Taco Policy

Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (00:00)
Because of the big ugly bill, we're talking about 15 to 17 million people that will be kicked off of their health care.

Kat Vargas, Host (00:05)
This is a pattern for Republicans. They will shut down the government.

Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (00:08)
If I were to run statewide, it would be for Senate.

Kat Vargas, Host (00:15)
Welcome to Taco Policy, where people, politics, and power collide, Texas style. I'm Kat Vargas, the creator behind Howdy Politics, and each week I'll be traveling across the state to meet with elected officials, organizers, and everyday Texans working to make change in their communities. Over tacos, we'll discuss recent news, the fights shaping Texas, and what you can do to make a difference. When we originally planned this episode, we were going to be filming in the Dallas area, but thanks to Donald Trump and Republicans shutting down the federal government,

I've got to quickly get my hair out of this towel and get ready to go catch a flight out to DC. I wanted to get us the inside scoop on what's really happening behind closed doors in the Capitol. And I knew there was nobody better to let us know what's going on than Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, who's always going to keep it real. Let's go. We are here with Representative Jasmine Crockett. Congresswoman, thank you so much for joining us here on Taco Policy. Normally, we are meeting in districts ⁓ and eating some tacos. We do not have tacos in front of us.

Kat Vargas, Host (01:13)
because... this

is no, because Republicans have shut down the government. so I came out here to DC to meet with you, but normally when we do have tacos, I ask every guest, what is your taco policy? What is your go-to order? And how religious are you about that order?

Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (01:31)
Okay, so first of all the tacos have to be ordered in Texas, which is why we cannot do tacos because other places miss those tacos really bad.

Kat Vargas, Host (01:39)
La Tejama here is really good though. Really? it's texas tacos.

Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (01:43)
We'll have to see. But number one, it needs to be a street taco. That's like basic. And number two, let's see. I don't like onions. So yeah, I'm kind of weird that way. So that's really my only like main rule is like no onions, no peppers, which I know for some people are like sacrilegious. Yes, I get it.

Kat Vargas, Host (02:06)
I can't do raw onion. it's cooked in, I'm OK. But otherwise, no. Do you have a favorite spot in the district? I mean, you've got some really good ones

Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (02:13)
for me it's at Fuel City. Fuel City Tacos.

Kat Vargas, Host (02:17)
Yes. I love it. Fuel City for those who are outside of Dallas here, it is literally a gas station. And they are just these legend tacos that you go in at this gas station and people go, I get gas sometimes just to get gas. Well, thank you again so much for being here. I know it is absolutely crazy. So let's just go ahead and get right into it. Did the Democrats shut the government down?

Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (02:33)
No, I mean, listen, we've been complaining and talking about we can't stop anything, right? We've not been able to stop Trump. We've not been able to stop his ridiculous secretary of ⁓ HHS. We've not been able to stop. We've not been able to stop anything. So the idea that we now have this much power is just absolutely ridiculous. Basically, the Republicans have decided that they want to continue to govern on their own. And that means no governance at all.

And so when they say that the Democrats have shut the government down, they're talking about the fact that there's a 60 vote threshold for the filibuster and the Republicans don't have 60 votes in the Senate. So much like what presidents before this president have had to deal with, they've had to deal with the filibuster, they've had to deal with this issue. And frankly, every other president has been able to figure it out. And there's not been that many presidents that have actually had the benefit of having 60 votes from their party in the Senate.

So what it usually comes down to is number one, adults being in the room, number two, entering into negotiations and listening. This president has decided he does not want to do that. That is why under his, I don't know, four years and not even a total of a fifth, he's had four shutdowns versus his most recent predecessors who come nowhere near that. In fact, I think if you add up going all the way back to Bush,

⁓ They don't add up to as many as his. So, you know, who's the problem? I mean, I think it's pretty clear. We know who the problem is.

Kat Vargas, Host (04:24)
And it's right though, too, that had it been just an actual clean budget, not a continued resolution, that would have just required a simple majority.

Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (04:31)
We did not pass an appropriation at all last year. They only did stop gaps the entire time. So by the time we got to March, ⁓ and there was another stop gap that they presented us with the CR, the House Democrats voted it down, but the Senate went ahead and went along with it, and that carried us through September 30th. And I did not want to do that because they gave a full year of a budget

where we did not have the line items, like this goes here, this goes there, this goes here. Instead, when you're doing the stopgap, it's like, yeah, we're gonna continue to spend money in this category versus like really being very specific. And I wanna be specific on this administration. So, you know, I think that they preferred that, it gave them a lot more leverage. And so I don't really have any assurances that the Republicans will do their jobs.

if we continue to do these stop gaps. And that's gonna put us in a more precarious situation as it relates to our appropriations as a whole.

Kat Vargas, Host (05:33)
And one of the areas that we definitely don't trust them to spend on is healthcare. So how has healthcare really played into this? know, like in Texas, we are the number one uninsured state in the country. And so we will be hit the hardest by this. So it is to see people like Chip Roy and others who have just completely been, when it's their constituents that are gonna be hit the hardest, lot of these rural communities are gonna be hit really hard that do depend on Medicaid. We're seeing rural hospitals close in Texas.

Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (05:38)
Yeah.

Kat Vargas, Host (06:02)
But how does all of that, how does healthcare play into what's happening now?

Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (06:06)
We've gone through these CRs and the last time I had to really deal with them was under President Biden. And they would come up and basically we're supposed to be talking about the budget ⁓ and they would then veer off and negotiate on the debt ceiling. They would negotiate on something that was not a present kind of issue. And so because of how they negotiated and President Biden

went along with it because he wanted to keep the government open. He wanted to govern, right? So they use that as their leverage. We're using as leverage and the Republicans keep saying, well, it doesn't expire till December, right? But that's not far off, number one. Number two, we need to do this while we have the leverage. And right now, because of the big ugly bill, we're talking about 15 to 17 million people that will be kicked off of their healthcare.

