Jasmine Crockett isn’t backing down | Today, Explained

Hi and welcome to Today Explained Saturday. I'm Eststead Hearnden and every week I'll be talking to someone in the news, in the culture, or just exploring an idea I can't get out of my head. Texas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett is a bonafide political star. In just two terms here in Washington DC as a member of the House of Representatives, she's turned herself into a national name known for her sharp attacks against President Trump, her Republican colleagues, and even some Democrats. But while the social media fame has gotten her millions and millions of followers, it's also turned her into a little bit of a lightning rod, a favorite target of some Republicans and a nuisance to some Democrats who argued that she could be putting her brand above the parties. Congresswoman Crockett's decision to run for Senate was controversial to say the least, and she's now locked in a neck-neck race against Texas State Representative James Tarico. But the differences in this race so far haven't really been about policy. It's been about candidate preference, about which one of them is best positioned to win, and if Crockett has enough substance to go with all her style. So, we came to DC and decided to ask her. >> Thank you, Representative Jasmine Crockett, for joining us today. >> Absolutely. >> How would you describe your base? Who is a Jasmine Crockett voter? >> I think a Jasmine Crockett voter is anyone that is frustrated with everything that they're seeing in politics, whether you identify as a Democrat, Republican, or independent. There are a lot of people that have found themselves frustrated and feel as if it doesn't matter which party is in power. there's no one that sees them, hears them, or feels them or advocates for them. Um, I am the type of person that um, real people can relate to. I am not the type of person that politicos get excited about. Um, and so my voter is real people. >> You are relatively new member of Congress and but exploded in popularity in May 2024 when you had a famous exchange with Marjorie Taylor Green in the House Oversight Committee. uh she talked about your eyelashes and you replied with one of the great moments of American political aliteration saying she had a bleach blonde badu built butch body. >> I'm just curious just to better understand your ruling if someone on this committee then starts talking about somebody's bleach blonde badu built butch body that would not be engaging in personalities. Correct. >> A what now? >> I wanted to ask a question that I've thought about since this happened. Did you practice that or was it off the cuff? >> No, I did not practice that. >> These aren't these are you didn't have that in your back pocket. This was off the >> No, people have asked that over and over. Um, you know, I actually sat there. I did write it down as we were going through this like back and forth about whether or not she was going to be allowed to continue on in the hearing. And as the back and forth was taking place uh between like leadership, um I finally got word that they were going to allow her to disrespect me. And I basically understood the rules because as a lawyer, the first thing that you're supposed to figure out is what are the rules? And then I wanted to illustrate how quickly something like this could devolve if we set this precedent while also making sure I didn't violate the rules. >> Yeah. I mean, but in showing how the how things can devolve if that space is open up. I wonder if there is any cost to that. I mean, should we want our politicians I mean, as much as we love like the phrase or much as the phrase blew up, should we want our politicians to be clapback artists? You know, >> I mean, I think that in this moment, you have to understand that politics has changed. And one thing that the Democrats have struggled with is that they continue to be viewed as the doormat for the Republicans. They continue to say, "Where's the opposition? Where's the fight?" and instead we continue to say these are the rules and we try to play by the rules is they literally are shooting people dead in the middle of the street and there's no accountability. And so the reason I personally believe that the Democratic brand has been struggling as relates to their popularity is because people feel as if um the Democrats play by the rules. And frankly, I think Americans want everybody to play by the rules. Let me just level set there. I think whether you're a Democrat, Republican, or independent, they actually want a government that is very boring and just plays by the rules. Um that keeps things kind of going, but unfortunately that's not where we are. And so that's why there is kind of this fierce urgency of now. This is why you see a historic number of both Democrats and Republicans in my opinion that are retiring both from the House and the Senate because this environment is not a normal environment. And so to respond to it um in a normal way, Democrats have tried that. It's not worked out very well for us. And right now we're wondering whether or not our democracy is even going to survive. >> I definitely think that there is a clear