Rep. Jasmine Crockett humanizes Harris — and introduces herself to the nation

Shortly after she arrived in Congress from Texas last year, freshman Rep. Jasmine Crockett was feeling overwhelmed, unsure whether she had made the right decision to come to Washington as the GOP-led House struggled to elect a new speaker and her Oversight Committee had become, her word, “unhinged.” During a visit with Vice President Kamala Harris at her residence at the Naval Observatory, Harris immediately picked up on Crockett’s apprehension. “What’s wrong?” Harris asked, causing her to burst into tears. “And the most powerful woman in the world wiped my tears and listened,” Crockett told a packed arena at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Monday night, choking up as she recalled her first meeting with Harris. Your district chose you, because they believe in you, and so do I.’” In her emotional and energetic speech to the party faithful at Chicago’s United Center, Crockett, a relatively unknown, 43-year-old former civil rights attorney, public defender and state lawmaker, not only humanized Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee. She’s the only candidate in this race who was capable of empathy,” Crockett said. Those who watched her speech in the arena said Crockett, whose Dallas-based congressional district is the most liberal in Texas, proved effective in painting a contrast between the two candidates. The other was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and helped his daddy and the family business: housing discrimination, that is,” Crockett told the crowd. “She’s lived the American dream, while he’s been America’s nightmare,” she continued. “America, looking at the two choices before you, who would you hire, Donald Trump or Kamala Harris?” Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., who serves in the Congressional Black Caucus with Crockett and watched the speech from a suite in the United Center, called her “phenomenal” and praised her ability to communicate a clear, concise message to an American audience that may have just started tuning in to the election. “Her comparison between the two candidates was epic and right on target,” Wilson, a 13-year veteran of the House, said in an interview Tuesday. “She delivered a message that people at home who are busy and otherwise occupied needed to hear.” While many Democrats may not have heard of Crockett until Monday night’s speech, she has been on the radar of her House colleagues. After she won the race to succeed retiring Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson in 2022, Crockett was elected by her peers to be the freshman class liaison to Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and the Democratic leadership team, giving her a seat at the leadership table. “She’s incredibly dynamic and effective on the Oversight Committee and always does her homework,” said Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who serves with Crockett on the Oversight panel and the Congressional Progressive Caucus and is a member of the Harris campaign’s national advisory board. When far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., mocked Crockett’s “fake eyelashes” during an Oversight hearing and Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., ruled the attack did not violate House rules, Crockett inquired whether commenting on a member’s “bleach blond, bad-built butch body” would constitute breaking the rules. Wilson, herself known for her bright, sequined hats and blazers, described Crockett as “fashionable” (she wore oversized, sparkly heart-shaped earrings, a matching brooch and a sharp black and white suit), an accomplished attorney and public defender and a “little fighter” who won a competitive race for Congress with a key endorsement from her predecessor, Johnson, who died Dec. 31. “I have been praising her and uplifting her since she arrived,” Wilson, a close friend of Johnson, said of Crockett. Wilson said two young progressive women in Congress — Crockett and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. — wowed the crowd on the first night of the convention. – This Summarize was created by Neural News AI (V1). Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/rep-jasmine-crockett-humanizes-harris-introduces-nation-rcna167420