{"id":68368,"date":"2026-05-12T21:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T21:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/68368\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T21:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T21:44:09","slug":"naacp-calls-for-apology-after-rep-jen-kiggans-agrees-with-controversial-remark-about-hakeem-jeffries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/68368\/","title":{"rendered":"NAACP calls for apology after Rep. Jen Kiggans agrees with controversial remark about Hakeem Jeffries"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) &#8211; A political debate over Virginia\u2019s ongoing redistricting fight is now sparking a larger conversation about race and accountability after Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-2) agreed with a controversial remark made during a radio interview Monday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">During an appearance on \u201cRichmond\u2019s Morning News,\u201d radio host Rich Herrera told House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries to \u201cget your cotton-picking hands off of Virginia\u201d while discussing the state\u2019s redistricting battle. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Kiggans responded, \u201cThat\u2019s right. Ditto.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The remark quickly drew backlash, including from the Virginia State Conference of the NAACP, which is now calling on Kiggans to issue a \u201creal apology.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cWe have a congresswoman from Virginia who says ditto to that,\u201d said Rev. Cozy Bailey, President of the NAACP Virginia State Conference. \u201cWe are not only disappointed, but we are also enraged that she would be so insensitive to make that kind of comment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The controversy comes as Virginia Democrats continue fighting to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wdbj7.com\/2026\/05\/12\/target-7-whats-next-redistricting-virginia\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.wdbj7.com\/2026\/05\/12\/target-7-whats-next-redistricting-virginia\/\">restore a congressional map tied to the state\u2019s redistricting battle<\/a>. Democrats recently asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate a congressional map approved by voters in a referendum after Virginia\u2019s Supreme Court voided it last week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Bailey said many people, especially people of color, are already emotionally invested in the redistricting debate, making the comments especially concerning.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cThe majority of people who voted for that are feeling very negative feedback from that,\u201d said Bailey. \u201cA large percentage of that are people of color, particularly Black people. And so we are very sensitive in this moment to anything that continues to be oppressive or suppressive to our thoughts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Monday night, Kiggans responded to the backlash in a statement to WDBJ7\u2019s sister station in Richmond, WTVR.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cI am agreeing to that Hakeem Jeffries should not be spending his time and effort meddling in Virginia politics. Of course, he never should have used that language, and of course that\u2019s not the sentiment I was agreeing to. And the host should not be using that language,\u201d said Kiggins.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The NAACP said the issue now goes beyond one moment on air and is urging Virginians to make their voices heard at the ballot box.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cWe are calling upon each and every person in Virginia to turn out like never before to the midterm elections and cast your vote for who you feel best represents your values,\u201d said Bailey.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">As backlash continues to grow, the controversy is fueling broader conversations across Virginia about race, political rhetoric and accountability from elected leaders.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 WDBJ. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) &#8211; A political debate over Virginia\u2019s ongoing redistricting fight is now sparking a larger conversation&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68369,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[144],"tags":[2570,477,485,3643,16032,39826,9536,39825],"class_list":{"0":"post-68368","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hakeem-jeffries","8":"tag-community","9":"tag-congress","10":"tag-hakeem-jeffries","11":"tag-map","12":"tag-naacp","13":"tag-outrage","14":"tag-political","15":"tag-racial"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/116563795315249579","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}