Everyone’s talking about Jasmine Crockett.
Steward Beckham led the Certain Thoughts roundtable post on the incendiary Senate candidate, saying:
The announcement of Jasmine Crockett’s Senate campaign exposed tensions long simmering inside the Democratic coalition. Establishment and centrist voices quickly voiced concern, uneasy with an outspoken Black woman known both for sharp critique and occasional rhetorical overreach, stepping into a high-stakes race. Others were energized, seeing her candidacy as a potential jolt to a base frustrated by a donor-friendly class that still defends a legacy of neoliberalism and neoconservatism, while insisting it has nothing to do with the mess we’re in now.
This dynamic reflects the deeper problem: Democratic leadership continues to obsess over messaging and internal tone-policing while remaining disconnected from the urgent fears of working-class, marginalized, and increasingly disillusioned communities. We are living in a deregulated, destabilized economy shaped by decades of policy failure, yet party strategy often defaults to outdated assumptions about electability and a fantasy of bipartisan centrism.
In 2024, Democrats sidelined progressive voices calling for moral clarity on human rights, civil liberties, and the symbolism of a woman of color running for president in an age of rising bigotry. They lost. Now, 2026 presents another test. Will Democrats once again chase Trump voters at the risk of alienating their most loyal and vulnerable constituencies? Or will they take seriously the realignment happening in the electorate, where enthusiasm comes from clarity and not caution?
Jasmine Crockett’s candidacy isn’t just about one seat, it’s really about whether the Democratic Party is prepared to reckon with the present, or retreat into a past that no longer exists. What it chooses to hear, and who it chooses to trust, will say everything about where it’s headed.
I was intrigued by Steward’s take on Crockett’s candidacy and the deeper layers of meaning it carries for the party and the country in this moment. So I invited him for a wide-ranging discussion, and I hope you enjoy the replay as much as I enjoyed chatting with Steward.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR! UPCOMING SUBSTACK LIVE
“LEST YE BE JUDGED” WITH JON NEUMANN
“What if there already was a law that could be used against MAGA to hold them accountable for their crimes and dismantle their networks once Trump is out of power? What if NSPM-7 sets a legal precedent to prosecute MAGA as the nation’s main perpetrator of “Domestic Terrorism” and “Organized Political Violence”? What if NSPM-7 could be co-opted by a Democratic administration to hold Donald Trump and his cronies accountable for their anti-Christian cruelty and greed, their anti-American assault on Constitutional rights and the rule of law, and their anti-Capitalistic orgy of corruption and self-dealing?”
I love my conversations with Jon. Join us next Monday, December 22, at 2:30pm PST / 5:30 pm EST as we discuss his latest piece. If you missed our previous Substack lives, check out:
Horseshoe Theory in the Heartland: Middle American Radicals, ‘Horseshoe Theory,’ and the prowess of authentic populism
Discussing Platner, Lamb and Fetterman: a conversation about Jon’s essay “The Lion and the Lamb”
