BANGKOK (AP) — An election candidate in the strife-torn nation of Myanmar has been detained by a resistance group opposed to army rule, state media reported Wednesday, the first known such action before the polls scheduled for later this month.
The detention of Wai Lin Htet, 37, a candidate of the Shan and Nationalities Democratic Party, highlights ongoing tensions in Myanmar, where local resistance groups clash with the military government as it tries to hold the Dec. 28 election.
The Magway region has been one of the strongholds of armed resistance since the army seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021. After peaceful demonstrations were put down with lethal force, many opponents of military rule took up arms, forming the People’s Defense Force, which is now engaged in combat in many areas of the country.
Critics have denounced the election plan as a sham to normalize the military takeover, and several opposition organizations, including armed resistance groups, have said they will try to derail them.
Jeremy Laurence, a spokesperson for the U.N.’s human rights office, warned last Friday that the ballot would be conducted in an environment “rife with threats and violence” and actively suppressed political participation.
A report in the state-run Myanma Alinn newspaper said that Wai Lin Htet was detained at 3 p.m. on Saturday by three members of a local resistance group who arrived on two motorbikes, while he was at home with his family in Pakokku Township, in central Myanmar’s Magway Region.
It identified the three as members of the People’s Defense Force, whose many local and regional forces make up the armed wing of the pro-democracy movement battling the army. The unit responsible for his detention wasn't further identified, and there were no public statements about the action.
The report said that authorities were seeking the arrest of the three under a section of a new electoral law that carries a maximum penalty of seven years in prison for detaining a parliamentary candidate and preventing him from conducting election activities.
According to reports from local media, including the online news site Myanmar Now, nearly 100 people, including film directors, have been arrested under the election law since it was enacted in July, and some of them have received sentences of up to 49 years in prison.
Sai Ai Pao, chairman of the Shan and Nationalities Democratic Party — also known as the White Tiger Party, and one of six parties contesting the polls nationwide — refused to comment to The Associated Pres about the incident because of concerns about the candidate’s safety.
The Shan and Nationalities Democratic Party, once a small ethnic party based in Shan and Kachin states in previous elections, is now competing nationwide with more than 580 candidates, making it the fifth-largest of the six parties competing nationwide. It's not considered explicitly pro- or anti-military, but its participation in the election gives the impression it is allied with the army.
FILE - Supporters of Myanmar's military backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), dance on the first day of campaign for the upcoming general election, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025.(AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo, File)
FILE - Members of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) gather for opening ceremony of the party's slogan poster during the first day of election campaign for upcoming general election at their Yangon region party's headquarters Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025, in Yangon, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw, File)
Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett launched a campaign Monday for the U.S. Senate in Texas, telling President Donald Trump, “I'm coming for you," and bringing a national profile to what could be a critical race for Democrats’ long-shot hopes of reclaiming a Senate majority in next year’s midterm elections.
Crockett, one of Congress’ most outspoken Democrats, a frequent target of GOP attacks and a Trump target, jumped into the race on the final day of qualifying in Texas. She is seeking the Senate seat held by Republican John Cornyn, who is running for reelection in the GOP-dominated state.
“As a candidate who is constantly attacked and seen as a threat, it's because I am,” Crockett told supporters in Dallas. “I'm the only one who has gone toe to toe with Donald Trump, and there's a reason he's always got my name in his mouth.”
Democrats need a net gain of four Senate seats to wrest control from Republicans next November, when most of the seats up for reelection are in states like Texas that President Donald Trump won last year. Democrats have long hoped to make Texas more competitive after decades of Republican dominance. Cornyn, first elected to the Senate since 2002, is facing the toughest GOP primary of his career against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt.
Crockett’s announcement came hours after former Rep. Colin Allred ended his own campaign for the Democratic nomination in favor of attempting a House comeback bid. She faces a March 3 primary against Democratic state Rep. James Talarico, a former teacher with a rising national profile fueled by viral social media posts challenging Republican policies such as private school vouchers and requiring the Ten Commandments in classrooms.
