Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters that he is “absolutely delighted” that progressive firebrand Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, is running for U.S. Senate.

Johnson was asked during a House leadership press conference on Wednesday what he thought of Crockett entering the race and whether he was worried about her chances of flipping one of Texas’ Senate seats.

In response, Johnson rubbed his hands together and smiled.

“I’m absolutely delighted that Jasmine Crockett is running for Senate in Texas,” said Johnson.

“I think it’s one of the greatest things that’s happened to the Republican Party in a long, long time,” he went on, adding, “She is the face of the Democratic Party, she and [Zohran] Mamdani. Good luck with that.”

CROCKETT’S POTENTIAL SUCCESSOR HAS REPEATEDLY RAILED AGAINST US IN REPARATIONS PUSH: ‘IT’S BEEN EVIL’

Johnson said that he would like Crockett to “have the largest, loudest microphone that she can every single day.”

“We look forward to having that election down there,” he said, adding, “We are going to elect another Republican senator in Texas. Texas is a red state… The people of Texas are commonsense Americans, and what Jasmine is trying to sell will not be purchased by the folks of Texas.”

Later that day, House Democratic Caucus Chair Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., shot back at Johnson’s statements about Crockett, saying, “I think Speaker Johnson is trying to do anything he can to distract from the majority… that we see dwindling, and it’s like sand falling through his hands.”

“He just can’t keep a hold of it – he sees that – he would much rather talk about a Senate race than he would the Georgia House races that Republicans lost or the mayor’s race that the vice-chair mentioned, the first time in 30 years that a Democrat has been mayor of Miami… he wants to distract and take away from this because he’s losing his grip on his majority. That much is very clear.”

“So, the more that Speaker Johnson wants to talk about the national landscape and the Senate environment, I absolutely support because he’s losing his majority next November, if not sooner,” said Aguilar.

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Crockett, who is an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump, launched a last-minute Senate campaign on Monday. The race may determine if the GOP holds its majority in the chamber next year.

In her announcement speech to supporters in Dallas, Crockett framed her candidacy as an effort to stand up against Trump, something she said incumbent Republican Sen. John Cornyn will not do. 

“I’m done watching the American dream on life support while Trump tries to pull the plug. The gloves have been off, and now I’m jumping into the ring,” she said. 

“Many people wonder why I jumped in this race so late, and I just want to be clear that this was never my intention, this was never about me, I never put myself into any of the polls,” Crockett said. “But the more I saw the poll results, I couldn’t ignore the trends, which were clear, both as it relates to the primary as well as the general election, I could have played it safe and continued serving in the United States House of Representatives for as long as my constituents would have me, but I don’t choose to do that, because, Texas, this moment we’re in now is life or death.” 

“Many people asked, ‘Can we win this race in November?’ I’m here to say, ‘Yes, we can!’” Crockett fired back while echoing a slogan from former President Obama, whom she praised during her speech. 

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“Texas is a big boy state made up of brawlers with a moral code. Our representation should reflect that, sadly enough, it doesn’t,” she went on. “After evaluating the data, analyzing the trends, researching historic numbers, and combing over the crosstabs, it was clear, the numbers were strongest for my candidacy for United States Senate, that’s why I decided to enter this race.”

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In the Democratic primary, Crockett will be facing off against state Rep. James Talarico, another rising Democratic star.

On the Republican side of the aisle, Cornyn is being challenged by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas.  

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Wednesday accused Rep. Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., of joining a “rioting crowd” and attempting to interfere with agents during a mass arrest operation last week.

The accusation came after Grijalva claimed she was “pushed aside and pepper sprayed” during an immigration raid on Dec. 5 in Tucson, an account ICE flatly rejected.

“During the operation, U.S. Representative Adelita Grijalva joined the rioting crowd and attempted to impede law enforcement officers, then took to social media to slander law enforcement by falsely claiming she was pepper sprayed,” ICE said in a statement.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Grijalva’s office for comment.

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ICE and its federal partners arrested 46 illegal immigrants during the operation, the result of a “multiyear investigation into a transnational criminal organization involved in labor exploitation, tax violations, and immigration violations,” the agency said.

ICE said “over 100 agitators” arrived at one of the locations it searched and “attempted to impede law enforcement operations.”

“Agitators quickly turned violent, assaulting officers and slashing tires,” ICE added.

DEM-BACKED ‘DIGNITY’ BILL COULD STRIP ICE OF DETENTION POWERS, ERASE IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT, CRITICS WARN

In a post on X on Friday, Grijalva said she was “pushed aside and pepper sprayed” after seeking information from officers during ICE’s operation near the Taco Giro restaurant.

“ICE just conducted a raid by Taco Giro in Tucson — a small mom-and-pop restaurant that has served our community for years,” Grijalva wrote. “When I presented myself as a Member of Congress asking for more information, I was pushed aside and pepper sprayed.”

Grijalva also called ICE a “lawless agency” that is “operating with no transparency, no accountability, and open disregard for basic due process” in a separate X post.

MANHUNT UNDERWAY AFTER FEDERAL AGENTS TAKE GUNFIRE AS RIOTERS RAM VEHICLES, HURL DEBRIS IN CHICAGO

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin immediately disputed Grijalva’s account, saying she was never directly sprayed but merely in the “vicinity of someone who was.”

“If her claims were true, this would be a medical marvel,” McLaughlin said. “But they’re not true. She wasn’t pepper sprayed. She was in the vicinity of someone who was pepper sprayed as they were obstructing and assaulting law enforcement.”

