4 DECEMBER 18 - 24, 2025 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER CLASSIFIED | MUSIC | DISH | CULTURE | UNFAIR PARK | CONTENTS Gop Sees an Easy Win Ahead Top Republican officials react to Jasmine Crockett’s Senate run. BY ALYSSA FIELDS L ast week, Dallas congresswoman and viral sensation Jasmine Crockett officially entered the oc- tagon for the U.S. Senate seat held by GOP Sen. John Cornyn. A contentious campaign was already ex- pected, as bitter adversaries Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton face off in the Republican primary. But Crockett’s last-minute entrance into the race to be- come the Democratic candidate put an even brighter spotlight on the Lone Star State. Since winning a seat in Congress, repre- senting the Dallas area, Crockett has at- tracted positive and negative press for being a vocal opponent of conservative ideology. Her boisterousness has garnered the atten- tion of Republican leaders, including Presi- dent Donald Trump, whom she extensively featured in her campaign announcement video. “Someone said she is one of the leaders of the party. I said, you gotta be kidding, now they’re going to rely on Crockett,” a voice re- cording of Trump plays over a still and dra- matic shot of Crockett, in the scrutinized campaign video. Trump has continuously called Crockett a “low-IQ person” and used her as a figurehead to admonish the Democratic Party. He dou- bled down on his statements when asked about the senatorial bid announcement. “She’s a low-IQ person, I can’t imagine she wins,” he said to a group of reporters. “I think it’s a gift to Republicans. She’s a terri- ble representative, I can’t believe she’s a pol- itician, actually.” Just days in, Crockett’s campaign seems to rest heavily on anti-Trumpism. “I am the only one who has gone toe-to- toe with Trump, and there’s a reason he’s al- ways got my name in his mouth,” she said at a press conference for her new campaign. “Trump, I know you’re watching, so let me tell you directly, you’re not entitled to a damn thing in Texas.” But Trump isn’t the only one who has had less-than-kind things to say about Crockett recently. Following her announcement, Paxton appeared on right-wing media outlet News- max to discuss his opponents, throwing shots at both Cornyn and Crockett. “She’s running in the wrong state if she doesn’t think she needs Donald Trump’s supporters,” Paxton said. “... She has no chance of winning this election.” The attorney general soon began attack- ing Cornyn’s policies and devotion to Re- publican voters. “It is interesting how close [Crockett] and John Cornyn are,” he said. “She’s also been very complimentary of him, actually saying that he isn’t really the Republican he’s run- ning as in the primary, he doesn’t really be- lieve in the border law, he doesn’t really believe in Donald Trump, and she’s actually right about John Cornyn, that’s for sure.” Cornyn himself wryly poked at Crock- ett’s reputation for audaciousness when asked about the new candidate. “Am I hiding my glee? I’ll try to wipe the smile off my face. I would say it’s a gift,” Cornyn told the media outlet Semafor in an interview after Colin Allred dropped out of the race, making room for Crockett. “... Colin — obviously, he wasn’t successful before, but he was what I would call closer to a normal Democrat than Jasmine. [She] is something else,” Cornyn added. Other Texas leaders have chimed in with quips about Crockett’s entry. “The Texas political cemetery is filled with blow hards like her who have no idea what it’s like to run statewide,” Gov. Greg Abbott wrote on X. “Looking forward to watching the circus-- and KEEPING the US Senate seat red. On the bright side for her, maybe she’ll end up with a job on The View.” Of the state’s highest-ranking politicians, one has been uniquely quiet. Sen. Ted Cruz, who, unlike the others, has no campaign trail to embark on until his term ends in 2031, has yet to release any official statement on the campaign. He has, however, tweeted about his latest enemy, Tucker Carlson, no less than 21 times this month. . CITY HALL ‘POLITICAL PETTINESS’ DALLAS CITY COUNCIL BICKERS OVER ITS HOMELESSNESS RESPONSE. BY EMMA RUBY D allas City Council members who are curious as to why $10 million in funding earmarked for homelessness efforts wasn’t discussed at the committee level are free to hear “the full story over lunch” from the chair of the Housing and Homelessness Solutions Committee herself, council member Cara Mendelsohn. But for those of us who are not permitted to hang out in the Marilla Street break room, the tale goes something like this. Earlier this year, Dallas pledged $10 mil- lion toward the second phase of Housing Forward’s Street to Home program, which helps provide rental assistance to homeles people who are looking to transition out of shelters. While the largest chunk of that funding is allocated toward the rental assis- tance program, some of the money will also be put toward case management and admin- istrative needs for the city’s various part- ners. At least 425 chronically homeless people are expected to benefit from the funding in the next year. While the dollars were earmarked in the most recent budget cycle, they still needed to be formally approved by the council. Typi- cally, high-ticket items are briefed on the committee level before they reach the full council, and this particular issue was on the agenda for the Dec. 10 meeting of the Hous- ing and Homelessness Solutions Committee. However, the committee meeting fell apart before the agenda item was discussed. The first briefing that morning was given by Allen Gwinn, an SMU professor whom Mendelsohn invited to present findings that he said suggest a correlation between home- lessness encampments and unexplained deaths across Dallas. Council member Adam Bazaldua responded to the analysis by stat- ing his preference for “less subjective lan- guage” during briefings. Bazaldua attempted to call Housing Forward’s CEO and president, Sarah Kahn, to the horseshoe for her perspective, but was stopped by Mendelsohn, who said, “We’re not doing this today.” When Bazaldua suggested that his time would be yielded to allow for Kahn to speak, Mendelsohn informed him that his time had ended. Bazaldua challenged that, and after a few minutes of debate, a city attorney sug- gested that the committee go into recess. That prompted Mendelsohn to end the brief- ing, although not every committee member had yet been given the opportunity to share their thoughts on the findings. As a result, several committee members left the chamber, and the committee was unable to regain a quorum, leaving several items, including the Housing Forward funding, undiscussed. Twenty-four hours later, speaking to the entire council, Mendelsohn argued that since the issue had not been debated in com- mittee, the council should not proceed with a vote. She also accused the body of shelling out the funding as part of a “short-term” ef- fort to “clean up” downtown before the FIFA World Cup takes place in North Texas next summer. “Spending $10 million on homeless ser- vices deserves a briefing, and it deserves a thoughtful discussion. We’re being told this is an emergency,” Mendelsohn said on Dec. 11. “We have no long-term plan, just one emergency after another. When these dol- lars are spent, we will have nothing to show for it. Nothing.” Ultimately, Mendelsohn was the only council member to vote against releasing the funding. But before that near-unanimous vote, council members took time to work through an unusually candid conversation about the issue that seems to be at the heart of so many City Hall disputes: pride. Council member Zarin Gracey remarked that conversations about the city’s most high- stakes issues are constantly interrupted by “political pettiness.” Council member Paula Blackmon reminded the officials that “people are really hurting,” and that the “games” at City Hall result in community members get- ting caught in the middle. Lorie Blair, who is only a few months into her first term as a council member, bluntly said that “political posturing and personality conflicts” are directly harming Dallas’ most vulnerable. “We have items here on the agenda that we should’ve gotten to discuss yesterday. It didn’t happen,” Blair said. “Who are we hurting? Ourselves. One of the things I’m not going to do is bow down to childish be- havior. I will not go forward next year | UNFAIR PARK | Nathan Hunsinger >> p6 Dallas U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett is running for Sen. John Cornyn’s seat.
