Texas congresswoman campaigns to help SC Democrats, says she’s ‘not one of those’ 2028 contenders

ROCK HILL — U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett distanced herself Thursday from other Democrats crisscrossing South Carolina ahead of the midterms as they test the waters for a potential 2028 presidential bid.

The Texas congresswoman rallied with state Rep. Jermaine Johnson, the Democratic nominee for governor, hours after President Donald Trump rallied less than 2 miles away in support of Republicans on the ballot.

Potential White House hopefuls are already flocking to South Carolina, which will hold Democrats’ first-in-the-nation presidential nominating contest in 2028.

All have dismissed questions about 2028 and insist they’re here to help Democrats flip seats in a state that hasn’t elected a Democrat to statewide office in 20 years.

But Crockett, who’s gotten national attention for her fiery style, indicated everyone at the rally knew otherwise — even while saying she’s not in that group.

“Y’all already know all the eyes are going to be on you come 2028. You already know that part. That’s why y’all had a lot of visitors? I’m not one of those visitors. Y’all know which ones I’m talking about. Y’all know which ones. Don’t make me say the names,” Crockett said to laughter from a crowd of roughly a thousand people inside McGirt Auditorium.

Crockett said South Carolina Democrats need to prove to the hopefuls they should be here not just to introduce themselves to January 2028 voters who can propel them to a nomination but that it’s possible to win South Carolina’s electoral votes too.

The last Democrat to do that was Jimmy Carter from neighboring Georgia in 1976.

“I want them to look and be running to South Carolina because they see not only an opportunity in the primary, but they know that South Carolina can do it again for them in the general,” she said to applause.

“What does this mean for you? It means that you are going to have to talk to any and everybody,” she continued. “I need you to call your exes and be like, you don’t like them like that. But the congresswoman said, I need to call him and tell you to do what you need to do.”

Crockett, first elected to the U.S. House in 2022, lost her primary bid for U.S. Senate earlier this year to Texas state Rep. James Talarico.

Potential contenders who have campaigned in South Carolina recently alongside Johnson include Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, former White House adviser Rahm Emanuel, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, California Rep. Ro Khanna, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, and Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock.

And on Tuesday evening, Vice President Kamala Harris joined Johnson for a virtual fundraiser.

Asked why she was in South Carolina on Thursday, Crockett told reporters the visit was about instilling hope in South Carolina Democrats.

“I need people to know that it’s possible, and I think that when you have somebody like me travel all the way from Texas, they say, ‘Well, at least she believes it’s possible.’ Even if it’s not, she believes it. A lot of this is about believing,” Crockett said.

Earlier Thursday, she was with Johnson for a “fireside chat” at Benedict College, a private historically Black college in Columbia. On Friday, she campaigned in Charlotte, North Carolina, to help Democrats in the presidential swing state, including a stop of Johnson C. Smith University, also a private HBCU.

Johnson and fellow Democratic nominees face an uphill battle in reliably Republican South Carolina.

While polls in the U.S. Senate race between three-month incumbent GOP Sen. Darline Graham and Democrat Annie Andrews indicate a close finish — within the margin of error — that’s not the case for other statewide offices.

SC Democrats rally with Georgia US senator ahead of early voting

Johnson believes he can prove those polls wrong.

“I don’t have to bring the momentum. The people are already fired up … people are ready,” he told the SC Daily Gazette ahead of the Rock Hill event. “I’m going to continue to go in here and talk about this new South Carolina, let people know that it’s time for a new South Carolina.”

He faces Republican Alan Wilson, the state’s attorney general since 2010, who spoke at Trump’s rally in Rock Hill hours earlier.

Wilson’s two-week bus tour around the state concludes Monday. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp joined him Friday for stops in Lexington and Aiken counties, after making his official endorsement.

“There’s no question that a Gov, Alan Wilson will mean more money in the pockets of the people of South Carolina and a brighter future for all who call the Palmetto State home,” Kemp said in a statement.

Early voting runs through Saturday. Election Day is on Tuesday.