ICE said two people in the crowd were arrested – one for assaulting a federal law enforcement officer and another for damaging a government vehicle. Two Homeland Security Investigation Special Response Team operators were also injured.

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When reached for comment, DHS referred Fox News Digital to ICE’s statement on the operation and ICE declined to comment further, referring to DHS’ post on X.

Fox News Digital’s Sophia Compton contributed to this report.

When it comes to the heavily contested Senate battle in Texas, former Rep. Colin Allred is out, Rep. Jasmine Crockett is in, and Democrats appear divided over whether Crockett’s a political liability in the ruby-red Lone Star State as the party works to flip the crucial seat.

The stakes in the race are extremely high, as it’s one of a handful across the country that will likely determine if Republicans hold their Senate majority in next year’s midterm elections.

Crockett, a two-term lawmaker who represents a Dallas-area district, is a progressive firebrand and rising Democratic Party star with a large social media following who is known as a vocal critic and foil of President Donald Trump. Her launch will likely further rock the Texas ballot box showdown, which, on the Republican side, includes a very combustible battle between incumbent Sen. John Cornyn and GOP primary rivals state Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt.

“The Democratic Party’s aspirations to win statewide in a red state like Texas simply don’t exist without a centrist Democrat who can build a winning coalition of ideologically diverse voters,” Liam Kerr, co-founder of the Welcome PAC, a group which advocates for moderate Democratic candidates, argued in a statement to Fox News Digital.

JASMINE CROCKETT SAYS SHE DOESN’T NEED TO CONVERT TRUMP SUPPORTERS IN HER TEXAS SENATE BID

Allred, who was making his second straight bid for the Senate after losing last year to conservative Sen. Ted Cruz by nine points, abandoned his bid on Monday and announced he would run next year to return to the House, hours before Crockett launched her campaign.

Crockett will now face off in her party’s primary with state Rep. James Talarico, a former middle school teacher and Presbyterian seminarian who is also seen as a rising Democrat. The two surging contenders will face off in the March 3 primary.

FIERCE TRUMP CRITIC CROCKETT SHAKES UP HIGH STAKES SENATE RACE

“I think we’re in a period where we’re looking for new fresh faces to lead the party, and that’s what you’ve got in Texas,” veteran Democratic strategist Joe Caiazzo told Fox News Digital.

And Caiazzo, apparently pointing to Allred, said, “No more retreads. If you ran and lost, it’s time for something new.”

Allred, facing the prospect of battling two younger rivals with formidable fundraising, opted to switch races.

“I don’t think he was pushed out of the race. I think he was considering it on his own. But I don’t doubt that he was certainly urged to continue considering it until he finally did it,” a veteran Texas-based Democratic strategist told Fox News Digital.

The strategist, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely, said, “With Crockett getting into the race, she cuts into a lot of Allred’s base. They’re both pulling from the Black Democratic primary vote, and they’re both from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, except she’s in office right now with a huge following and making a lot of headlines. That’s a real threat to his Senate campaign.”

With less than three months until the primary, political pundits list Crockett as the Democratic frontrunner.

SENATE REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN CHIEF SAYS CROCKETT CANDIDACY EXPOSES HOW ‘RADICAL’ DEMOCRATS ARE

“I’m done watching the American dream on life support while Trump tries to pull the plug. The gloves have been off, and now I’m jumping into the ring,” Crockett said as she announced her candidacy.

And her launch included a video playing several soundbites of President Donald Trump attacking her.

Kerr said Crockett as the party’s nominee would be a problem in a state where no Democrat has won a Senate election in nearly four decades — since Sen. Lloyd Bentsen’s re-election in 1988.

“We appreciate Rep. Crockett being so explicit that she’s not trying to win over Trump supporters or persuadable voters, but that approach simply doesn’t work in statewide Texas races. You can’t win competitive or red territory without persuading less partisan, independent, and Republican voters,” he argued.

But Michael Ceraso, a Democratic strategist and founder of Winning Margins, a communications firm, told Fox News Digital that “Rep. Crockett is running to change the political landscape in Texas.”

“If she wins, she becomes a legend who can run for president. If she loses, she still becomes a political voice for years to come who gets the money to talk and move people.”

Ceraso argued that the Democratic Party is “a reactionary party to President Trump and will be that way for the next few years. Crockett is turning this ‘reaction’ into a platform, and maybe she’ll stick the landing on policies that connect with voters.”

Asked if Crockett is too far to the left to win statewide, the Texas-based Democratic strategist who asked for anonymity, pointing to the party’s poor performances, said, “It can’t get any worse, right. We keep losing by 10 points. We may as well try something different.”

Republicans are over the moon at the prospect of Crockett as the Democrats’ 2026 Senate nominee.

“I think it says something about who the Democrats are nationally, not just in Texas. What it says is that they’ve been overrun by this radical left agenda that focuses on rhetoric, not reality,” said Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital on Monday.

But Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin isn’t buying the GOP messaging that all Democrats are far-left radicals.

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“We have conservative Democrats, we have centrist Democrats, we have progressives, and we have leftists. And I’ve always said that you win elections through addition, not subtraction. You win by bringing people into your coalition and growing your party,” Martin told Fox News Digital in a recent interview.

And Martin argued that “unlike the Republicans, who are fairly homogenous, who, you know, basically have one ideology and do not allow for any dissent, the Democratic Party has a lot of different thoughts and ideas which certainly share the same goals, but many different ways to get to those goals.”