The Atlantic: Why I Got Thrown Out of a Jasmine Crockett Rally

[SSJVegeta]

For the past hour, I’d watched as Representative Jasmine Crockett riled up her supporters in deep-red Lubbock, where voters were thrilled to receive a visit from the Democratic Senate candidate. But afterward, as I attempted to join the other reporters interviewing the lawmaker, a woman with a badge approached me.

“Are you Elaine?” she asked. I recognized her from the entrance of the event, where I had identified myself as she’d waved me into the building’s press area. Yes, I answered. “Her team has asked you to leave,” she said. When I asked why, the staffer looked at her phone and read dutifully: “They just said, ‘Elaine from Atlantic, white girl with a hat and notepad. She’s interviewing people in the crowd. She’s a top-notch hater and will spin. She needs to leave.’”

I will, of course, own up to being a white woman wearing a Menards baseball cap. But “top-notch hater” is a distinction that I had never considered for myself. Last year, I wrote a profile of Crockett that displeased the congresswoman. I interviewed her several times for the story, but after she learned that I’d called some of her colleagues in Congress without asking her permission, she told me that she was “shutting down the profile and revoking all permissions.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/02/texas-senate-democratic-primary-talarico-crockett/686154/?gift=n7HmYTBCvTY9gXr4ej6GSwFgzqss392sj6VX6poD57o&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

[niyad]

1. paywall

[SSJVegeta]

2. Sorry! Fixed...

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/02/texas-senate-democratic-primary-talarico-crockett/686154/?gift=n7HmYTBCvTY9gXr4ej6GSwFgzqss392sj6VX6poD57o&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

[niyad]

3. Thank you. A very interresting article..

[W_HAMILTON]

4. Based on your snippet, it sounds like Crockett was right.

[SSJVegeta]

9. How so?

[W_HAMILTON]

17. The entire snippet was the reporter making the story about herself.

That's a big red flag to begin with.

We Democrats need to start pushing back against biased media to level the playing field after Republicans have been pressuring media outlets for decades to the point where damn near every single one of them treat Republicans with kid gloves while holding Democrats to completely different and much higher standards.

[Quiet Em]

18. Agreed. Elaine wrote an article about herself

Last edited Fri Feb 27, 2026, 01:41 PM - Edit history (1)

and she's letting all of us know that she might be a top notch hater who spins things.

That was my takeaway.

[rzemanfl]

26. Do you mean she spins things

or is "an unmarried woman, typically an older woman beyond the usual age for marriage?"

[Quiet Em]

29. spins things.

I should have worded that better.

[rzemanfl]

30. No problem. n/t

[SSJVegeta]

20. Understandable. FWIW the vast majority of the article outside of the snippet is largely substantial

But I hear where you are coming from.

[obamanut2012]

25. Beacuse the article was about the reporter, not the subject ie Crockett

[SSJVegeta]

28. The snippet was. Not the article

The entire article is worth a read

[snowybirdie]

5. Should a candidate

really censure the press? A very bad look. Especially for a Democrat. Don't care how the candidate felt about the reporters previous writing. It's a free press!

[mwmisses4289]

6. Well, why not? trump does it all the time.

I mean, his "press pool" now is nothing but spinners who only write about how great he is.

Let's see...competent, intelligent black woman who may get the nod from texas voters to run against incompetent white man...ooo, let's start tearing her down!

[SSJVegeta]

10. The whole point of evil people is to not emulate them

...not try to be like them to remain competitive

[mwmisses4289]

11. I probably should have put the sarcasm tag on the first part of my post.

[snowybirdie]

16. Tearing her down??????

Why do you assume facts not in evidence? Please!

[pinkstarburst]

24. Talarico is extremely competent

That's what the rabid Jasmine crowd (most of whom are out of staters who are dismayed that they don't get to vote in our elections) just aren't getting.

James Talarico had been running for Senate for months and building up a strong campaign before Jasmine decided to enter on literally the last day before the filing deadline. I had already been hearing about Talarico for months and really liked him and he already had my vote. This isn't anything against Jasmine, just that when I heard she was going to join the race, too, my reaction wasn't "YAY" but instead, "ugh, why isn't she running for something else where we don't already have a REALLY GOOD candidate lined up?" Because my vote was already spoken for and I knew this way, one of them would wind up knocking the other out.

It's a shame she didn't plan this out better from the start. It's a shame she didn't run for one of the other offices so that we could have had both of them on the ticket. But Talarico is not an incompetent white man. He's highly competent and highly intelligent, just like Jasmine. It's just a shame that they are both running for the same thing, and that we only get one of them.