But more importantly, because I do think that we tend to kind of silo people off and we say, ⁓ if you've got Medicaid or Medicare, then you're looking at possibly losing it. And then people say, well, I don't have Medicaid or Medicare, so this isn't really my issue. But what they did is by taking the Medicaid and Medicare out, they took out a trillion dollars that is normally within the healthcare ecosystem. That means all of our premiums are going up. The cost of healthcare in this country is already too expensive.

But now it's more expensive because think about your local hospital, what it takes to keep those lights on and to keep those doctors there and that kind of stuff, right? So now you have this bundle of money that's now just disappeared. But the thing is, the health crisis doesn't go away. Those people that have whatever ailments they have, they still have those ailments. They still need to seek out some type of treatment, right? So you're still gonna have the demand. You're just gonna have less money.

You're gonna have less money that is coming in because they've taken it out. And so what happens is it hits everybody else. The rest of us have to pay in. Think about what's happened with all the natural disasters and how homeowners insurance has played out. How some people can't even get a homeowners insurance anymore because now they're like, listen, we don't have enough people paying into this big pot of money. And so now everybody's premiums have to go up or we're just canceling people.

because of how expensive the disasters have been. This is the same thing. This is how insurance works. You pay in hoping that you won't ever have to pull out, but if you do have to pull out, everybody else is paying in like the idea is that we're not having everybody pull out at the same time. And so it's gonna be an issue for all of us. Now the Affordable Care Act tax credits, they are due to expire. So let's say you're not on Medicaid, you're not on Medicare, but you pay,

You get your health insurance because of the Affordable Care Act, because of Obamacare, whatever you want to call it. ⁓ Or if you just want to say you get it on the marketplace, that's all the same thing, right? And now they're saying these tax credits that you were getting, no, we're gonna let those expire. So now even more people look at being uninsured because now they can't afford their healthcare. So we're in a real crisis.

And the thing is, we have nothing to show for it. They claim that this is about getting us out of debt. It's not, not when you're sending $20 billion over to another country that then double crosses us because our farmers who need to be bailed out because of the horrific tariff policies, they still don't have ⁓ their stream of customers that they would normally engage with because now the people that we're bailing out, they also took their...

customers and they're getting money from China on their soybeans and they're getting China to pay more. Like it's crazy. So this is about priorities. Like a budget is about where is it that you are going to place your priorities? And when people say, is the red line? My deal is how much is a life worth to you pro-life party? How much is it worth? Because we have our congressional budget office that is trying to estimate the number of deaths.

associated with our legislation, which is wild.

Kat Vargas, Host (10:28)
And you kind of touch on a little bit. that money that's being sent over the 20 billion is to Argentina whose number one export is soybeans. China's not getting any from us right now because of the tariffs. We're bailing out Argentina who is now going to be able to benefit and export even more over there. They'll be able to bail out their farmers while ours in Texas and across the country.

Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (10:49)
I feel like

America first, mean,

Kat Vargas, Host (10:52)
Not at all. It's almost like all of their catchphrases are just catchphrases. If they didn't have double standards, they wouldn't have standards at all. And we see that over and over and over again with Republicans. Those of us at home are also kind of struggling with how do we talk to people on their side, also when we're calling our, you know, I've got a Republican rep in Congress. What is your advice though to those who are having to call in? Like do calls matter? When people call into your office, does it matter? And for people who are calling into Republican offices?

what advice do you have to give to them? Because sometimes it does, feels like, I call every day and it feels like it doesn't make a difference.

Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (11:26)
Yeah, so this is a really good point. ⁓ And I think that I can make this point even better when I talk about fundraising, right? Our top fundraiser in the Congress, in the entire House, and probably even the Senate as well, ⁓ is AOC, Alexandra. And ⁓ one of the things that people need to understand is like, there's all these small donors that come together.

to be able to maximize and pass up all these other people. So it is a matter of you calling in, but it's a matter of not just you by yourself. It is a matter of multiple people. It is the compoundment. So what will happen specifically in my office, the way that we know that something is really resonating in a good or bad way is my staff is like, yo, the phones are blowing up from our constituents saying this.

And so they tell me, but like one individual call, they're not necessarily telling me about each individual call that we get. It is a matter of, there multiple people calling? So I tell people, yes, it is important to do what you're doing. The hope is that you're not the only one that's paying attention and that there are other people that are paying attention and they are also calling because it is about the quantity of calls. That's usually what sends the signal to staff.

They're like, hey, we may need to go this way on this or that. So yeah.

Kat Vargas, Host (12:54)
And

so right now, the best thing people can be doing is to be calling into the Rev. and asking them to extend the ACA subsidies.

Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (13:00)
And call into your rep. Like, don't call into it because they check your address. So call into your rep. So what we see a lot of times is like people who have Republican representatives, they want to call us. And it's like, that's cool. But like, we don't represent you and we need them to hear from you because when you're not calling them, they feel like, yeah, we're on the right side of history. And that's not true. They're just calling the people that see the world the way that they see it. Just like the crazy...

MAGAs, call us, they don't live in my district. We ignore that. Like our staff is like, mm-mm, mm-mm, you're not us, mm-mm, because they're not the people that elect me. So they're not the people that can reelect me, right? So no, call into your reps, no matter who they are, and tell them if your rep is on the right side of history, go ahead and call them and say thank you, right? Like let them know, because there is a lot of pressure. There's so many different narratives out there saying, no, you guys are doing the wrong thing or whatever.

They need to know that like, yes, you are understanding why it is that we are in this standoff and that you agree with this.

