TL;DR
Democrats are calling for Republican Congresswoman Jen Kiggans to resign after she agreed with a radio host's racist remark about Hakeem Jeffries. Kiggans stated she did not condone the language but supported the sentiment that Jeffries should stay out of Virginia politics.
Jen Kiggans, a Republican congresswoman, has faced calls from Democrats to resign for agreeing with a radio host after he said top US House Democrat, Hakeem Jeffries, should get his “cotton-picking hands off of Virginia”.
Kiggans, who represents Virginia’s second US House district, has said she was agreeing with the host that Jeffries – who is the first Black American to lead a party in Congress – should stay out of Virginia politics. She also said she did not condone the host’s language, which multiple Democrats criticized as racist.
The term “cotton-picking” is widely considered offensive due to the US history of slavery, when enslaved people – the overwhelming majority of whom were Black – picked cotton.
“If Hakeem Jeffries wants to be involved in Virginia politics, then I suggest he does what a bunch of New Yorkers are doing,” Rich Herrera, a conservative radio host, said on Richmond’s Morning News on Monday. “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.
Kiggans replied: “That’s right. Ditto – yes, yes to that.”
She later issued a statement on X.
“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 Jeffries should stay out of Virginia,” Kiggans’s statement said.
On Tuesday morning, the interview was not available on the Richmond’s Morning News archive on the Apple Podcasts platform. It was listed on the Richmond’s Morning News website but didn’t seem as if it would download. A spokesperson for Audacy, which owns the radio station airing Richmond’s Morning News, has been asked for comment.
Jeffries had not commented as of late Monday.