argument that you know Donald Trump has sent political rhetoric left a thousand times, right? I'm not saying that it's kind of onetoone, but you know, when I see the moment on the House where you seem to accuse Republican Lee Zeldon of taking money from Jeffrey Epstein, but it seemed like if it was not the same person, I wonder like is there times in which the rhetoric goes too far? There are times in which you should say, you know, maybe I messed that one up. >> No, not in this environment. I don't. I think that um you know, we are really in unchartered territory. >> So, I hear your argument that you're reflecting the urgency necessary and so that's why it won't give an inch. >> Correct. Mhm. Uh you you spent much of your career as a public uh earlier parts of your career as a public defender, a civil rights attorney. I wanted to know how that shaped your uh worldview. How did that lead, you know, what were you seeing at that time that said, "Hey, uh I want to get into elected office." >> Listen, I I wake up every day scratching my head about elected office. Um so I don't know that there's ever been a point where I was just like, "Oh my gosh." Right? Um I have always been the type of person that has wanted to solve for problems. I mean, that's what lawyers are supposed to do. Someone has an issue, they come to you, they want you to help them. And so, as I worked as a public defender, um, I became acutely aware of how broken our system is. And so, you know, I have so many stories of my experiences as a public defender that have stuck with me. And also like what people don't understand is that when you are a public defender, you're representing indigent people and you're starting to learn the source of why certain things happen, right? Like you start to learn how poverty can play a role in some people ending up in the system. >> I wanted to ask about how you view kind of the question of political authenticity. You're someone who comes up when people talk about authentic candidates and people who are willing to be themselves. Uh you know, but politics is a performance in some ways. I mean, what does being yourself even mean when you think about how you show up to politics? Is this the authentic version? Are we seeing the Jasmine Crockett? Uh, that's the real one. >> It's It's me. Um, you know, we recently had a fundraiser down in Houston and one of my classmates from law school um was the one that was uh hosting it and she's like, "This is who Jasmine has always been. I've always been someone who uh has been intellectual. I was top 10% of my class." um at Texas Southern my first year in law school. I um was always very much kind of digging in and wanted to understand. I was always the person that would bring the receipts and wouldn't back down. Um so, you know, you always clapping back. >> I was I was always I was always Yeah, there was always a push back. If I feel like I am right on something, I've always been very clear about that. >> Well, I'm going to think more also about the policy and kind of your strategy to win too. You know, the Houston Chronicle this week endorsed your opponent in the primary and said that when you were asked about your path to victory, you pointed to celebrity endorsements and turnout operations. Now, I know that you have said that the reason that you should be the preferred Democratic nominee is that you plan to expand the electorate, but how do how is the how do you expand the electorate past the efforts we've already seen from many Democrats that haven't worked? >> Yeah, I don't know what efforts we've seen. Um >> I'm saying if we're talking about celebrity endorsements or turnout operations, we certainly heard that in 2024. >> The way that I evaluate this is that I'm starting more so at third base instead of starting at first base. Um and then when you are trying to engage people that have not been engaged, then yeah, it does take keeping excitement and enthusiasm. And the idea that one person can do that in a state of 30 million people um and in a state that has more um or some of the most expensive media markets in the country. What you need to do is make sure that you can communicate to people that normally aren't communicated to. And so yeah, you can go on CNN all day long. You can go on MS Now all day long and you're going to communicate to the same kind of group of people. Texas has one of the lowest voter turnouts in the entire country. But the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result. >> The goal has consistently been to go and get people that aren't a part of the base and then what happens is the base feels like they are not getting courted and instead they are they're being ignored and there's an assumption that they will come out. And so for me to do what we've consistently done that has consistently not worked, I don't think that that makes very much sense. Now, does that mean that there are Republicans and I'm like doing like what uh we saw in Arizona and saying no, no Republicans. That's absolutely crazy. >> You're saying that's just not the focus of what you're trying to do. >> That's just not the focus. your focus, if I hear correctly, is kind of the loyal base of Democrats, like