little appeal to moderates-by-Texas-standards that vote red nine out of ten times, and are worried Talarico knows how to talk to enough of that type of voter to make things too close for comfort.

HUT2Moon on February 23rd, 2026 at 12:30 UTC »

It’s fine, she’s prepping Talarico for the general. He’s going to win the whole thing.

casualfrog68 on February 23rd, 2026 at 11:52 UTC »

These sorts of things never backfire.

Remember when Democrats were thrilled that Trump won the nomination in 2016?