Kat Vargas, Host (14:01)
Right

now, know, Democrats are holding the line. We saw the last time we did this dance that didn't happen on the Senate side. But now, you know, there does seem to be unity on this and making sure that health care is protected. And part of that's because they're listening to the base. And so to continue calling in, thanking them, because you're right, like, y'all are White House socials now that are like some like high school kid posting the most random things, you know, trying to blame y'all, even though they're in control of, you know, every branch of government.

part of that duty that they have is to come to the table and negotiate. And what a crazy thing to not negotiate. Everybody be like, I don't want you to have healthcare. Like if your mom has cancer treatment and she is on medic, like, nope, sorry, like you can't go get that treatment. It is nuts. And again, in Texas, we were the number one uninsured state in the country. We've got hospitals closing left and right. We have a mental healthcare crisis where people can't access that. We have a home healthcare crisis. People can't access that.

⁓ You know, we kind of went through a little bit in my family with my grandmother towards the end of her life a couple years ago where, know, finally at the last, you know, my mom was able to get someone to come in and kind of help with that and keep her comfortable. And so many Texans just don't have that option already and it's only going to get worse. But I do want to talk about

Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (15:19)
Let me add to that really quickly before you go to your next point, because I don't think this is being made enough either. Let talk about your grandmother. There are so many of our elders that rely on ⁓ this government assistance when it comes down to them being in a nursing home facility and things like that. And ⁓ when they pull those monies out, those facilities are quite expensive.

and it falls back on, so this is also like a caregiver crisis. So even if it's a matter of, my insurance has gone up, I can afford this or whatever, right? It's those that have to care for others, right? So those that are caring for our seniors or even like the children that really need this, like this is life-saving treatment that is unaffordable. It is the caregivers that this is gonna fall on as well. So.

Don't look and say, well, I'm healthy and I'm young and this and that. It's your moms, it's your grandmoms and grandfathers and things like that. Like the people that you are needing to now assist that maybe did not need that financial assistance before.

Kat Vargas, Host (16:28)
And it always falls on women. We're always the fault for to take care and to take on these roles. ⁓ But as important as it is to call in to our reps on this issue, you know, we definitely want the government to be reopened. I've got a trip to Colorado next week, and I'm really hoping that Estes Park is able to be open while I'm there with my kids. Otherwise, we are going to have major cabin fever. But a lot of this is just this is electoral. We can call until we're blue in the face. But like you said,

This is a pattern for Republicans. They will shut down the government and harm Americans and it is nothing to them to do so. They have done it over and over again and we've got to start winning races. In Texas, we just saw the redistricting scam. ⁓ I know you were drawn out of your district. They were drawn on racial lines ⁓ and it's really important to the distinction. This was a racial gerrymander because they...

by law, can do a political one. They can say, hey, we just want more seats. We can all say it's not right, but they have that right. But this was on racial lines. I was looking at some of the data points on it. Vince Perez, the state reformer, Paso, had said it is for every Latino vote, it takes three Latino votes for one white voter. It takes five black voters to equal the voting power of one white voter. And like I said, you were drawn out of your district. You kind of shared a little bit about how, when you testified,

Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (17:43)
Mm-hmm.

Kat Vargas, Host (17:48)
this was intentional and it wasn't just you. Can you share that story again?

Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (17:53)
I don't know which story because I testified so many times, but I will tell you that I appreciate what Rep. Perez did by breaking down the numbers so that it can be more digestible because when you talk about gerrymandering, it can get kind of confusing, right? So it's very simple. ⁓ You know, we know that the 15th Amendment ⁓ of the Constitution kind of assures all men, it does, amen, ⁓ you know, basically have the same...

kind of voting strength, even those that are formerly enslaved and that kind of stuff. So basically like black folk, Latino folk, like whoever, right? So you've got that, but then you've got Texas, which so many people were surprised to find out is a majority minority state. They're like, it's super red. Of course it's white. And it's like, it's not super red. It is voter apathy. It is voter suppression.

And it is voter access that become issues in the state of Texas. So here we are a state that is majority minority, 60-40, actually it's 60, like 61-39 basically, right? And the 39 % for everybody, listen, watching, is Anglo. And when you look at it, when they decided to do the lines, about 70, over 70 %...

of the seats that we will get, over 70 % of the 38 seats, Anglos will be the ones that get to choose their representation. Almost twice as much as their population will get to decide who it is that goes to DC. That is racial, period. Texas has consistently been found to be racially discriminatory every time they've been sued. We were already engaged in litigation from the 21 lines saying that they also

we're racially discriminatory, and he's right. Texas has more African-Americans than any other state. And when we look at the representation, it's going to be, if this map is allowed to go into effect immediately, we will take and only have two seats where African-Americans get to choose their representation. So we're looking at, most likely, my seat, Texas 30, should work.

to where black people can elect their representative, which doesn't have to be a black person. It's whoever they elect. We know that in the state of Tennessee, ⁓ Steve Cohen is an Anglo man who is elected by black people. Black people choose Steve Cohen. So it's not about who gets elected, it's about who gets to choose to do the electing. Same thing would happen down in Houston. The only seat...

that black people would get to make the decision about who goes to DC is actually ⁓ Congressional District 18, the seat that now has a special election that will take place on November 4th. That is it. Those are the only two. So essentially, ⁓ the seats that we can almost say African-Americans most likely would win, their best seats ⁓ would be down to two.

We had a congressional delegation of five African-Americans. Once Colin Allred left the House and ran for the Senate, he then was replaced by Julie Johnson, who's not African-American. That was a coalition seat, or it is a coalition seat. So it's a coalition of minorities that come together to elect their representation, which could be any and everybody, you know, and that's fine. And then you have four other seats that African-Americans were elected to. Right now, under these current maps, we're probably looking at returning myself.

and returning ⁓ whoever ultimately wins CD 18. And we know that Al Green is talking about leaving CD 9 and running for 18 if these maps stand. So we're talking about potentially two African-Americans in a state that has more African-Americans than any other state. So you'll look at California. California is another big state, but does not have the raw number of African-Americans that we have. California would have more African-Americans. ⁓

that are elected to Congress. We are talking about a direct attack specifically on the Congressional Black Caucus. We are looking at the state of Missouri that went after the Cleaver seat, meaning that their delegation is going from two African-Americans down to one. When I looked at the numbers, we're talking about close to 10 African-Americans, Indiana, they're going after Andre Carson. They talked about going after Clyburn in South Carolina. They are planning to go into Florida and go after seats.

