{"id":68519,"date":"2026-05-13T00:02:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T00:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/68519\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T00:02:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T00:02:13","slug":"gop-lawmaker-backtracks-after-dittoing-comment-on-hakeem-jeffries-cotton-picking-hands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/68519\/","title":{"rendered":"GOP Lawmaker Backtracks After ‘Ditto’ing Comment On Hakeem Jeffries’ ‘Cotton-Picking Hands’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Republican<\/a> Rep. Jen Kiggans (Va.) is facing calls to resign after seemingly agreeing with a local radio host who said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries<\/a>\u00a0(D-N.Y.) should get his \u201ccotton-picking<\/a> hands off of Virginia.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Hakeem Jeffries wants to be involved in Virginia politics, then I suggest he does what a bunch of New Yorkers are doing,\u201d WRVA\u2019s \u201cRichmond\u2019s Morning News\u201d host Rich Herrera said Monday. \u201cLeave New York, move down here to Virginia. Run for office down here \u2014 you can represent us. If not, get your cotton-picking hands off of Virginia.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s right, ditto,\u201d Kiggans replied. \u201cYes, yes to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kiggans condemned Herrera\u2019s language on X after the interview, but defended herself by claiming, \u201cIt was obvious to anyone listening that I was agreeing Hakeem Jefferies should stay out of Virginia.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is precisely what\u2019s wrong with Democrats,\u201d Kiggans said. \u201cEvery lie and distortion is intended to distract from getting their hats handed to them and the Virginia Supreme Court\u2019s clear message: stop trying to rig our elections.\u201d<\/p>\n

She received backlash for her response to Herrera\u2019s offensive comment, along with calls to resign.<\/p>\n

Like this article? Keep independent journalism alive. Support HuffPost<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jeffries\u2019 office addressed Kiggans\u2019 \u201cditto\u201d in a statement<\/a> on Tuesday, describing her as \u201ca phony.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJen Kiggans had her chance to disavow the vile, racist and dehumanizing comments from far-right talk show host Rich Herrera. Instead, she doubled down,\u201d Jeffries spokesperson Christie Stephenson wrote. \u201cThen, Jen Kiggans tripled down and attempted to blame partisanship in a pathetic follow-up statement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Politics: Hakeem Jeffries Slams \u2018Wannabe King\u2019 Trump As His GOP Cronies Try To Ram Through Budget Bill<\/a><\/p>\n

Stephenson said Kiggans\u2019 follow-up statement \u201cwas a stunning failure of judgment and leadership for a so-called moderate Member of Congress representing a large, vibrant African American community in Virginia.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cExtremists who endorse disgusting, vile and racist language are pathetic,\u201d the statement continued.<\/p>\n

Stephenson went on to attack Kiggans\u2019 politics by claiming she \u201chas no interest in our nation\u2019s progress toward a multi-racial democracy and apparently craves a return to the days of Jim Crow racial oppression in the South.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why MAGA Republicans in legislatures and courts across America have launched a full-scale assault on Black representation,\u201d Stephenson wrote. \u201cJen Kiggans pretends to be a centrist, but even a cursory analysis of her record makes clear that she is a phony.\u201d <\/p>\n

Related…<\/p>\n

Read the original on HuffPost<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Republican Rep. Jen Kiggans (Va.) is facing calls to resign after seemingly agreeing with a local radio host…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68520,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[144],"tags":[39898,1331,485,27611,39664,39665,24393],"class_list":{"0":"post-68519","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hakeem-jeffries","8":"tag-cotton-picking","9":"tag-gop","10":"tag-hakeem-jeffries","11":"tag-jen-kiggans","12":"tag-rich-herrera","13":"tag-virginia-politics","14":"tag-virginia-supreme-court"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/116564338090129101","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68519","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=68519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}