the people who feel as if the party hasn't been uh focused toward them, particularly black voters, and then to reach people who have not traditionally voted, which you're saying in Texas is a majority minority community. >> Absolutely. >> Okay. But you know even in that strategy u you would need you know just you would still need to activate those non voters obviously and you know there has been some controversy with previous statements where you've said that Latinos seem to have a slave mentality when it comes to supporting anti-immigration Republicans. I mean is would it be easier to win those people over to your side if statements like that hadn't been made? >> Yeah. So I think we absolutely will be fine because here's the thing. um you know, when you're running in elections, people love to just like go and cherrypick and not get full context of statements. Number one. Number two, um one of the things that I talked about is I'm like, listen, we know that when it came down to Donald Trump, Donald Trump was like, "Oh, they're poisoning the blood and oh, they're criminals. They're rapist." He said all these things and it did not impact him. In fact, to the extent that he actually got more support amongst Latinos than any Republican ever has. But the one thing that is impacting him is his policies. And when it comes down to it, I have a very strong record specifically as a civil rights lawyer. And I've been very clear that for me as a black woman and the lens that I see things, it is in the lens of the black experience. I see a lot of the same hate that is spewed towards Latinos is hate that historically has been spewed towards African-Americans. And so my goal will be to make sure that we understand that there's more that unites us than divides us. But the third best demographic that I have is Latinas >> in general. So I think, you know, there are those that want to make inflammatory type of feelings um take place. And then there are those that know me because they've seen my work. And so I think that they are like, we know who she is. >> Yeah. I'm going to ask kind of a question explicitly. Part of what's made this race more contentious is the question of racism and sexism that seems to be swirling around it. Like I've gotten into some Twitter fights with folks uh on your behalf because the intensity of their opposition feels so wild at sometimes. But I wanted to also kind of put the critique to you directly. From what I hear from uh maybe a certain group of a consultant class, their argument has been that you represent a Democratic party that has sometimes used race and gender as a shield and in doing things like comparing Trump's ICE to slave patrols that you've engaged in some language that have driven people towards Republicans, right? That this may save your interest personally but not the interest of the Democratic party. Can you respond to that? >> I mean, I listen again, my authenticity is not about me trying to do the bidding of a party. It is me understanding the anger, the fear, the trauma that is being inflicted on real people. And so I think that, you know, we know that I'm not the party pick. I have always been the people's pick. You know, I I asked though because the specific claim is about whether race and gender have have held Democrats back from critiquing certain candidates or have been used >> as a weapon by candidates to insulate themselves from criticism. I don't think that's a thing. Okay? Like I run on my credentials. In this race, I have an opponent who taught >> two years at charter school and then he went into elected office. And when he went into elected office, which is a part-time legislature, he then became a consultant for charter schools. So, I'm running on my credentials. I owned my own business. I served in the state legislature. I serve on the federal level. I have tried cases both in state and federal. I have sat on boards. I have done community service. I have done I am running on my credentials. And so when people critique me, when they critique me on things like, oh, how she talks, that's not an actual critique of substance, that is what I think people are frustrated with. If you have a critique about my policies, then go forth and and talk about it, right? There are people that say, "Well, he says that he wants to tax the rich, yet he doesn't have a plan for that, and I did." there are. So if you're going to critique me and I think that that's where the problem comes in is because number one I get critiqued as if I don't have credentials and and he just gets >> assumed to be >> I want to ask about some policies. I hear you but I want to get to two questions first. Um first u former Senate candidate Colin Ared a black man who recently who ran recently for Texas Senate endorsed you this week in a rather controversial manner I would say. Uh he put out a video which called out your opponent for allegedly calling him a mediocre black man. Um you put out a statement in support of all red. Uh I wondered like had you talked to him about this incident before that video had come out? Uh and what was your reaction to it? >> No, I mean you know I've been in DC. I've been working and uh the most that I knew about