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Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, praised the Democratic Party on Sunday for not forcing Virginia Attorney General-elect Jay Jones to resign after his murderous texts surfaced during the campaign.
During an appearance on “Roland Martin Unfiltered,” Crockett argued it was good that Democratic leaders did not urge Jones to step down from his race this year, saying that his scandal was nothing more than a “distraction.”
“And I was very excited to see that he was able to pull off the win. Not that I know him – I’ve never met him, I’ve never talked to him – but because it seems like people did not get caught up in the distractions,” Crockett told host Roland Martin.
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Jones, who won his race last Tuesday, sparked controversy in the lead up to Election Day when his old texts envisioning the murder of a state Republican lawmaker and his children were leaked.
In the text messages – sent by Jones in 2022 – the politician joked about shooting now-former Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert in the head while also suggesting that harm should come to that Republican’s young “fascist” children.
Throughout the final weeks of the campaign, Republicans urged Jones to drop out of the race and demanded that Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger call on him to step down.
Spanberger condemned his comments but never asked the candidate to leave his race. Both went on to win their races.
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Martin mentioned that the Democratic Party would have forced Jones to step down from the race if this was “10 years ago.”
Crockett replied, saying that there were some who wanted him to resign, and noted that electing Jones despite his texts was still more important than letting Republican candidate Jason Miyares win.
“Listen, there were still Democrats that were talking about it. And my deal was, say what you got to say, denounce what he did, but in this moment, do you trust this Republican attorney general to stand up when it is the state legislature that decides that they need to fight fire with fire and give us more seats out of Virginia to go to the U.S. House because they’re trying to balance out this power struggle that Trump is on?” she asked.
“Or when it comes down to Trump deciding that he’s not going to send appropriated dollars to the state of Virginia, do you think that the Republican AG is going to be the one to sign up to go and get those dollars? No,” she continued.
“So, at the end of the day, you got to put your mask on first,” Crockett added, noting how voters needed to hold their noses and vote for Democrats despite their shortfalls or controversies.
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The lawmaker praised her party for getting rid of the “purity test” and not disqualifying Jones.
“You can have whatever issues you have with him, but at the end of the day, you got to make sure you’re looking out for you,” Crockett said.
The Texas Democrat has also been criticized for her rhetoric towards her political opponents, like Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
In response to a question in March about how Democrats can win elections specifically in Texas, Crockett said, “I think that you punch, I think you punch, I think you OK with punching.”
“It’s Ted Cruz,” she went on. “I mean, like this dude has to be knocked over the head, like hard, right? Like there is no niceties with him, like at all. Like you go clean off on him.”
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