Jeffries’s office slams Kiggans for agreeing with a conservative host’s ‘cotton-picking’ remarks

The office of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) went after Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-Va.) on Tuesday after the Virginia Republican concurred when a conservative radio host urged Jeffries to get his “cotton-picking hands off of Virginia.”

Christie Stephenson, a spokesperson for Jeffries, who is the first Black lawmaker to lead either party in Congress, said the episode is part of a larger trend among Republicans to turn the clock back on advancements in civil rights.

“Extremists who endorse disgusting, vile and racist language are pathetic,” 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. That’s why MAGA Republicans in legislatures and courts across America have launched a full-scale assault on Black representation.”

Kiggans, a second-term lawmaker representing Virginia’s southeastern corner, stirred a storm of controversy on Monday when she participated in an interview with Rich Herrera, a conservative news host, on WRVA radio in Richmond to discuss Virginia’s recent redistricting saga. 

Jeffries had championed the push by Virginia Democrats to redraw the House map in the Old Dominion in an effort to counter the partisan gerrymandering campaign initiated by President Trump........

© The Hill