We're talking, they just specifically put something out about going after Amelia Sykes in Ohio. Amelia Sykes represents a seat that is 91%, not ⁓ African-Americans, 91 % Anglo, but she is an African-American. They're trying to go after the seat that she occupies. We have a historic number of African-Americans in the Congressional Black Caucus and they are looking at targeting eight to 10 of us. So you can't tell me it's not racial. You were specifically going after CBC members.

And I wonder why they call the Congressional Black Caucus the conscience of the Congress. And so we tend to lead the way in a different... We have a different kind of moral ⁓ obligation that is upon us. mean, we, regardless of how much history they don't want to teach, we know that people were lynched. We know that people were jailed. We know about water hoses.

We know about the batons, we know about slave patrols, we know about the things that took place, the literacy test. We know all the obstacles that they have placed before us and how there were people who never imagined that I would be the 55th black woman or that I would be a black woman, I'm sorry, 55th black member elected to Congress or that they even imagined that there would be people like me ever.

but they put their lives on the line. That has to mean something, regardless of the type of district that you represent, such as in Amelia Sykes, she still is a black woman, right? And so there is a deep history that we know that this country can do better when it just decides that it will. And we know that when it's better for black folk, it's better for everybody. It's not just a matter of when I go and I wage my fights.

If I fight for something that's gonna be right for black people, I promise you it's going to inure to the benefit of everyone. The Civil Rights Act did not just benefit black people. It benefited anybody that was in Anglo, right? Like it benefited, it was about equity for all, right? So it is so annoying and frustrating when people get caught up into this web of lies that they try to put out there when they say things like, well, you're just race baiting. No, I understand the law.

I understand the Constitution. I understand Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. I understand these things and I know what I'm seeing. You are, you know, literally the three-fifths compromise was talking about Black people only being three-fifths of a human, right? We're talking about in this map, if it goes forward, we're not even three-fifths. We get one-fifth the voting strength of our Anglo Texans.

You tell me how that's right. You tell me how that's not retrogression. You tell me how it's not regression.

Kat Vargas, Host (25:37)
Yeah, and they tried this too. They were very sneaky in how they did it and saying like, oh, well, no, we have these new, you know, Latino majority districts and stuff. But what they did was, you know, you talked about how Democrats were accused of race beating on this, but they really went, you know, almost race fishing on this. And they looked at it they said, okay, let's, where can we find populations of Latinos that we either know don't turn out to vote? And it might be that, you know, they might not be citizens. It might just be, yeah, voter apathy, whatever. And they're like, those are the kind of Latinos that we want to pack into this district. So the...

We can say it's a Latino majority, but it won't operate that way. It was just almost such precision. Now we're seeing that, you know, now it's going through court and everything. I hope that we see you testify in court because you said something when you testified that you were contacted for your address. Oh, yes. And you were drawing this. And it was you, Joaquin Castro, Greg Casar, and VC were all contacted, all members of color. What was it that you were contacted about?

Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (26:31)
Yeah, so no, they contacted us, ⁓ they being the Texas House, and they actually, I'll just say the Texas legislature, because it should have been counsel that should function for both the House and the Senate. And they asked us to confirm our census track and our address. That is because that is one of the considerations that the court looks at whether or not there's an aberration if you take an incumbent and move them out of their district.

⁓ And frankly, they went through the motions, they asked us for our addresses. And then I don't know who still lives in that district, right? Like I really don't. ⁓ You know, we know that Mark Vesey was moved into a Republican seat. ⁓ I obviously was moved into Mark Vesey's number or technically his district. And that is a district that should function for a Democrat. So I was moved from mine into another seat that should function for a Democrat.

It will not be that black folk are the ones that get to choose their representation. But ultimately if I decide to run for that seat, it's because that's where I live. And they moved about 200,000 of us there. ⁓ white, black, yellow, green, red, I do my best to represent everyone. And I feel confident that those voters don't care that I'm black. ⁓ And they would...

function and he liked me just fine if I decided to run there. But yeah, they contacted us. And so our lawyers ultimately, when they are arguing the merits of the case, which right now we're in court, but it's not really on the merits so much. We're not determining whether or not the map itself should be struck down completely. It is a matter of should this map be allowed to go into effect immediately or will the harm ⁓ be so irreparable if we do this in this moment?

that it doesn't make sense to do. So they're trying to basically temporarily stop the map from going into place right now. And then ultimately they'll listen and determine whether or not the map will go into effect at all for the last few years that we have left because we'll be headed back into another census and drawing new maps soon.

Kat Vargas, Host (28:53)
And all this was done because they're cutting people's health care. They are cutting food assistance that Americans rely on. ⁓ We are seeing that it is not criminals that they're going after in the street. Even American citizens are being detained in some of these cases. Children and our groceries are still expensive. ⁓ Utility, all the things, costs have not come down at all. And so when that happens, you have to cheat in order to win.

Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (29:07)
And babies. Yeah. As.

Kat Vargas, Host (29:20)
have you made decisions? You kind of hinted at about a little bit about, you know, where you're going to fall in 2026 because you do have options for, you know, you're going to stay in your current numbered district, which will be a different district. You know, will it be in 33 where you know or where you will live in this new one? You've also been in a lot of polls for Senate and governor and everything. I don't know how much that's because you're saying things versus wishful thinking on Texans part. And I hope that you do know how proud Texans are of you because

I'm gonna move back up a little bit. is, I mean, you know, we get shit on all the time and there is terrible stuff coming out of our state. And so for someone to be coming out and like we're going viral for like good reasons because Republicans are getting called out because someone is fighting for Texans. It is, it gives so much hope to so many people. I hope you know that. We definitely wanna see you running, but have you made any?

Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (30:09)
Yeah.

I haven't made a decision. Right now, I think it is important that I focus on the current litigation because no matter what, I believe that it's important for me as an elected U.S. House member that I do everything that I can to protect these seats. And there's a lot more protection that comes with an incumbent being in a seat and fighting. And so we saw a similar thing in 21. One of the reasons that I was so late getting into the congressional race

is because my predecessor wanted to make sure that she maximized the fight to protect Texas 30. And so once the map fully passed, then that's when she announced that she was out and then I got in. So I needed to protect House District 100, my state house district. She needed to protect Texas 30. At the core of any public servant, it should always come back to the people.

And so for me, I absolutely cannot make any decisions about anything until we at least figure out where the court is going to land as relates to these maps because my paramount purpose is the people, period, full stop. I don't want the new maps to go into effect. It is my preference that we run under the other maps that I was already sewing were bad because

These maps are even worse. That is my preference, that we run number one strong candidates in all 38 congressional districts, that we support them, that we fight through it, that we believe, that we turn out people in a different way, that we start talking to people that believe that we are not for them and make them recognize that we are. So that is my goal. Because that is my goal and because I do believe in Texas, it makes it difficult for me to foreclose on

⁓ whether or not I will run statewide. If I were to run statewide, it would be for Senate. We know that that Senate race has started to, ⁓ at least on our primary, started to kind of heat up. I personally look at this and think, you know, crowds are great. ⁓ And everyone knows that I love my vice president. Like I just texted her like yesterday because I saw a video of her that I had never seen before.

And this video really stuck out. I don't bother her. I don't communicate with her very often. Like, I don't do that. But this video stuck out to me because she talked about Project 2025 in this interview that I'd never seen. And she talked about how many times he was mentioned in Project 2025. And there was a video of me that went somewhat viral, not like super uber viral, but it went somewhat viral where I had this witness.

And I knew that she knew the answers, because I know Miss Perry. I knew that she knew the answer. And so I was like, is he mentioned one time? And she was like, no. Is he mentioned two times? She's like, no. And I started going through this thing and I was like, in fact, he's mentioned over 300 times in Project 2025 as the campaign was going on and they were trying to say, know, he said he don't know nothing about it. I'm like, he is all up and through. And this person worked for him and that person, like I was doing all the things.

because I was trying to ring the alarms, but I never knew that the vice president had also talked about the fact that he was mentioned over 300 times in Project 2025. ⁓ And so I'm sure her staff had probably pulled, my, cause her staff would watch like my videos and that kind of stuff, like everything that I was doing. So I'm sure her staff probably pulled it and confirmed it and it became one of her talking points as well, but I had never heard it. So like I just sent it to her. So I say all that to say that ⁓ she was

just in Houston just yesterday ⁓ with her book tour. She's been selling out everywhere. And I remember being in Houston and feeling amazing as she packed out, I forget which stadium it is. Okay, NRG. ⁓ Packed, it was something I've never seen it was hot. Listen, it was phenomenal. Like, it is hard to...

Kat Vargas, Host (34:23)
in our.

Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (34:36)
truly elaborate on how it felt as a Texan to be there and Queen Bee. like, I mean, it was just like, am I in Texas? Like, you I'm clicking my heels, right? And so I was like, oh man, this is different and we've never had this, right? And people traveled from all over the state to get there to see her. And so I was like, even if we lose Texas,

the numbers are gonna be good, like they're gonna be good and her numbers were not. So I say all that to say that one of the things that we learned with Obama and learned with Trump is that the polling never told the full story. It never did. And people kept saying, I don't understand, like all the polls said Hillary, they just said Hillary, they said Hillary, Hillary, Hillary. And even when it came to Barack, like this is the story kind of set to say for Hillary, right?

because it was clear that Hillary was gonna win that primary. And this young senator out of Illinois, Serge Paster, right? And the thing about them that makes both of them unique is that they have always been able to engage people that never get captured into polls. They are able to expand their own electorate. There are Obama voters who don't vote for nobody else.

Like if you've ever run in Texas, you look, you look at the 08, you look at the 12s, and you see some of these people ain't voted since, right? There are Obama-specific voters. There are Trump-specific voters, right? And polls don't capture that, not at least with the traditional polling ⁓ model. So my theory has been we need to figure out if there's a candidate that can expand the electorate because I don't care if, I mean, we know that there were polls that had

Colin Allred up against Ted Cruz. That was so far off base. It was wrong, right? We know what the state has done for the last 30 years. know, some of the things that are frustrating when I look back is that Texas, especially for really most all of our state-wide, specifically for the Senate races, we tend to take someone, I love Beto, he knows I love him. I love Colin, he knows I love him too. So no shade to what I'm about to say.

⁓ I represent 1 38th of the state. We have 38 congressional seats. I represent 1 38th. So to be fair, when Beto initially entered his Senate race against Ted Cruz, he only represented, I think at the time we had 36 congressional seats, 1 36th of the state. So the fact that the rest of the state didn't know him wasn't a slight on him, but he wasn't known really past kind of that 1 36th, but he worked. He went to every single...

