Democrats Attempt to Bully House Republican Into Resigning Over 'Racism' Against Hakeem Jeffries
Imagine if Democrats spent as much time trying to improve Americans’ lives as they do ginning up phony racism controversies.
As it stands, Democrats despise ordinary Americans yet crave power, which means that Democrats have only one card to play. So they play it — over and over and over again. And some Republicans let them get away with it.
Monday on the social media platform X, Democrat politicians fell all over themselves calling on Rep. Jen Kiggans, a Republican from Virginia, to resign over innocuous comments made to her by Rich Herrera, host of Newsradio WRVA’s “Richmond’s Morning News with Rich Herrera,” regarding House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ recent intrusion into Virginia’s redistricting battle.
On April 21, Virginia voters narrowly approved state Democrats’ new gerrymandered congressional map. Virginia courts, however, including the state Supreme Court, struck down the map as unconstitutional.
Jeffries first expressed shock at a court decision that every other Democrat seemed to anticipate. Then, the House minority leader reportedly met with Democrats from Virginia’s U.S. House delegation and discussed a plan to replace every Virginia Supreme Court justice by lowering the mandatory retirement age.
“If Hakeem Jeffries wants to be involved in Virginia politics,” Herrera said to Kiggans in a clip posted to the social media platform X, “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, you could represent us.”
Then came the comment that got Democrats up in arms.
“If not,” Herrera continued, “get your cottonpickin’ hands off of Virginia.”
In the moment, Kiggans did not skip a beat. She agreed wholeheartedly.
“That’s right,” she replied. “Ditto. Yes. Yes to that.”
Of course, leave it to a pair of Democrat women to lead the virtue-signaling charge against Kiggans.
“First they gutted the Voting Rights Act,” Democratic Rep. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, the House minority whip, wrote on X. “Now they are using brazenly racist language to attack Black leaders. @JenKiggans should immediately apologize and resign.”
First they gutted the Voting Rights Act.
Now they are using brazenly racist language to attack Black leaders.@JenKiggans should immediately apologize and resign. https://t.co/F3iPYBZPSi
— Katherine Clark (@TeamKClark) May 11, 2026
Last month, in a landmark decision, the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated the practice of racial gerrymandering. By a 6-3 margin, SCOTUS ruled that Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act neither requires nor authorizes states to draw congressional districts with race-based outcomes in mind.
Meanwhile, Kiggans’ opponent, Virginia Democratic congressional candidate Elaine Luria, weighed in on Herrera’s remarks.
“The racist comments proudly endorsed today by Jen Kiggans warning House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to ‘Get your cotton-picking hands off of Virginia’ are disgusting and beneath any elected official,” Luria preached. “I grew up in the South. I know what these racist dog whistles mean.”
The racist comments proudly endorsed today by Jen Kiggans warning House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to ‘Get your cotton-picking hands off of Virginia’ are disgusting and beneath any elected official. I grew up in the South. I know what these racist dog whistles mean.
— Elaine Luria (@ElaineLuria) May 11, 2026
For her part, Kiggans delivered the kind of half-baked, milquetoast reply common among too many Republicans.
On one hand, she accurately described Democrats’ motives.
“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 on X.
Then, however, she made a cowardly concession to the race-baiting mob and thereby threw Herrera under the bus.
“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,” she added.
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.
The radio host should not have used that language and I do not…
— Jen Kiggans (@JenKiggans) May 11, 2026
The slang adjective “cottonpickin” means “damned” or “confounded.” No sane person in 2026 believes that it has anything to do with the enslaved people who harvested the cash crop of the antebellum South.
Of course, the party of slavery and segregation remains committed to dividing Americans by skin color. Hence, more Democrat legislators called for Kiggans to resign.
According to Axios, that list includes Democratic Reps. Greg Meeks and Grace Meng of New York, as well as Pete Aguilar and Lateefah Simon of California.
In the end, Kiggans only did Democrats a favor by refusing to “condone” Herrera’s harmless language.
We know that Democrats use every dirty trick in the book to invent racial controversies. But why do some Republicans continue to play along and thereby act as their own worst enemies?
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