[mwmisses4289]

35. I wasn't referring to Mr. Talrico,

I was referring to the two incompetent idiots that are running on the repuke side, one of whom will face off against Ms. Crockett or Mr. Talrico, one of whom will be the dem nominee.
While Mr. Talrico seems like a decent person, for many dems his making no bones about his christianity feels like a slap in the face. That said, however, many of these same dems will vote for him if he wins the primary and gets voted as our nominee.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

37. Crockett was a victim of the GOP gerrymander

Crockett was one of the targets of the GOP/abbott gerrymander.

[MichMan]

12. I found this part in particular didn't look good if true

I interviewed her several times for the story, but after she learned that I’d called some of her colleagues in Congress without asking her permission, she told me that she was “shutting down the profile and revoking all permissions.” (In retrospect, I suppose this was a helpful signal that Crockett does not have a firm grasp on the First Amendment, or at least does not particularly care for it.)

[Red Mountain]

14. Yeah, that's a little much

the editorial content of the article, I mean. Sounds like there might be a wee ax to grind here.

[usedtobedemgurl]

21. Wow, she is full of herself, for a reporter!

Does this “reporter” not understand what the actual first amendment is? She twists it to make it seem like what Jasmine did was a huge violation, yet it is the reporter who does not seem to understand it and maligns Jasmine.


The First Amendment only protects you from political ramifications - you write about someone and the government does not jail you. It does not guarantee no ramifications (for example, the far right burning Dixie Chicks albums and refusing to buy tickets to their concerts). and nor does it guarantee someone must speak to you! How egocentric and wrong of the reporter to frame it as such garbage. She should be fired for spewing such lies. That may teach her the true meaning of the First Amendment - they can fire her, and it is not in any way a violation of her rights for free speech.

[SSJVegeta]

32. This is such an important point

Nonetheless most republican candidates who throw disagreeers out of their campaigns often get a lot of criticism from the left. That being said, it isnt a first amendment issue whether or not she wants to talk to somebody orbhave them at their events (i think?) regardless of the reason. I mean. I guess i need to think through how the press goggles and access to the white house work, and how a candidate who is an official might differ from that situation.

[MorbidButterflyTat]

23. Asking the "reporter" to leave HER event

is not censuring the press. That's ridiculous.

Should Dems welcome Hannity? Or any right wing MAGAt?

[Roy Rolling]

7. Hmm

I guess contemporary campaign strategies targeting short-attention span voters may seem counterproductive to me, but a mainstay of the political campaign industrial complex.

It’s just business.

But I don’t have to like it.

[tulipsandroses]

8. Elaine doesn't have to be there to write about Crockett

Elaine sounds like a drama queen. She thinks that Rep Crockett having a pic of herself on her phone is a bad thing??? Grow up Elaine.

[MichMan]

13. Campaign denies it ever happened

A spokesperson for her team told Semafor that I had not been removed from the event. Crockett told CBS News there is “no evidence” that a reporter had been removed from an event.

[Red Mountain]

15. Last sentence from the article.....

"But when Texans head to the polls on Tuesday, we will probably learn something about the kind of fighter that Democrats are craving one year into the second Trump presidency: a firebrand famous for being her own kind of “top-notch hater,” or an earnest preacher-in-training focused mostly on the power of love."


If they did throw her out they made the right decision.

[MustLoveBeagles]

19. Yeah

That wasn't biased at all.

[UTUSN]

22. So Elaine's reasons are that CROCKETT "doesn't have a grasp" and "doesn't care" for the 1st Amendment and

isn't "known for calm restraint." And Dems want "a fighter" but CROCKETT is not clear enough for Elaine what that means. So for Elaine, TALARICO has "faith ... kindness and respect" while CROCKETT is Black and does "bombast." Got it.

So Elaine met "several ... and two more" prior KRASNOV voters now going for TALARICO - and, AND she "told him about it". Was she a reporter or a consultant?

So in the end, this very contested primary will clarify for Elaine "what kind of fighter" Dems want, her main issue.

[delisen]

27. I think the Atlantic has hired a Nuzzi.

[gab13by13]

31. The primary voters of Texas will decide,

[B.See]

33. My general comments for

this and all similar matters are

1. don't bash Democrats. Not even in favour of another Democrat.

2. don't bring knives to a gunfight.

3. what's good for the goose....

[sop]

34. After reading the article it's clear who the author would endorse.

I tend to agree with the author: Texas voters usually prefer white, male, overtly religious candidates.

[miyazaki]

36. Her next article, "Why I Got Thrown Out From The Atlantic".

[Mysterian]

38. We can hope

I'm surprised such a vapid fool got a job with them.

[msongs]

39. dems leaning reporters work repub crowds. it's part of the process. why is Crockett afraid?