A Virginia congresswoman may have thought leaning into the same combative, never-apologize political style popularized by President Donald Trump would help her survive a growing controversy that has already triggered calls for her resignation.
But instead of the outrage fading, political leaders, critics, and social media users have only intensified the pressure in the days since the remarks first surfaced.
The moment erupted after Virginia Republican Rep. Jen Kiggans appeared Monday, May 11, on WRVA’s “Richmond Morning News,” where discussion centered on the political fallout surrounding the Virginia Supreme Court’s invalidation of a voter-backed redistricting plan that could have handed Democrats as many as four additional House seats.
As the conversation escalated, radio host Rich Herrera launched into what critics described as a brazenly racist remark directed at House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
“If Hakeem Jeffries wants to be involved, then I suggest he does what a bunch of New Yorkers are doing: leave New York, move down here to Virginia, run for office down here,” Herrera said near the end of a 12-minute interview with Kiggans.
“You can represent us. If not, get your cotton-picking hands off of Virginia,” the host crudely remarked.
And stunningly, Kiggans agreed.
“That’s right. Ditto. Yes, yes to that,” the representative, in a tight re-election race, shockingly said in response.
Furious Democrats immediately called on Kiggans to apologize and resign. Massachusetts Congresswoman Katharine Clark and California Rep. Pete Aguilar were among the first to go after Kiggans with Clark accusing her of “using brazenly racist language to attack Black leaders.”
“First they gutted the Voting Rights Act. Now they are using brazenly racist language to attack Black leaders. @JenKiggans should immediately apologize and resign,” Clark demanded on X.
Aguilar posted a similar message.
“Republicans are taking us backwards in every single way. This racist rhetoric is absolutely disqualifying from a Member of Congress. Rep. Kiggans must apologize then get the hell out of the House,” he urged.
By Monday evening Kiggans responded to the uproar by using a chapter out Trump’s own playbook, blaming Democrats and accusing them of “trying to rig our elections,” even though it was Trump who first called on Texas to redraw congressional districts last year, mid-decade, in hopes of picking up more seats to bolster Republicans’ razor-thin majority in the House.
“This is precisely what’s wrong with Democrats. Every lie and distortion is intended to distract from getting their hats handed to them and the Virginia Supreme Court’s clear message: stop trying to rig our elections,” Kiggans wrote in a post on X.
The two-term congresswoman refused to apologize and tried to explain away her agreement with Herrera’s comments.
“The radio host should not have used that language and I do not -and did not – condone it. It was obvious to anyone listening that I was agreeing Hakeem Jefferies should stay out of Virginia,” she continued by way of an explanation.
Voters weren’t buying it either. Olivia Troye, former homeland security and counterterrorism advisor to Trump’s first-term Vice President Mike Pence, weighed in.
“Jen Kiggans, this is ‘what’s wrong with Democrats’ is bullsh-t. You know exactly what you were doing when you went along with this racist stunt against Hakeem Jeffries. The fact that you think saying this makes it better is what makes you so pathetic. Virginia deserves better,” Troye bluntly stated in a post on X.
Virginia lawmakers like State Sen. Stella Pekarsky chimed in. “Classic gaslighting behavior. People aren’t that stupid, Jen. They understood exactly what you meant,” Pekarsky pushed back.
Others agreed, “She called a Black man a cotton picker but is now playing victim.”
And “Girl, the audio exists. You heard ‘cotton-picking hands’ and said ‘YES TO THAT.’ There was no ambiguity to misread. You co-signed a racial slur and now you’re mad we have receipts. November is coming for the racists and you’re one of them Jen,” another X user proclaimed.
By Tuesday May 12, Jeffries, the highest-ranking Black lawmaker in Congress and the first Black person to lead either major party, also weighed in on Kiggans comments calling it part of a wider effort at rolling back gains in civil rights.
“Extremists who endorse disgusting, vile and racist language are pathetic,” Jeffries spokeswoman Christie Stephenson said in a statement, according to The Hill.
“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. That’s why MAGA Republicans in legislatures and courts across America have launched a full-scale assault on Black representation,” Stephenson added.
Cotton-picking is defined as an adjective by the Miriam-Webster dictionary “used as an intensive or as a generalized expression of disapproval.”
But the dictionary goes on to explain the words are “widely considered offensive.”
“The adjective cotton-picking is seen as belittling labor that millions of Black people were forced to do in the southern United States from the late 18th century and into the 20th century, first as enslaved people and later as sharecroppers.”