“It’s going to be a sprint from now until the primary, but in Texas you have to think about the voter base overall in November, too,” said Kamau Marshall, a Democratic consultant who has worked for Allred before and worked on other campaigns in Texas. “Who can do the work on the ground? After the primary, who can win in the general?"
Talarico raised almost $6.3 million in the three weeks after he formally organized his primary campaign committee in September and had nearly $5 million in cash on hand at the end of the month, campaign finance reports showed. Crockett raised about $2.7 million for her House campaign fund from July through September and ended September with $4.6 million.
Crockett could test Democratic voters’ appetite for a blunt communicator who is eager to take on Republicans as Democrats pursue their first statewide victory in Texas since 1994.
Republicans were quick Monday to try to turn Crockett's penchant for public clashes with opponents into liabilities. Paxton called her “Crazy Crockett."
Cornyn told reporters at the U.S. Capitol he was eager for the chance to face her.
“I think that would be a lot of fun,” he said. “She just says such inflammatory and crazy things.”
Talarico welcomed Crockett to the Democratic primary but pointed to his fundraising and said he has 10,000 volunteers.
“Our movement is rooted in unity over division,” he said in a statement.
Democrats see their best opportunity to pick up the Texas seat if Paxton wins the Republican nomination because he has been shadowed for much of his career by legal and personal issues. Yet Paxton is popular with Trump’s most ardent supporters.
Hunt, who has served two terms representing a Houston-area district, defied GOP leaders by entering the GOP race.
Crockett told her cheering crowd in Dallas to “tune out” those who say she can’t win in the GOP-dominated state because she is Black, a woman or a Democrat.
Ahead of her 43-minute speech, Crockett's campaign played a video of her with audio of Trump criticizing her playing over it, mocking the idea that she's represents the Democratic Party's future. Trump has called her a “low IQ person.” In response, Crockett said she would agree to take an IQ test against the president.
Crockett addressed the president directly several times.
“You better get to work because I'm coming for you,” she said. “I'm not going away. I'm not giving up.”
Crockett is a civil rights attorney and a former public defender and once the youngest Black Democratic county chair in Texas. She served in the Texas House before winning the first of her two terms in Congress in 2000.
She's built her national profile with a candid style and viral moments on Capitol Hill. Crockett traded insults with Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who announced last month that she would resign in January, and had heated exchanges with Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina.
She also mocked Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott — who uses a wheelchair — as “Gov. Hot Wheels.” She later said she was referring to Abbott’s policy of using “planes, trains and automobiles” to send thousands of immigrants in Texas illegally to Democratic-led cities.
Democrats' best showing in a statewide race in the past three decades was in 2018, when former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke came within 3 points of ousting Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. It was the midterm election of Trump’s first administration, and Democrats believe next year’s race could be similarly favorable to their party.
A former professional football player and civil rights attorney, Allred was among Democrats’ star recruits in 2018.
Allred lost to Cruz by 8.5 points last year. He is running for the House in a Dallas-Fort Worth area district under a new map approved this year by the GOP-controlled Texas Legislature to meet Trump's call for more winnable Republican seats. The district has some areas Allred represented for six years before his run for the Senate in 2024.
An internal party battle, Allred said, “would prevent the Democratic Party from going into this critical election unified against the danger posed to our communities and our Constitution by Donald Trump and one of his Republican bootlickers.”
Marshall said Crockett is a “solid national figure” who has a large social media following and is a frequent presence on cable news. That could be an advantage with Democratic primary voters, Marshall said, but not necessarily afterward.
Talarico, meanwhile, must raise money and build name recognition to make the leap from the Texas House of Representatives to a strong statewide candidacy, Marshall said.
A winning Democratic candidate in Texas, Marshall said, would have to energize Black voters, mainly in metro Houston and Dallas, win the kind of diverse suburbs and exurbs like those Allred once represented in Congress, and get enough rural votes, especially among Latinos in the Rio Grande Valley.
“It’s about building complicated coalitions in a big state," Marshall said.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, speaks to supporters after announcing her run in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, speaks to supporters after announcing her run in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, speaks to supporters after announcing her run in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
