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U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett is opening up about her "frustration" with the Democratic Party after she ended her bid for committee leadership in the House.
The Texas congresswoman pulled out of the race to serve as the ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Monday (June 29) following a preliminary caucus vote that put her in last place.
During an interview with theGrio, Crockett suggested she would be taking a backseat within the Democratic Party amid discussions about her candidacy for higher leadership.
“I really gave a lot to the caucus, a lot of my time, a lot of my energy, as well as my treasure,” Crockett said.
The Democratic lawmaker said she "won't deny" that she feels frustrated as a Black woman seeking a leadership role in the party. “There’s absolutely a frustration as a Black woman in America in general, but, yeah, I mean, I won’t deny that," she said.
Crockett noted that she was deemed not a "team player" behind closed doors, while fundraising over $4 million for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and attending over 100 events as a surrogate for the party.
“It was frustrating to hear over and over that I wasn’t a team player,” Crockett said.
“One of the reasons that I laid out how much money I raised, how many trips I’d taken, how much money I’d given, is because, in my mind, I was the biggest team player,” she added. “And so for me, if that’s not, you know, going hard for the team, then, honestly, I have some figuring out to do as relates to, how is it that I can get a caucus that believes that I’m down for them.”
Based on the discussions surrounding her candidacy for party leadership, Crockett said, “I will not be doing as much of what I did, because that obviously was not read as looking out for the team.”
The Texas Democrat said she would be shifting her focus to grassroots efforts, particularly in Black churches, and her district.
“I would rather go and do more of my labor in fields of love, where they are begging me to be. And really, you know, it’s still enormous to the benefit of the party,” Crockett said, “I’m not going to stop working. I’m just going to shift my focus.”
“I spent so much time on the road for others, and frankly, my district and my state have been begging for more time with me,” she added. “We’ve got some big elections taking place in my state. I’m gonna labor again in a place that is begging for me, versus going everywhere else.”
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