anything that was going on was um about the young lady um because I do know influencers and so >> the content creator who originally put this out. >> Correct. And so I watched the video and I think the reason that it was so jarring is because Colin Alred is not the type of guy to like blow up. >> And so seemingly he felt like there was some veracity to the statement. um because I don't think that he ever would have done that without you know doing his own due diligence. Um you know my response is that I really want to keep the focus on Texans um as I stated and you know right now Texans are hurting whether it's affordability crisis or whether it has to do with um you know the immigration issues, housing, education, healthcare, all those things. But I will say that I wanted to make sure that I made it clear that there's nothing mediocre about Colin Red and that is why I listed so many of his credentials. But when you talk about race and you talk about this particular race, um it is interesting um that black candidates who have actual resumes um are seemingly more so dismissed. >> Now I I do want to clarify. Terico said that he um used the word mediocre in reference to campaigning rather than um his actual individual credentials. And I want to follow up. I mean because you could see this and say is this all red and Crockett using uh racism for politics like you know it could >> I don't know how you could see that and do that unless you wanted to be disingenuous. That's that. >> But I did want to ask just generally about the kind of cancel culture stand culture that has come with your internet celebrity. uh when you see people like Matt Rogers or Boowen Yang getting attacked in your name or saying or your fans flooding their comments or something. Anytime a politician is making it too obviously about themselves, I'm already done and don't waste your money sending to Jasmine Crockett. Do not do it. >> I I must agree. >> Don't do it. Don't You're going to waste your money. >> Do you think like oh no even or do you think you know that's kind of how the cookie crumbles like uh that's how the that's how the game is played? >> No. uh with the level of attacks that I face. I mean this is just kind of part of unfortunately um kind of what comes with it. And I think that you know people for the vast majority of what I saw they were very clear again the attacks had nothing to do with substance right so again that is why like if people lead with substance >> and say things like oh well you know she believes in a child tax credit and we think that's stupid right like if you lead with substance I think that you shield yourself from some of the critiques but considering the fact that you're not politicos considering the fact that you're not Texans. Considering the fact that you haven't been talking about any other races in this country, and considering the fact that then you jump in and then you don't jump in with the actual substance, I think that you open yourself up to what looks like is something problematic. >> I wanted to ask about, you know, I kind of was looking through your interviews and kind of wanted to kind of distill policy questions into into kind of quicker ways to ask about it. The first is about affordability. You've criticized Trump tax. You've criticized Trump's tax cuts, called for raising of the minimum wage, the reversal of tariffs that the billionaire needs to pay their fair share of taxes. But you also have a fair amount of corporate supporters among your uh finance. Cryptocurrency titans and web 3 developers have given heavy to your campaign. Uh PAX representing Loheed Martin, General Dynamics have also donated to your house campaigns. Are donors like this consistent with a message of kind of breaking up corporate influence or breaking up kind of billionaire wealth concentration? >> Oh, absolutely. Um, I represent Texas 30 and so, you know, when you start to talk about Texas and you talk about Lockheed, um, Goldman Sachs or or any of the others, number one, it's the employees that pay into these packs. That's number one. Number two, um you know, I'm all down for the Freedom to Vote Act, which would have gotten rid of um some of these things, but one of the things that uh has taken place is number one, um these are the current rules. And so for me, I've wanted to win. So for me, I've given away over $600,000 just in my freshman term to down ballot candidates, to candidates that are running all over this country. um so that hopefully we can get to where we need to get to so that we can make sure that we do what we do. At the end of the day, the maximum donation that any corporate pack can make is $5,000 on the federal level. I've raised millions and so I challenge anyone to see if there's any inconsistencies as it relates to my values and my voting record and looks like $5,000 was a payoff. And and in addition to that, um when it comes down to Yeah. are rolling back the tariffs. I mean, why wouldn't I want to roll back the tariffs? I also believe that, you know, if we had billionaires that were paying their fair share, we wouldn't have had this situation where they said, "Let's cut $1 trillion from Medicaid and Medicare." Our budget is