WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s rising star got another boost this week as she was named a national co-chair for Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign.
The Dallas Democrat, who has enjoyed internet fame for her energetic confrontations with Republicans, anticipates a busy fall travel schedule as she rallies support across the nation for Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
“Any state that is a battleground state, I will be there,” Crockett said Thursday after a Dallas Regional Chamber congressional forum at the Hyatt Regency Dallas. “I will be on the ground. I will be talking to organizers. I will also be talking to large crowds of just kind of everyday people.”
Crockett said she’s begun racking up frequent flier miles for the campaign, traveling directly from last week’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago to Michigan, where she visited several cities. She said she’s also been to Georgia, Arizona and Pennsylvania for the campaign and was about to catch a flight to Los Angeles to headline fundraisers.
Serving as a national co-chair does not typically involve participating in the daily nuts and bolts of running a campaign. Rather, it identifies trusted surrogates who can speak on the candidate’s behalf and attack an opponent.
Crockett joins another Texas Democrat on the list of Harris-Walz co-chairs, U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso. Escobar carried over that role from the Biden-Harris campaign and served as the closing night co-chair of last week’s national convention.
Escobar has been a prominent voice pushing back on Republican criticism of Harris’ record on illegal immigration and border security.
In Crockett, the Harris campaign is getting a dynamic up-and-comer who has not hesitated to throw elbows at Republicans.
Crockett, 43, emerged as one of President Joe Biden’s fiercest defenders after his stumbling performance in the June debate with former President Donald Trump. After Biden bowed to mounting pressure and stepped aside as the nominee, Crockett quickly pivoted and embraced Harris’ candidacy.
Crockett was tapped for a high-profile speaking slot at last week’s convention, delivering a speech that combined affection for Harris with stinging barbs directed at Trump.
She went for viewers’ heartstrings as she recounted questioning her decision to go to Washington shortly after joining Congress last year.
“As I approached Vice President Harris for our official photo, she turned to me and asked, ‘What’s wrong?’ … She saw the distress. I immediately began crying,” Crockett said. “The most powerful woman in the world wiped my tears and listened.”
While Crockett cast Harris as a dedicated and caring public servant, she rhetorically savaged Trump as an entitled, crooked creature of inherited wealth.
“She’s lived the American dream, while he’s been America’s nightmare,” she said, adding, “Kamala Harris has a résumé, Donald Trump has a rap sheet.”
That kind of no-holds-barred rhetoric has helped Crockett make a name for herself as clips of her confronting Republicans in Capitol Hill committee hearings have spread on social media platforms.
The most viral was her May showdown with U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.
The House Oversight Committee was considering whether to hold U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for withholding audio recordings of Biden’s conversations with special counsel Robert Hur.
The proceedings went off the rails after Greene told Crockett, “I think your fake eyelashes are messing up what you’re reading.”
Democrats objected, but the panel’s Republican chairman, Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, ruled Greene did not violate rules against personal attacks.
Crockett posed a question to Comer.
“If someone on this committee then starts talking about somebody’s bleach-blond, bad-built butch body, that would not be engaging in personalities, correct?” she said in an obvious reference to Greene.
The moment created an online firestorm that included a string of parody songs incorporating what Crockett quickly dubbed her “B6″ alliteration.
Her campaign filed an application to trademark the six-word phrase. She began raising campaign funds by selling branded merchandise featuring the phrase as part of a “Crockett Clapback Collection.”
Crockett served one term in the Texas House, representing a district that includes portions of southern, East and West Dallas. When the late former U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson announced her retirement, she endorsed Crockett as her successor.
Staff writer Pavan Acharya contributed to this report.
