NEED TO KNOW
Virginia Rep. Jen Kiggans is facing backlash after she agreed with a radio show host who said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., should keep his “cotton-picking hands off of Virginia”
Kiggans did not apologize and said that while the host shouldn’t have used that language, she was only agreeing with the sentiment
House Democratic leaders demanded Kiggans resign over the remark about Jeffries, who is hoping to lead Democrats back into the majority this fall and become the first Black speaker of the House in U.S. history
Senior House Democrats called for Virginia Rep. Jen Kiggans to resign after she agreed with a radio show host who said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., should keep his “cotton-picking hands off of Virginia.”
Jeffries’ top Democratic lieutenants, Massachusetts Rep. Katherine Clark and California Rep. Pete Aguilar, led the charge on Monday, May 11, demanding that Kiggans apologize and resign for the host’s “use of brazenly racist language to attack Black leaders,” as Clark put it.
“Republicans are taking us backwards in every single way. This racist rhetoric is absolutely disqualifying from a Member of Congress,” Aguilar wrote. “Rep. Kiggans must apologize then get the hell out of the House.”
The Monday morning interview on Richmond’s Morning News with Rich Herrera came after the Virginia Supreme Court tossed out a new, voter-approved congressional map in the state that would have carved out more seats for Democrats amid the partisan gerrymandering wars unfolding across the nation.
Jeffries’ political operation had poured millions into that effort to counter conservative states’ similar redistricting plans as he seeks to secure a Democratic majority this fall and become the first Black speaker of the House in U.S. history.
“If Hakeem Jeffries wants to be involved, then I suggest he does what a bunch of New Yorkers are doing: leave New York, move down here to Virginia. Run for office down here,” WRVA’s Rich Herrera said towards the end of a 12-minute segment with Kiggans. “You can represent us. If not, get your cotton-picking hands off of Virginia.”
“That’s right. Ditto. Yes, yes to that,” Kiggans replied.
Kiggans’ congressional office directed requests for comment to her reelection campaign, which did not immediately respond to PEOPLE.
Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Va., speaks at a Virginians for Fair Maps rally in Bridgewater, Va., on April 11.
Credit: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty
In a post to X on Monday evening, Kiggans did not apologize for agreeing with the radio host’s racist remark, instead arguing that the outrage is “precisely what’s wrong with Democrats.”
She said that while Herrera “should not have used that language” and she doesn’t condone it, “it was obvious to anyone listening that I was agreeing Hakeem Jefferies [sic] should stay out of Virginia.”
Notably, in that post pushing back on the demands for her resignation, Kiggans spelled Jeffries’ last name wrong.
Rep. Yvette Clarke, a New York Democrat and chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, responded to Kiggans directly by arguing she was “either too cowardly to condemn this man’s ignorance, or you agreed with it.”
“No matter what you say now, the fact is that you did not say a thing then — and that is precisely what’s wrong with Republicans!” Clarke wrote.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. — who also appeared on Herrera’s show on Monday in a separate segment and campaigned against the redistricting effort alongside Kiggans — did not immediately respond to a request for comment from PEOPLE.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., (second from left) and Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., listen as Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Va., speaks on March 6, 2024.
Credit: Alex Wong/Getty
“Jen Kiggans had her chance to disavow the vile, racist and dehumanizing comments from far-right talk show host Rich Herrera. Instead, she doubled down,” Jeffries’ spokesperson Christie Stephenson said in a statement on Tuesday, May 12. “Then, Jen Kiggans tripled down and attempted to blame partisanship in a pathetic follow-up statement.”
“It was a stunning failure of judgment and leadership for a so-called moderate Member of Congress representing a large, vibrant African American community in Virginia,” Stephenson continued, adding that “extremists who endorse disgusting, vile and racist language are pathetic.”
Herrera did not immediately respond to a request for comment on his statement, the backlash, and why clips of the interview appear to have been removed from his website, the station’s website, and platforms like YouTube and Apple Podcasts.
Elsewhere in the interview, Kiggans described Jeffries as “sick with power” and accused him of orchestrating a “blatant power grab” using shady politics to “lie, cheat and steal because they can’t beat us at the ballot box.”
The redistricting proposed by Democrats was approved by 51.7% of Virginia voters in a ballot measure that saw more than three million votes cast. The state Supreme Court ruled in a 4-3 decision that the process for getting the referendum on the ballot was not properly conducted, undoing the vote just weeks after it was completed.
Virginia Democrats are now asking the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the state to move forward with the redrawn map.
Jeffries’ office and other Democrats have connected Kiggans’ friendly response to someone referencing a Black lawmaker’s “cotton-picking hands” to a broader push by Republicans in the South to split up predominantly or majority Black districts following a Supreme Court ruling this month that gutted much of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
“Jen Kiggans has no interest in our nation’s progress toward a multi-racial democracy and apparently craves a return to the days of Jim Crow racial oppression in the South,” Jeffries’ spokesperson said. “That’s why MAGA Republicans in legislatures and courts across America have launched a full-scale assault on Black representation.”
Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Va., attends a Republican leadership press conference on Sept. 18, 2024.
Credit: Win McNamee/Getty
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Kiggans’ Democratic challenger, former Rep. Elaine Luria, called Herrera’s remark and Kiggans’ apparent agreement a “racist dog whistle” and demanded the Republican apologize. Kiggans, a former state senator, defeated Luria in a 2022 House race in the coastal Virginia swing district.
“These comments come at a time when the Supreme Court and Republican controlled state legislatures are disenfranchising Black voters and wiping out Black representation across southern states, which Jen Kiggans applauds,” Luria said. “She should immediately and publicly apologize and denounce these racist remarks that have no place in our Commonwealth or our politics.”
Read the original article on People