Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) expressed her disappointment that more House members did not join her in voting “no” on the House resolution that honored the life of conservative activist Charlie Kirk after his assassination earlier this month.
The second-term Texas Democrat said it “hurts [her] heart” that “only two caucasian” House members voted no on the resolution, according to her vote count. She reaffirmed her choice to vote no during CNN’s State of the Union with Dana Bash on Sunday morning, hours before Kirk’s funeral began in Arizona.
“For the most part, the only people that voted no were people of color. Because the rhetoric that Charlie Kirk continuously put out there was rhetoric that specifically targeted people of color. It is unfortunate that even our colleagues cannot see how harmful his rhetoric was, specifically to us,” Crockett said.
The House passed a resolution titled “Honoring the life and legacy of Charles ‘Charlie’ James Kirk” by a vote of 310-58 on Friday. All 215 House Republicans and 95 House Democrats joined together to vote yes on the resolution; 58 Democrats voted “no” and 38 Democrats voted present. According to the roll call, Reps. Seth Moulton (D-MA) and Mike Quigley (D-IL) were the two white House members who voted against the resolution.
“It is unfortunate that more of my colleagues even on my side of the aisle could not see the amount of harm that this man was attempting to inflict upon our communities,” Crockett said.
She did condemn political violence in America, saying Kirk should still be alive.
“Whether it’s heated or not, the fact is, Charlie Kirk should still be here. It should not have been that there was political violence that resulted because of the words that were coming out of his mouth,” Crockett said.
The resolution, introduced by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), condemns Kirk’s assassination and all political violence “in the strongest possible terms” and gives condolences to Kirk’s family. The House resolution also “honors the life, leadership, and legacy of Charlie Kirk, whose steadfast dedication to the Constitution, civil discourse, and Biblical truth inspired a generation to cherish and defend the blessings of liberty,” the resolution reads.
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Crockett referenced the fact that Kirk discussed her on his podcast in August amid the Texas redistricting battle and state Democrats’ decision to flee Texas during a vote on a new map. She said she could not vote to honor him.
“So, if there was any way that I was going to honor somebody who decided that they were just going to negatively talk about me and proclaim that I was somehow involved in the ‘great white replacement,’ yeah, I’m not honoring that kind of stuff, especially as a civil rights attorney and understanding how I got to Congress, knowing that there were people that died, people that were willing to die, that worked to make sure that voices like mine could exist in this place,” Crockett said.