WATCH: Obama, Harris advisor warns ‘betrayed’ Black voters could be Texas Senate candidate's kryptonite
WATCH: Obama, Harris advisor warns ‘betrayed’ Black voters could be Texas Senate candidate's kryptonite
'We as Black women give 92 percent of our vote to the Democratic Party, and we get nothing out of the deal,' one voter said
By
Peter Pinedo Fox News
Published
July 1, 2026 12:11pm EDT close 
Video Former Obama advisor warns James Talarico in trouble with Black vote
Ashley Etienne, a political strategist and former advisor to President Barack Obama and Vice President Kamala Harris, says that Black voters are feeling betrayed by the Democratic Party following James Talarico’s primary win.
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!Democratic strategists are worried that Senate hopeful James Talarico’s chances of flipping Texas blue are being jeopardized by what they see as a major vulnerability: a lack of enthusiasm on the part of Texas Black voters, who are feeling "betrayed" by the party.
Veteran Democratic strategist Ashley Etienne, a former advisor to President Barack Obama and Vice President Kamala Harris, said that despite Talarico’s history of controversial statements, she believes he is "incredibly well positioned" to become the first Democrat to flip a Texas Senate seat blue in decades. However, she identified one major vulnerability, saying Black voters are "feeling like they were betrayed" by "what happened to Jasmine Crockett."
Talarico, a Texas state lawmaker and Presbyterian seminarian, defeated Black congresswoman Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate earlier this year.
Etienne explained that following Crockett’s defeat, "some voters, Black women in particular, are feeling as though the Democratic Party and Democratic candidates want our labor, but not our leadership." The "two biggest examples," she said, are "Kamala Harris' loss and Jasmine Crockett's loss."
CARVILLE ADVISES TALARICO 'TO DEAL WITH' PAST CULTURE WAR COMMENTS IF HE WANTS TO WIN TEXAS
Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico is facing a problem with Black voter enthusiasm in Texas, according to insiders. (John Moore/Getty Images)
Talarico’s history of hot takes, such as saying he "hates Christianity," calling God "nonbinary" and asserting that there are six sexes, has caused significant controversy. While Etienne believes that Talarico can swat away these resurfaced comments, she believes the feeling of Black voter "betrayal" could sink his Senate hopes.
A Texas native, Etienne also served as a senior advisor to former President Joe Biden, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and several members of Congress from Texas. She now runs the communications firm, Etienne & Saint.
She referenced an opinion piece she co-authored in the Houston Chronicle, in which she quoted one Black female voter, who said, "We as Black women give 92 percent of our vote to the Democratic Party, and we get nothing out of the deal."
"That's one example of what I think is a larger sentiment across Black women," she explained.
This, Etienne posited, is an "alarm warning for Talarico."
Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, speaks during a hearing with the Subcommittee on Delivering On Government Efficiency in the U.S. Capitol on February 26, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Why should Talarico be worried about this? According to Etienne, approximately 1.1 million registered Black voters in Texas are not voting. To pull off an upset in the traditionally solid red state, Etienne said Talarico will have to motivate that untapped voter base. The key to doing that, she said, is appealing to Black women.
When it comes to motivating the Democratic base, Etienne posited that "Black women aren't just another constituency."
"We are a force multiplier effect when it comes to Black voters," she said. "We have the ability to bring the entire community to – and we have proven that we do this every cycle after cycle – bring the entire community to the polls."
In other words, Etienne explained that "if the mood of Black women is low, then you lose an opportunity … to really reach and mobilize and engage and energize the rest of the Black community."
"That's the nut he's going to have to crack," she said.
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Dallas Jones, a Democratic strategist who served as the Texas political director for the 2020 Biden-Harris campaign, echoed Etienne's assessment. In an interview with Fox News Digital, Jones criticized Talarico supporters for pressuring Crockett to stump for him. Crockett has endorsed Talarico but has been notably absent from the campaign trail.
"There's rhetoric that's being turned up that she has to come and support him, and a lot of that is coming from people that support him," he noted. "So, what it translates to is people basically telling this accomplished, decorated, Black female member of Congress what she ought to do. And all that does is stoke flames and fires for her supporters, who are saying, ‘She really doesn't have to do anything. You won, you're the nominee, you come earn our vote, she doesn't have to help you do that.’"
DSA’S THIRD MAJOR PRIMARY WIN DEEPENS DEMOCRATS’ FIGHT OVER THE PARTY’S FUTURE
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton landed President Donald Trump's endorsement one week ahead of his runoff election against Republican Sen. John Cornyn for the GOP Senate nomination. (Fox News Digital/Amanda Macias)
"There are millions of black Texans out there ready for the taking, ready to support the campaign … [but] every day that goes by there's an erosion of that support," Jones continued.
Jones said that he does not think Talarico’s controversial statements will have much of an impact on the Black vote in Texas "considering the alternative" is Republican state Attorney General Ken Paxton.
"There will be a lot of energy and effort to weaponize those types of statements," he said. "But I truly don't think that it's going to have a huge impact."