⁓ He went to some counties multiple times, but he started from basically 136th. ⁓ Same thing happened, or a similar thing happened with Colin. Like, he started from 138th. He wasn't really known outside of that. So we're talking about races, I think. When Beto ran, they did 60 or $70 million ⁓ to kind of get him there. And then when Colin ran, they did about $100 million behind him. The polling that we've seen suggests that

we would finally be starting with a candidate who without $100 million or $60 million behind her is already known. So imagine putting $100 million like where we could go. Now we're talking about expansion, right? And so I think we have this thing where we fall in love with the idea of let's start with somebody who's great because again, I love those guys and I think that they are both great, right? ⁓

who knows how people feel about me, but starting at such a deficit and it's like you're starting from home base and you're about to bat. And theoretically in my mind, we do better starting with somebody who's at least on first, if not second base. So then when you make those investments, you're not having to do the initial of, me introduce you to who this is, let me tell you who this is instead.

We're walking in there like, that's Jasmine. We know what she stands for. We know what she's about. We know that she wages the fights that need to be waged. Now let's try to get new people, people that have never participated. So for us, ⁓ we will evaluate definitely a lot of ways the court can go ⁓ in this hearing. We will see what the court does. Ultimately, I will do polling based upon kind of what the court does to figure out what all the options look like. But I think our best shot at winning is

figuring out if there's a candidate that can expand the electorate. If I can turn out people that normally would never vote, then I think it makes sense for me to jump in this day wide. And it helps the entire ticket because now you've got people that normally don't vote that are coming out. If I can't expand the electorate, I'm not even gonna consider it because I wanna be fair ⁓ and there are other people that...

believe that they have a path in some way and whatever their math is, but I don't think that the math is getting Republicans to cross over. We keep trying to do that. It's not worked. mean, the reality is that it doesn't work.

Kat Vargas, Host (40:10)
Anyone that was gonna move, but would have moved by now.

Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (40:13)
The math for me is where is the base? Are we doing our part to get those people that believe our policies but just haven't really believed in us? And so when you look at the fact that Beto had 17 % voter turnout in the state but he lost by a little less than three points, I think the answer is turning out more voters. Again, we are a majority minority state and I don't think trying to be a conservative dim...

is necessarily the answer. I served on the Ag Committee and I have talked to Texas farmers and ranchers because of my service on the Ag Committee, a place that most people probably did not see me going my first term. And, you know, even just engaging in those conversations, knowing that on their hill days, the Texas Farm Bureau is going to bring them in to talk to me because I was always going to be very honest about things, never had a problem.

These are people that potentially only knew what Fox News put out there of me. But once they realized that I cared about what they care about and that I was fighting harder to do right by them, these people had no problems with me. So even when it came down to the presidential, I told the team, said, stop sending me to all the urban centers. Yes, I can do that, yes. But you got plenty of surrogates that can go do that. You need to send me to rule America.

and they were looking like, huh? And I'm like, listen, I was in East Texas. I lived there. I know the struggles. I know what it's like when the paper mill is threatened with shutting down or Cooper Tire may shut it. I know the struggles and the angst. I know how these small town economies work. I get it because I lived it. I still have property out there. I'm like, just try me, like trust me on this, right?

And I would go in and it got to the point they were like, ⁓ towards the end, they're like, well, we gotta send you, I'm like, well, I don't have enough time now because you're not flying into the airport to get to the small town. I mean, you gotta drive, you gotta do some other things. And I think that we've gotta engage in real conversations, but I shouldn't change who I am because I am right on this. I know that the rural hospitals are shutting down and I know it's not because of policies that I'm pushing. I know that it's the policies of the people that they have elected.

that are literally reducing their life expectancy. And I think it's wrong. I know that when it came to rural broadband being expanded, it was Democrats in the Infrastructure Act that were fighting to expand broadband, period, full stop, which has made farming more efficient for people that don't know. They need broadband for that too, but it also makes sure that you have access to telehealth because you don't have as many, like I get it.

And so I just feel like it's a matter of going in and telling the real stories of the real struggles that I understand that you have. I get all of that. I don't think that it's a matter of trying to pretend that I'm going to be a Republican.

Kat Vargas, Host (43:25)
I love this much, I love this like in the weeds like real strategy talk and just being really honest about like where we are as a party and that you're willing to go out and meet you know with all these people and I know we're getting close on time. You did bring up Madam Vice President Kamala Harris. I was in Houston yesterday for the tour. It was wonderful. She gave my 11 year old some advice on running his student council campaign.

Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (43:48)
I saw a video and I saw a video this morning, but I didn't click on it. But it was about, yes, I saw

Kat Vargas, Host (43:54)
It

was so good and she had him to like kind of practice, know, shaking her hand and asking for her vote. And when he didn't make eye contact, she goes, nope, start again. I'm like, that is like some of the best campaign training like you were ever gonna get, bud. But in her book, she mentions, this is kind of the last thing I wanna get into. She mentions this secret project that she had for some rising stars. And as soon as I read it, I remembered your DNC speech and you brought up that the first time that you met her, you were kind of at a point that you...

You didn't know if you belonged in Congress, if you'd made the right choice in coming here. And she really kind of gave you your legs. You went viral the next week and you are now known as one of the faces of the party, one of the fighters of the party. Did you realize that you were in this scene? Did y'all ever know y'all were in this program?

Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (44:43)
No, no, no, no, no. I had no idea. So what's interesting is that that took place at the vice president's residence. And I was only in for, I don't even know if I've been in a full month. It was Black History Month and she had invited the Congressional Black Caucus to the vice president's residence to celebrate Black History Month as obviously the only African American vice president we've ever had.

And so that was my first time like meeting her in person. And there's always a picture line, ⁓ something that I just love. I don't. ⁓ But so she has this picture line and I walk up to her and we have the picture in the office actually it's hanging. I really just went, I didn't know. Like I was not liking it at all.

⁓ And there were so many things that gave me angst about leaving my constituents from the state house. It was like, I will never know my district. Like I know these people because my state house district was smaller and I just felt like they were my family. And I did not get to keep that many of them. I think about only 10 % of my district overlapped with my congressional. And so I was just like, I just don't know about this. And my flights were so much longer and...

