(NEXSTAR) – Democrats are betting they can pull an upset in next year’s U.S. Senate race in Texas. Is Rep. Jasmine Crockett exactly the candidate her party needs — or the opponent Republicans want?

She may be both.

Crockett, a sophomore congresswoman, former Texas state legislator and civil rights attorney, contends her candidacy as an underdog has historic potential.

“I’m here to tell you that, yes, we can,” Crockett said, invoking the words of Barack Obama during his own underdog Senate run.

In a nearly 30-minute interview, Crockett laid out a strategy she believes could flip the Republican stronghold of Texas. Central to her theory is expanding the electorate by mobilizing voters who typically sit out elections. Texas has more than 18 million registered voters, yet just 11 million voted in the 2024 presidential election.

“My theory of the case has been to get those people that feel like there’s no one that really represents them and pull them out,” Crockett said. “That’s the goal.”

She points to rising name recognition following viral confrontations with Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and President Donald Trump, arguing that national attention can translate into turnout among disengaged voters.

Crockett says she plans to court self-identified conservatives, potentially those who voted for President Trump over Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. In Texas, President Trump earned 500,000 more votes than he received in 2020. Harris, the first Black woman to lead a major party presidential ticket, lost Texas by a wider margin than President Joe Biden did four years earlier.

When asked whether Harris’ appeal to the political center may have dampened enthusiasm among Democratic base voters, Crockett acknowledged the risk.

“I do think that you run the risk of the base kind of tuning you out,” she said. “But it’s important that people know you are down to govern. You won’t always have the cards in your favor. If I become Senator Crockett, Donald Trump will still be the president.”

Asked whether she would adopt a more left-wing, movement-driven strategy similar to that of New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, Crockett laughed.

“New York is a whole other beast,” she said.

One of the same issues that helped President Trump expand his coalition in 2024 may also provide Crockett an opening: affordability. Roughly eight in 10 Americans say the cost of living remains a major concern, according to recent national polling, with inflation and housing costs topping voter priorities. She points to recent Democratic wins in Georgia, Tennessee, and Miami, Florida as proof.

Crockett says she supports raising the federal minimum wage and opposes President Trump’s tariffs, arguing they are worsening economic pressure and disproportionately harming farmers and small business owners.

She also voiced concern over the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence infrastructure. Her Dallas-based congressional district recently secured a multimillion-dollar investment to host several large AI data centers. At the same time, opposition to data center construction has grown nationwide, particularly in rural and suburban communities where residents cite rising electricity and water bills tied to the facilities’ heavy resource use.

Last week, President Trump signed an executive order aimed at easing state-level regulations on AI development, promoting a uniform federal framework that the administration argues is necessary to compete with China.

“We’ve experienced historic droughts here in Texas,” Crockett said. “This is only going to compound the issue.”

She framed AI infrastructure as a rare point of potential coalition building.

“This is an opportunity to bring together people who aren’t usually allies,” Crockett said. “Those worried about environmental impacts, those worried about their bills and those worried about their livelihoods, whether that’s a family farm or a small business that depends on water access.”

Concerns over AI data centers are emerging as a key issue heading into next year’s midterm elections, particularly in fast-growing states like Texas.

Before any general election matchup, Crockett must survive a competitive Democratic primary. Notably, former Rep. Colin Allred ended his campaign hours before Crockett launched her bid. She is set to face Texas state Rep. James Talarico, a former public-school teacher who entered the race earlier and has been polling ahead of several other Democratic contenders. Talarico welcomed Crockett to the race when she announced her candidacy.

Crockett argues her experience at the federal level gives her an advantage.

Republicans are cheering on Crockett’s entrance. At a news conference, a grinning House Speaker Mike Johnson said he was “absolutely delighted” by her decision, signaling the party’s eagerness to face her in a statewide race.

Crockett brushed off the response.

“They know what the polling shows. They know that I’m ahead in the polling in the primary. They know how strong my polling is for the general as well,” she said. “My goal is to keep people focused on what they know. I am a fundraising machine, and I’m going to raise money. People who typically don’t care about politics connect with me. That’s a scary thing for them, because that’s what polling cannot predict.”