Elections
“What I love about Kamala Harris goes beyond her resume. It’s that she sees the humanity in everyone,” said Crockett during her speech on Monday night.
U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, took to the stage on night one of the Democratic National Committee Convention, delivering a fiery and, at one point, emotional speech at the United Center in Chicago.
Crockett, a freshman congresswoman whose popularity skyrocketed in recent months due to several viral moments on Capitol Hill, drew much applause and internet reactions following her DNC address.
The 43-year-old Texas lawmaker was notably brought to tears while sharing a personal story about an encounter she had with Vice President Kamala Harris, who on Thursday will be coronated as the Democratic Party’s first Black female and South Asian nominee.
“What I love about Kamala Harris goes beyond her resume. It’s that she sees the humanity in everyone,” said Crockett. “She’s the only candidate in this race who is capable of empathy.”
The congresswoman recalled visiting Harris’ vice presidential residence in Washington, D.C., shortly after being sworn into office. Crockett admitted she wasn’t in a great place emotionally, revealing, “When I first got to Congress, I wasn’t sure I made the right decision.”
Crockett said as she approached Harris to take a photograph, the vice president noticed something was wrong.
“She turned to me and asked, ‘What’s wrong?’ Mind you, we never met, but she saw right through me. She saw the distress, and I immediately began crying,” the congresswoman shared. She added, “The most powerful woman in the world wiped my tears and listened.”
“You are exactly where God wants you. Your district chose you because they believe in you, and so do I,” Harris said to Crockett, according to the congressswoman.
During her speech, Crockett also praised Harris’ career as a “good prosecutor” who “we long for in the cases like those of Breonna Taylor.”
“She was the first attorney general in the nation to order that her officers wear body cams, and she started the Back on Track program to reduce recidivism,” noted the former public defender.
By contrast to Harris becoming a “career prosecutor,” Crockett said Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump “became a career criminal with 34 felonies, two impeachments and one porn star to prove it.”
Crockett had other fiery one-liners for Trump, including an alliterative assail that characterized the former president as a “vindictive, vile villain” who threatens to “violate voters’ vision for a better America.”
“We deserve better,” she said of the choice between Trump and Harris. “We deserve a president who can be a bright light in a sea of darkness, one … who will pull us forward because we won’t go back.”
“Amanda Gorman said it best: There’s always light if only we are brave enough to see it. If only we are brave enough to be it,” Crockett added, referring to the famed young poet who gained national notoriety after reciting her original poem “The Hill We Climb” at President Biden’s 2021 inauguration.
“Kamala Harris showed me that light,” she continued. “And America, when she is our president, together, we will shine as that beacon of hope and freedom around the world once more.”
Gerren Keith Gaynor
Associated Press
Gerren Keith Gaynor
Stephanie Armour for KFF Health News
April Ryan
Corli Jay
Gerren Keith Gaynor
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