I just was like, I don't know if I made the right decision. And I was so torn because it's a privilege. this was, it's like, how dare you? Question, right? But at the same time, I'm like, And so I'm having this inner conflict as I'm literally in the vice president's residence of the only black vice president that we've ever had. And like this, this is technically a like very historic theme that I'm experiencing and I should be like taking it all in, but instead I'm like, I don't know.

You know, and ⁓ I felt wrong. I felt wrong to feel that way, especially since I had just beaten nine people in my primary, and I don't know how many people in my general election, ⁓ to get there. And then I felt this way. And so the internal conflict was obviously ⁓ externally being evidenced. And the fact that she just saw right through me was just kind of astounding. This woman who knew nothing about me.

but looked at me and could see that there was some distress. She didn't understand where it was coming from or whatever, but she could see. And so to me, most people don't expect politicians specifically to actually see people.

Kat Vargas, Host (47:15)
Yes, that is something I tell people about her all the time. A lot of times there's that thing where you're talking and they look over your head and they're scanning the room. But she is so fully present every single time with whoever is in front of her. And she writes about that in the book too about how it's, I let my staff handle things so that I could be with the American people that I was in front

Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (47:34)
I'm

telling you, and so I'm a freshman, room full of senior members, people that have worked with her when she was in the Senate, all kinds of stuff. These are friends. But she takes the time in the middle of this picture line ⁓ and was like, what's wrong? And I just broke down. it was, you know, it's just one of those pivotal moments in my political career.

that I'll never forget, but I don't know that she knew. I'm positive that she could not have known in that moment what all she would unlock within me. And it is why I typically am more interested in those that can't even vote for me, young people, because I truly believe because of what I experienced that I have the power to unlock.

levels and layers and young curious minds that they don't even know yet, right? And so, yeah, so that very next month, I went viral. That was in February by March. I was on viral for the first of many times. And I've been on their necks. ⁓ even, you know, when I had the bleach blonde situation, you know, some of the aunties, even though now I'm technically an auntie,

Kat Vargas, Host (48:49)
next ever.

Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (49:01)
But some of the people that were considered to be aunties within the caucus were like, I don't know about that one. But when I walked in the next day, the OGs, so OGs is my 80s roads, okay? You had Nancy and you had Pelosi, that is, and you had Auntie Maxine. The two of them, they were the first two. I mean, cause like this happened late at night and it went uber late at night. Like it just started going crazy.

So by the morning, I go on the Florida vote, it's a fly out day. The two of them were like, fantastic. And I'm like, what, what? yeah, don't back down. She needed that. I mean, these are the two. So the two that are over 80 are like high five. And then the aunties that are like 60s, 70, early 70s, they were like, we don't know about, you know, maybe, you know. And I was like, it is what it is. I was like, if my district decides that they don't want me to represent them, that is.

That is their decision and I am okay with that. But for me to say I'm gonna be your fighter and I'm gonna fight for you even when you're asleep. But then when somebody disrespects me, I'm gonna allow it to happen. Now I didn't break any rules. I made sure I knew the rules, I followed the rules, but I also made sure I was gonna make an example out of her. Don't nobody come for me and nobody else has. They've not, know, Nancy tried a little something, you know. And my district was so supportive, but no one knew.

how that would land. And frankly, it wasn't about, can I create a viral moment? Like this girl attacked me for no reason. Like we're gonna do what we do. And so it only solidified my district behind me. But people who are kind of caught up in the very traditional way of you gotta do this, this way and that, that way, they were not, you So it was an interesting time. But the vice president though, called me.

She did, and she was on the side of right. So, you know, she was like, mm-mm. She was like, you did what needed to be done. I love it, I did not know that. Yeah, no, I know. You're getting it exclusively. No, so there are these moments that ⁓ I would just think like, why is the most important and powerful woman in the world calling me? But she would. She would call, she would check on me. She would usually call just to give me words of encouragement.

And I'm like, how is it you got time? Like I don't have time. Like my mama be scheduling like stuff with me, you know? And it's like, but she would take the time. And it just left such an impression on me. And she always was like, whatever you need, I got you. And so, yeah, those are the things that people don't know. don't, you know, I think, I don't know if she wrote about some of the dinners and that kind of stuff, but like inviting us over and having these dinners that would

just be like a group of us. ⁓ And I just thought, okay, she hears about like the younger people, right? Like, I mean, you know, and I think that that's good, supporting to the future generations. But what, another thing people don't understand is that real leadership comes in when you're willing to listen. And, ⁓ you know, anybody that really knows anything about my journey, they know that like,

I had a record number of interns in my office in the state house and my interns were always picked off. Like everybody wanted my dad to go on intern. you were a Jasmine intern. Like they went, you know, the lobby firms were picking them up.

Kat Vargas, Host (52:32)
sit on out. like wait you worked for Jasmine I remember you. Yeah no.

Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (52:34)
Well,

I'm not like it was a whole thing, right? ⁓ And really, I don't think I was really that great. I think the greatness came in that I allowed them to have a real seat at the table. My interns weren't just going and getting coffee at any point in time, no matter what your specific kind of area was supposed to be. If you had an idea for legislation, then you'd have to come in. You'd have to lay it out for me why you think it's important. You'd have to.

And I'd have to test it. I'd have to challenge it, that kind of stuff. But I was teaching them, like how you needed to think about like legislation if you are going to kind of go into this space and that kind of stuff. And you've got to think about the other sides and you've got to think about the unintended consequences. You got to do all these things. But I was really teaching them. ⁓ And so I learned a lot more so because I was willing to listen to even kids that were in school. And the vice president is very similar in that way.

there were suggestions that we made to her, things that we observed. That she's like, I didn't know that, okay, well, and she would, so that's what real leadership looks like. The best leadership is leadership that doesn't believe that they just know everything, but instead is always willing to listen. And that was one of the best parts about even being ⁓ named as a national co-chair, which there's a whole story behind that too, but being named as a national co-chair.