about our priorities. So, for me, the priorities are always going to be the people that have elected me. And frankly, the better that we do as a whole in this country, the better that the people at the top do. Mhm. So I see a distinction from like a kind of Zoramani style billionaires shouldn't exist to you saying uh they should exist but maybe pay their fair share is your focus. >> Oh absolutely. >> Got it. Uh I want to ask about representation. What is the pitch to black voters beyond kind of identity politics first? We have seen communities devolve under a black president under a black VP. What is the pitch to those voters beyond I look and feel like you? >> Yeah. No I I mean I don't think that anybody should you know as I say all skin folk ain't kin folk. I mean, so that's not really a thing. I think it is more so about whether or not it's somebody who's actually engaged with the community, which is something that I do. I engage my entire constituency. So, I think that the pitch has to be who is it that is here to serve us as voters and who is it that's going to go off and forget us. So, for us, we do quarterly town halls, telet town halls. We do them every single quarter. Um, where people are able to number one hear from me and know exactly what I'm doing and I hear from them. We also make sure that we do what we call mobile office hours. So we don't force people into our office. Instead, we go to them. We listen to them and we try to stay up on what matters most to them. We do that after hours so that you don't have to take off from work, but we come to you. So I think that it's it's more so about service and honestly that's what we're supposed to be as public servants. You know, I'm hearing you now like talk about kind of a service forward public approach and you know, I can see that kind of in what you've laid out and even in doing some of this research, but it's not like that's necessarily fully the reputation. You know, there has been some belief or criticism this kind of a mecentric campaign. I mean, is there any validity to the argument that uh uh we could see, you know, that the campaign could be more about service or what you plan to do rather than who you are? >> Um, I think I am service. I mean, you know, there are those that have their own motivations for critiquing and, you know, I think that the people >> is it just racism and sexism? Like, what do you think it is? >> I I I mean, I think there's a lot of things. I think it depends on who it's coming from. But I've been a black woman my whole life. So, this idea that I'm a go and be like, "Oh, well, they're being racist or misogynistic towards me." Like, you think I didn't know I was a black woman when I woke up and decided that I was going to run for the United States Senate. You think I didn't factor in and make sure that we had enough room to account for that? We did. Um, people love to underestimate certain people and I think I'm on that list. There are a lot of people that never thought that I would be in the US House. There are a lot of people that never saw me being a national co-chair for a presidential campaign or never saw me actually gracing the stage at DNC as a freshman black woman or becoming um the freshman leadership representative or becoming the fifth highest fundraising member of the House out of Democrats and Republicans. There's a lot of people that have always underestimated me. So for me, that actually gives me comfort because when you underestimate me, then that is my best opportunity to do what I do best. >> My last question is just kind of we've talked so much about polls or ability to win or the general. I'm going to ask something that's beyond that. I know you want this campaign to be remembered for its historic result in the end. But besides that, like when people think about Jasmine Crockett and kind of this moment and what you kind of mean, maybe it's like to Democratic party to uh this kind of position in politics. What do you think that is? Like what do you represent? >> For me, I want that girl that never imagined herself in politics or even that little boy who never imagined a place in politics but really just wanted real change for their country, for their community. I want them to recognize that it doesn't matter what family you've been born into and whether or not you had the opportunities to intern on the hill, you can do it, too. >> I never looked at having a life in politics. My parents were not engaged in politics beyond voting. That is what it is to be American is to be this person that comes from, you know, just a regular background, but somehow can ascend to one of the most powerful positions in this country just because you have a heart to really make this country better. That's what I want people to know. >> Thank you, Congresswoman. I appreciate your time. >> Absolutely. >> That's Representative Jasmine Crockett of Texas. Every Saturday, you'll find an interesting interview, either in politics or in culture, in your audio or video feeds. You can listen to new episodes of Today Explained every weekday on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast. Or check us out here for the next episode of Today Explained Saturday.