U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett from Texas blasted Republicans for their efforts to use voter fraud as a way to limit Black voters.
The representative’s statements juxtaposed the amount of time the GOP focuses on gun privileges with their lack of interest in enforcing America’s constitutionally protected voting rights.
During a congressional hearing on election integrity on Wednesday, June 7, the freshman congresswoman decided to do a fact-check test on the Committee on House Administration and the Committee on Oversight and Accountability.
A narrative that some Republicans have promoted heavily since former President Donald Trump’s administration is that voter fraud, perpetrated by Democrats, has been used to steal elections and injure the candidacies of Republican politicians.
At the joint hearing titled the American Confidence in Elections: The Path to Election Integrity, Crockett supported her argument by providing articles showing the many times the fraud claims have been disproved.
The hearing consisted of members of Congress and witnesses, who gathered to examine the lack of confidence Americans have in local elections and discuss ways to create election integrity reforms. The presumption of the hearing is that due to “a lack of election safeguards, outdated voter rolls, and rampant ballot harvesting tactics,” citizens are disenfranchised and insecure about participating in the electoral process.
First, Crockett asks if voting was a constitutionally protected right, to which all of the panel said “Yes.”
Then she challenges each witness to give the number of the multiple amendments dedicated to protecting Americans’ rights to vote.
The four-person panel of witnesses included Wendy Weiser, vice president for democracy at Brennan Center for Justice; Monica Evans, executive director District of Columbia Board of Elections; Charlie Spies, political law attorney; and Kenneth Cuccinelli, chairman of the Election Transparency Initiative and former Virginia attorney general.
Only Weiser got the correct answer. The six amendments are the 14th, 15th, 17th, 19th, 24th, and 26th.
“We haven’t had half as many hearings about guns as we’ve had on voting rights, and every time we seemingly have a hearing on voting rights, we talking about the fact that people are cheating. So let’s talk about who’s cheating. I got a few articles,” the congresswoman says.
The first article was about the settlement of a lawsuit filed against Fox News by voting machines maker Dominion Voting Systems for spreading false news that Dominion stole votes from Donald Trump to sway the election for Joe Biden in the 2020 U.S. election.
Crockett did not reveal what outlet she was citing, but Reuters reported the right-wing news outlet dished out $787.5 million in April to settle the lawsuit on the same day the defamation trial was supposed to start.
“Was it because they were lying about the elections,” Crockett asks Weiser, who tries to answer before the Texas congresswoman realizes that her time to speak is nearing its end.
“I am running out of time, so I’mma keep going,” she says.
Then she brings up an article about Georgia’s most recent scandal.
“There also was this article because I don’t want us to base anything on Georgia at all,” Crockett says. “Please, Jesus, not Georgia. Because Georgia purged 87,000 voters.”
As she did, Marjorie Taylor Greene, a GOP House member from the Peach State, interrupts her, saying, “Will the gentlewoman yield? I think Georgia matters.”
Greene balks at any suggestion Georgia is not a model state even as Crockett cited its record of disenfranchisement.
“I’m reclaiming my time. … No, we don’t want to copy off of Georgia,” Crockett replies before she continued to race through her presentation reading summaries of reports of Republican voters admitting to voter fraud.
During the 2020 U.S. election, Georgia became a swing state for both Democrats and Republicans seeking to gain a seat in the Senate and elect the president.
President Trump and many who supported his campaign asserted that voter fraud was so rampant in the state that they demanded three recounts. The GOP-dominated state Legislature subsequently responded by passing more restrictive voting laws.
“Reclaiming for time” quickly became a catchphrase in Black culture and among progressives after the words were uttered by U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters of California during a House Financial Services Committee hearing in July 2017.
Known for her outspoken criticism of the Trump administration, Waters gained attention for her exchange with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin during a House Financial Services Committee hearing. Waters repeatedly used the phrase “reclaiming my time” to urge Mnuchin to answer her question, leading to social media shoutouts and the creation of a gospel-style song. Her confident demeanor has earned her the nickname “Auntie Maxine.”
After a clip of Crockett’s remarks went viral, she took to social media to share how she felt about being cut off.
“I never have enough time to run down the hypocrisy of the GOP & Marjorie Taylor Greene interrupted as I was bringing the GOP cheating receipts!” she said, commenting on a retweet of her portion of the hearing.
Crockett represents portions of Dallas and Tarrant counties, covering whole or parts of the cities of Dallas, Grand Prairie, DeSoto, Cedar Hill, Lancaster, Duncanville, Glenn Heights, Hutchins, Wilmer, Arlington, Ovilla and Seagoville.
After assuming office in January, she was voted freshman leadership representative. She serves on House Agriculture and the House Oversight and Accountability subcommittees and is a member of both the Congressional Black Caucus and the Democratic Women’s Caucus.
The videos of Crockett’s presentation in front of the panel drew a trove of praise for the newcomer in Congress.
“She comes with the receipts, listen, you don’t want to mess with Ms Crockett,” wrote M. Brian Smalls.
“The gentle lady is recognized for an infinite amount of time! Sincerely, Every Constituent Ever,” wrote B. Nelson.
However a few critized Crockett for her dramatics.
“That was childish,” Pammyz@LetsGoBrandon wrote.
The Black congresswoman jumped into the comments to respond to her critics with receipts.
