Jasmine Crockett speaks with the confidence and swagger of a veteran politician. In truth, she’s a first-term Texas state representative who in all likelihood will soon be starting a different sort of freshman year.
That’s because she’s the presumptive winner of a Dallas-area congressional seat this fall, after notching a commanding victory in Texas’ 30th District primary runoff last week. That win was muted though, as it took place the same day that 19 children and two adults were gunned down in an elementary school roughly 350 miles away in Uvalde.
I spoke with Crockett on Thursday, hours before President Biden gave a rare evening address to the nation, calling for an increase in the minimum age to purchase a firearm from 18 to 21 and limiting high-capacity magazines — if not outright banning assault weapons.
She supports the latter. But she acknowledges that in Texas getting such robust legislation passed isn’t politically achievable. But, she says, the special legislative session that GOP Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called for this week in the wake of the massacre is just window dressing.
“It’s a cop-out,” she tells The Recast. “It’s for him to say, ‘Hey, I tried to do something.’”
CROCKETT: I don’t think it’s hard to be progressive in the state of Texas. We are the state saying, “Hey, women, for the last 50-plus years, you have a right to do whatever you wanted to do with your body, but we think that’s stupid.”
So, I’ve been labeled very progressive because I just don’t want to be regressive. But I think I just do common-sense things like this idea that I want to raise the minimum wage when we’re experiencing record inflation. That’s not progressive – that’s just common sense.
When I’m listening to seniors that have the same amount of money for Social Security, but their gas prices, rent, or food prices are going up, I’m saying it’s time to give them an increase.
I am coming from a state where there are a ton of jobs that rely on oil and gas, and so I have to be mindful of who my constituency is. Now, my district doesn’t self-identify as progressive. About 30 percent of the district does, the other 70 percent identify as either moderate or conservative Democrats.
Little did I know in less than a year from the date of this picture, I’d be selected as the democratic nominee to head to DC! I’m beyond grateful to D30! #Congress https://t.co/5nKBVVBLxs
— Rep. Jasmine Crockett (@JasmineForUS) May 25, 2022
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/the-recast/2022/06/03/jasmine-crockett-squad-texas-00037107