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Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, suggested the Democratic Party was too focused on trying to win over White voters while ignoring more reliable Black voters during the Fourth of July weekend.
During an interview with The Root at the Essence Festival in New Orleans, Crockett said that Black Americans feel ignored by the party despite their loyalty.
“When you walk into a room full of Black people, you can almost guarantee that they believe in the Democratic ideals,” Crockett said. “When you walk into a room full of White people, you don’t know what you walking into.”
“If there’s any group of people that the party should be most loyal to and most vocal about, it’s Black people,” Crockett said. “Because Black people have historically held this down.”
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Crockett said Black voters have been asking whether Democrats will speak out about issues affecting them, including political representation, Black maternal mortality and Black women losing jobs.
“Black people are saying, ‘Are y’all going to say anything about our representation that is being deleted like, in a very sinister and calculated way?’” Crockett said.
Crockett said she hears from Black Americans who feel the party is not prioritizing their concerns.
“And so what you see is that Black people are consistently being ignored, or I feel like that’s what I hear,” she said.
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The Texas Democrat said her party needs to establish a “baseline” for the party’s different constituencies, including Black Americans, Latinos, women and the LGBTQIA community.
“We have to say, as a baseline, we will not accept anybody that does not stand for these very basic things,” Crockett said. “And frankly, for Black folk, it’s just honestly acknowledging our humanity.”
Crockett also said Democrats must do more to reach voters who sat out the 2024 election, arguing many Americans do not feel represented by either major political party.
“You had a little over 70 million that voted for the Democrat and voted for the Republican,” Crockett said. “But you had more people sit out than voted for either one.”
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Crockett said many nonvoters believe their lives have not changed regardless of which party is in power.
“People need to understand that there are certain people that say, ‘It doesn’t matter if it’s a Democrat or a Republican, my life has never changed,’” Crockett said.
She said politicians need to stop “talking at people” and instead engage directly with Americans who are struggling.
“You have people that literally are saying, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to eat,’” Crockett said. “So they’re looking at people, and they’re like, ‘You would never even talk to me.’”
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Crockett also criticized what she called “White leftists” who focus on one issue while people who rely on government services struggle to get attention.
“You talk about the left. The left has decided that they — and, granted, I mean, I’m a progressive, I started the progressive caucus, all the things — but I know what you’re saying when you’re talking about the left,” Crockett said. “You’re talking about the White leftists that are doing the most in this moment.”
Crockett urged voters to engage beyond presidential elections, including at city council meetings, state capitals and in Congress.
“Everything in our lives, from the cost of food, the cost of gas, whether or not jobs are available, the cost of housing, healthcare, education, the roads, everything is a political decision,” Crockett said.
“There’s a mad man that’s like in the White House,” Crockett said. “Like that scares me.”
Crockett said she was also concerned about the courts and whether Democrats would respond aggressively enough.
“We have to have Democrats that want to be half as courageous as they are cruel,” Crockett said. “And then we will start to see some real wins for the American people.”
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