WASHINGTON — A spokesperson for House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday tore into Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-Va.) for saying she agreed with a conservative radio host who said that Jeffries, who is Black, should take his “cotton-picking hands off of Virginia.”
“Extremists who endorse disgusting, vile and racist language are pathetic,” Jeffries spokesperson Christie Stephenson said in a statement. “Jen Kiggans has no interest in our nation’s progress toward a multi-racial democracy and apparently craves a return to the days of Jim Crow racial oppression in the South.”
Kiggans was a Monday guest on “Richmond’s Morning News” when host Rich Herrera brought up Jeffries, who has been talking publicly about how Democrats can still retake the House in November despite their recent redistricting loss in Virginia. Voters here approved a measure last month allowing Democrats to redraw the state’s congressional map, but last Friday, the state’s Supreme Court struck down the voter-approved plan.
“If Hakeem Jeffries wants to be involved in Virginia politics, then I suggest he does what a bunch of New Yorkers are doing,” Herrera said. “Leave New York, move down here to Virginia. Run for office down here, you can represent us. If not, get your cotton-picking hands off of Virginia.”
