On Monday, Rep. Jasmine Crockett announced that she’s running to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate. As Crockett’s move opens up her current seat in the House of Representatives, someone close to the congresswoman — her pastor — is now looking to take her place in representing the Dallas area in Congress. To do so, he will build upon decades of experience in the Dallas community, leading one of the city’s most prominent congregations.
Crockett’s pastor seeks to follow her path to Congress
On Monday, the Rev. Dr. Frederick Haynes III filed the necessary paperwork to run for Congress in the 30th District of Texas, the seat Crockett currently holds, on the same day she announced her senatorial campaign. The move continues a season of renewed public activity for Haynes, who recently returned from medical leave to Dallas’ Friendship-West Baptist Church, where he’s served as pastor for 40 years.
“I am grateful to God for healing and restoration,” Haynes said in October when he returned to his pastoral duties. At the time, he declared, “I return reenergized, refocused, and ready to continue the work of building hope, justice, and healing together.”
Now, Haynes appears set to bring that energy and focus to the campaign trail.
Decades of church leadership and social activism
In addition to pastoring Friendship-West, which has grown to a 13,000-person congregation under his leadership, Haynes has long been active in politics and social activism. In 2003, he cofounded the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, which is described on its website as representing “a cross section of progressive African American faith leaders and their congregations in the United States.” In 2023, Haynes briefly succeeded Jesse Jackson as leader of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition. Haynes was vocal about police brutality after the 2020 killing of George Floyd, and he has supported the ongoing boycott against Target over its rollback of diversity initiatives. He has also endorsed Crockett, who’s among his Dallas-area congregants.
Navigating the gerrymandered Texas political landscape
Haynes’ entry into the Democratic primary race for the 30th Congressional District adds another detail to a complicated political landscape for the Democratic Party in Texas. Next year’s elections will be held under a new, gerrymandered map drawn by Texas Republicans and sanctioned by the conservative majority of the U.S. Supreme Court. The redrawn district lines created a scenario where Democrats have been left competing for a smaller number of viable seats. Also on Monday, former Rep. Colin Allred dropped out of the Senate race; he will instead run for the House seat of the redrawn 33rd District. Its current representative, Democrat Marc Veasey, had been expected to run for Crockett’s seat but has instead decided to run for Tarrant County judge, avoiding a potential primary showdown with Haynes.
With Crockett and Veasey seeking other positions, Haynes has an opportunity to build upon his long career with a trip to Congress. To do so, he will have to convince voters that his decades of pastoral care and activism make him the right person to follow Crockett in representing the 30th District. The Democratic primary is scheduled for March 3.