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"Black Texans that show up in November are not voting for Ken Paxton," Jones asserted. "The challenge is creating the enthusiasm to get enough of them to go and vote for him."
"He himself has admitted that he cannot win the state without Black voters," he continued, adding, "It's not a persuasion game, it's an enthusiasm game."
Fox News Digital reached out to Talarico's campaign for comment. Fox News Digital also reached out to Crockett's office and Paxton's campaign for comment.
Peter Pinedo is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.
Meet Melat Kiros, the Ethiopian-born anti-Israel socialist crusader who is DSA’s rising star after stunning upset in Colorado
Meet Melat Kiros, the Ethiopian-born anti-Israel socialist crusader who is DSA's rising star after stunning upset in Colorado- US News
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Politics
Meet Melat Kiros, the Ethiopian-born anti-Israel socialist crusader who is DSA’s rising star after stunning upset in Colorado
By Ryan King Published July 1, 2026, 2:06 p.m. ETSee more of our coverage in your search results.
Add The New York Post on GoogleWASHINGTON — Democratic socialism is spreading West.
Political newcomer Melat Kiros, 29, who took down 15-term Democratic incumbent Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Col.) in a stunning primary upset Tuesday, is riding a wave of anti-Israel and anti-ICE sentiment sweeping her party.
The Ethiopian-born PhD student has pushed to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), suggested that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks were “inevitable,” downplayed suggestions that a firebombing of a Jewish rally was an act of antisemitism, and more.
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Once in the House of Representatives, which is considered likely because she’s in a safe blue district, Kiros has vowed to push Democrats as far left as possible and to oppose Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) becoming speaker.
Political awakening
Kiros refined many of her far-left views in law school at Notre Dame in the early 2020s, a period she describes as her political awakening, as the country was roiled by the COVID-19 pandemic and peak wokeness.
“I literally watched the Federalist Society handpicking some of my classmates onto the judge track in their decades-long bid to pack the courts,” she complained, according to Vox. “…I just lost faith in the system; I think a lot of young people did.”
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After law school in 2022, she joined the law firm Sidley Austin in New York, where she worked as a regulatory and enforcement associate. The following year, she was fired for writing a viral open letter lambasting law firms for pushing to crack down on antisemitism on college campuses.
“By chilling future lawyers’ employment prospects for criticism of the Israeli government’s actions and its legitimacy, you are complicit in Israel’s weaponization of anti-Semitism against legitimate concerns for the right of self-determination and the livelihood of the Palestinian people,” she wrote in the missive.
Sidley Austin demanded she take the letter down, but Kiros claims she refused and was fired as a result.
“I didn’t flinch because I stood by every word and I always will,” she boasted during her victory speech Tuesday.
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That move drew headlines and boosted her name recognition in lefty circles.
After losing her law gig, Kiros moved back to Colorado, where her family had immigrated while she was just 11-months-old. Her father had been picked in America’s Diversity Visa Lottery, per her campaign website.
Back home, she enrolled in a PhD program in public policy and worked as a barista.
Then, in the middle of last year, she decided to launch a seemingly long-shot primary challenge against DeGette, who is widely considered to be a very progressive lawmaker and has served in Congress longer than Kiros has been alive.
DeGette had the backing of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
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But Kiros’ candidacy caught fire with the DSA and other lefty groups that were hunting for candidates to take on incumbent Democrats and push the party further leftwards.
One of the major differences between the two was Kiros’ tougher stance against Israel. DeGette faced grassroots pushback for supporting defensive aid to Israel.
Kiros, however, made tough talk against the Jewish state a feature of her campaign.
For example, she told notorious lefty streamer Hasan Piker that the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack was an “inevitable consequence of apartheid,” though she later clarified she wasn’t trying to say it was justified.
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Piker is a very controversial streamer, having declared that “America deserved 9/11″ and praised the “brave mujahideen” who injured Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas).
In a similar vein, she told 9News journalist Kyle Clark that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks were an “inevitable consequence” of US foreign policy.
Kiros has stirred local controversy for downplaying the role of antisemitism in the June 1, 2025, firebombing attack at a weekly Jewish gathering aimed at bringing attention to the Israeli hostages taken by Hamas. One person was killed and a dozen were injured in that attack.
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The attacker, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, screamed “Free Palestine” before later stating that he “wanted to kill all Zionist people,” according to the FBI.
Kiros repeatedly declined to call it antisemitism and told NOTUS that it wasn’t “entirely obvious that it was just motivated by antisemitism.”
Many of her positions are similar to those of other DSA members, including support for Medicare for All, a modified Green New Deal, and mass amnesty. Kiros also wants a 10% slash in Pentagon spending.
“People are seeing that capitalism is responsible for a lot of the degradation that we’re seeing in our economy, that we’re seeing in our democracy, that we’re certainly seeing in our climate as well,” she claimed in a recent interview.
“They’re demanding a new way to organize our economy.”
Should she win in November, she will be the first Gen. Z woman to serve in Congress and the second Zoomer overall, after Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.)
She is riding a socialist revolt within the Democratic Party, as far-left candidates have won primaries across New York, Maine, Illinois, and elsewhere heading into the midterms.
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