I knew that she only did that because she knew that I would have her back, like 10 toes down. Like you ain't have to worry about no funny business. I'm looking for something. No, like because of how much I felt like she had contributed to me. The only thing that I wanted to do was contribute to this country by making sure that she became the next president of the United States. So there were times like, you know, I haven't read through the book. So to know what all she had to say about staff.

but where I felt like they were trying to block me from talking to her because they all knew that I was just gonna tell what was happening, right? Like what I was experiencing because when I would go on the ground, I'm like, don't just say, like I don't need to do a rally. Like I don't need, what I need to do is I need to talk to the people. And so I would, you know, I'd be like, send me to the hood. Send me to the colleges. Send me to like, there's like, I am a chameleon who can go in.

I did the fundraisers as a surrogate, because I can go into the fundraising room and make sure I'm doing that. I can talk the money. I can talk about why it's important. I could make people want to invest. But I also could literally go to the barber school and a beauty school. I could do that as well, right? I could go anywhere and I could go to rural America. So I was ⁓ one of the most diverse surrogates, but because of my diversity, I was able to also...

kind of get a feel for like, this is what I'm getting and I want to tell you this and I want to see like what it is that you think we should do or tell somebody what it is that we think should be done and there will be times where I'm like, I feel like they trying to block me from talking to her. Cause it wasn't as easy to call her when she was vice president. The phone situation was a little different. She had to call you. So every time I got an unknown call, I'm like, that's probably her. It's her or DL Hughley. They're the only two to call me.

sometimes Governor Moore, but I can call the other two back. I mean, like, did you just call me? But most of the time when it was unknown, it was her. And I can remember definitely one specific thing. I was like, yo, I was trying to get in the picture line, but I didn't want a picture. I was like, I'm good, I don't need no picture. I just need to talk to her, because we would have conversations in the picture line. And they were like, no, no, no, we gotta, I was like, I didn't even talk to her. Like, this ain't really for a picture. And I'm gonna make it real fast, because if somebody,

who has a terrible schedule, like I get it, but I really need to talk to her. And they blocked me. So they were like, but you're gonna see her later this day, da da da, whatever. So then I saw her later in another picture line where I was actually supposed to get my picture. And I was like, yo, how hard can I push? Am I just ceremonial in this role or can I really start busting heads, basically? She was like, what's up? I was like, we got a few things that I really wanna talk about. And so... ⁓

So at that particular event, she sent one of her staffers to me to be like, the vice president said, did you guys want to? I was like, yeah, I can hold this, right? And then it was like, okay, well, you got to talk to this person. And I was like, okay, cool. And that person was somebody that I trust and know and you know, whatever. was like, yo, y'all can look at my travel record. You know that I'm like here and as somebody who used to help other people get elected, somebody who's been elected, like I'm telling you, like these are the things.

that I'm struggling with, like these are the things that I'm gonna need some help on. Like this is what I feel like needs to shift and that kind of stuff. So ⁓ it's good to know that it wasn't just me, because part of it felt like, this is a me thing, but it was only confirmed that like there were staffing issues or whatever. And it's one of those things that like, people don't understand the importance of having like not only competent staff, but like loyal staff, right? And so for me, it's always like,

I really am looking at like, are you loyal? And your loyalty isn't necessarily to me as an individual, but to the mission, to the purpose, right? Are you gonna be somebody that's gonna be like, listen, we are trying to better lives and are you smart? As long as you got those two, then we good. Like I can work with you. But like there's so many people that, especially when it comes to the Hill and just DC politics.

They just are about like, I need this, I don't need this, I don't need this. So they just hop around. I'm like, that's not what I need. I need stability for my district. My district had a member that represented them for 30 years and then I came in and I did not want to let my district down as a freshman. And now as a sophomore, I'm still very much committed to making them never feel like there was a downgrade because they ended up losing somebody that they had for 30 years. And this comes down to staff.

Like your staff can make or break you. And ⁓ it truly seemed like there were more people than there should have been that were working, not necessarily in good consciousness like for her. And that really broke my heart. But I knew that while some people potentially saw it as controversial to put kind of the wild child freshman that says whatever's on her mind ⁓ as a national co-chair.

She never looked at me like that. She always, and it really should have been a signal to people about how real the vice president was. Yeah.

Kat Vargas, Host (59:22)
I love that. All that is a lot of inside scoop. Again, that's stuff that I love and just the behind the scenes curtain look. But I do agree with her that you are, I don't want to say you're a rising star. You're there, even though know that projection is going to keep going. Thank you for everything that you're doing for Texas. Thank you for giving us a fighter, for giving us someone to say this is the Texas spirit. I've been following you for a long time. Back in 2021, I was pregnant and testifying at the State House at 2 a.m.

And how to go to the bathroom and there was a line in the bathroom because it was the same day, you know, we had that permitless carry bill.

Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (59:58)
⁓ god, I remember that awful day. All intentional. ⁓

Kat Vargas, Host (1:00:00)
and the voting bill at the same time.

I came in like waddling in the bathroom and I'm like I'm very very pregnant and you were like nope everyone move she's got to go she gets to go first and I did not pee my pants that day in the Capitol so thank you for that but thank you so much for your time thank you for your fight and hopefully you get this government open back up because we know Republicans aren't gonna do

Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (1:00:25)
Yeah. Thanks so much. Absolutely. Thank you.

Kat Vargas, Host (1:00:30)
Thanks so much for tuning in. you enjoyed listening, be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. We're also on YouTube so you can watch the entire episode. Make sure you subscribe there too so you don't miss what's next. We'll be back next week. In the meantime, you can follow me on social media at at howdipolitics and check out our brand new show account at at taco policy on Instagram. Remember, this is your seat at the table for the future of Texas. This is Taco Policy.