Jasmine Crockett didn’t simply lose her Senate primary. She staged a slow-motion meltdown on the way out the door, complete with preemptive claims of cheating and “disenfranchisement,” long before the votes were even done being counted.

Early Tuesday evening, while ballots were still being tallied across 254 Texas counties, Crockett started laying the groundwork for an excuse. She told supporters there had been “a lot of confusion” in Dallas County. She insisted that “people have been disenfranchised,” blaming Republicans for supposedly targeting Dallas and hinting darkly at votes that might not count. Then she left her own watch party early and told the crowd not to expect results that night, saying, “We’re not gonna have election results tonight, in my opinion,” and declaring she wouldn’t be back.

The story she spun was simplistic: It was the Republicans’ fault. Republicans messed with the rules, voters got confused, and now the integrity of the election is in doubt. Oh, and blame Republicans!

It was a true Stacey Abrams-level election conspiracy theory, as if Republicans were desperate to stop her from winning her primary. It’s ridiculous that there are still Election Day court fights over election law and closing times, but the sad truth is that they are nothing new. Democrats like to find excuses, no matter how flimsy, to extend voting hours.

Matt Margolis

Crockett, though, treated it like a constitutional crisis, and she laid the groundwork for not conceding the primary. She told her supporters, “We will not know what votes are to be tallied from Election Day out of Dallas County,” and urged them to “remain resilient” and “figure out where it is that you are supposed to vote.” She talked about “cheating” and behavior that “cannot be allowed to be rewarded.” She said her team was “getting stories” and “collecting evidence,”