Several candidates for elected office in Hays County, along with Senate hopeful Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (D-Dallas), held a rally on Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, at Bobcat Trail. 

The event was part of Crockett’s Texas Tough Tour, where she made five stops across Texas in one day. According to organizers, the event had over 100 attendees, despite only being planned that morning. 

The rally was opened by several candidates on the primary ballot. Speakers included Tanya Lloyd, who is running for the redrawn Texas 27th Congressional District. She said she is running to oppose the pro life stance of current Congressman Michael Cloud (R-Victoria). Lloyd said her perspective comes from a complication she had when pregnant with her daughter, that caused her to give birth at 30 weeks.

“I was sitting on my couch thinking what would happen right now in the state of Texas if I was 15 weeks pregnant … what would I do?” Lloyd said. “Where would I go? And so I’m standing here before you because I want to make a difference for you.”

Kristin Hook is a candidate for the redrawn Texas Congressional District 21 (CD 21), which is currently held by Congressman Chip Roy (R-Austin). Hook criticized Texas redrawing congressional districts for the midterm.

“How many of y’all know that our state just racially gerrymandered all of the congressional districts last year? How many of you know that?” Hook said. “You have been moved into this district. You are now in the CD 21 district.”

Multiple local candidates were also introduced to the audience at the event, such as Alfonzo Salazar and Landon Campbell, who are both running for Hays County Criminal District Attorney in the primary. The last person to speak before Crockett was Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra. 

Crockett opened her speech by saying she has always supported young people. Crockett told a story about her recent visit to Lubbock, which she said was motivated by her desire to inspire a young supporter.

“I went to Lubbock because a 15-year-old sent me an email, and in that email, she said, ‘Congresswoman Crockett, I really want you to be our next senator, and I want to help you. I just don’t know what all I can do,’” Crockett said. “All I could think about was, this was an opportunity to inspire someone who aspires to do so much for her country.”

Crockett said that young people need to take charge of politics, telling the audience that they are already using their voices more than she did at their age. She encouraged anyone in the audience who had not already voted in the primary to do so.

Like Lloyd, Crockett also discussed abortion rights. She said women should have autonomy over their own bodies.

“No government or anybody else should be trying to tell you what you can and can’t do with your body,” Crockett said. “And it is such a shame, because specifically in Texas, it was in Texas that Roe v. Wade actually happened. That case comes from my district in Dallas.”

According to Crockett, people should be fighting together against those in power, instead of arguing with each other over politics. 

“Do not look at your neighbors and think they’re the problem, because they are not. We got to stick together. It doesn’t mean we’re gonna agree on everything,” Crockett said. “But we got to love one another, because that’s what democracy really looks like. It looks like us fighting together, hand in hand.”

After Crockett spoke, Texas State Black Pre-Law Association president Trinity Taylor and member Felicia Jones, who co-hosted the event, said minority student organizations face growing challenges, such as academic freedom around cultural and ethnic studies being questioned. 

“Representation matters, leadership matters, advocacy and events like this matters,and so it’s important that we have leaders like this who are willing to stand in the fire for their communities in order to advocate against the injustice that is happening right now,” Taylor said.

Taylor and Jones also encouraged any students registered to vote in Hays County, to vote at the polling location in the LBJ Student Center.

“Early voting has already started, and it will end this Friday, Feb. 27. The primary voting for the election is March 3,” Taylor said.