Meet Jasmine Crockett, the Texas representative who criticized MTG in a House hearing

Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), a freshman representative representing Dallas, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) got into a heated argument during the House Oversight Committee hearing Thursday night.

The chaos in the hearing, which was pushed back to allow some Republicans time to go to New York in support of former President Donald Trump during his criminal hush money trial, started when Greene asked about Judge Juan Merchan’s daughter. Merchan is presiding over Trump’s trial. Crockett said the question was irrelevant to the hearing, which prompted Greene to insult Crockett’s eyelashes.

“I think your fake eyelashes are messing up what you’re reading,” Greene said.

Crockett later asked Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) for clarification regarding the rules on the House’s standard of decorum.

“I’m just curious, just to better understand your ruling,” Crockett said. “If someone on this committee then starts talking about somebody’s bleach-blonde, bad-built, butch body, that would not be engaging in personalities, correct?”

Crockett, who has quietly been making a name for herself as a Democratic agitator to counterbalance some of the more brash GOP personalities on the Oversight Committee, seemed to have burst onto the scene Thursday night, but she didn’t come from nowhere.

Lawyer and state representative in Texas

Crockett, a former lawyer, said she had no plans to enter public service or law during her upbringing or undergraduate degree. It wasn’t until halfway through college, when she received a business degree, that she and other black students were the victims of a series of hate crimes, that she considered a future in law.

“That was the first time that I felt helpless and felt targeted as a black person,” she said.

She attended the University of Houston law school, which she graduated from in 2006. Following that, she worked as a public defender and ran for district attorney at age 28. She also started her own law firm in Texas focused on civil rights and criminal defense.

In 2019, Eric Johnson vacated his seat in the Texas House of Representatives to become the mayor of Dallas. Lorraine Birabil won the special election to fill his seat, but was unsuccessful in a primary challenge from Crockett in 2020. Crockett won the election and served one term in the Texas House.

During her time in the Texas legislature, she was an outspoken member, breaking from the norm.

“Many freshmen, they just kind of sit there. They don’t say a whole lot because they’re trying to learn,” former Texas Democratic Rep. Joe Deshotel said. “But for her, the learning curve was very short. I mean, she jumped right in.”

In 2021, Eddie Bernice Johnson, who had represented Texas’s 30th Congressional District since 1993, announced she would not seek reelection. This prompted Crockett to enter the race four days later. At the same time Crockett announced her candidacy, Johnson endorsed her.

Member of Congress

In 2022, Crockett beat Republican challenger James Rodgers and was elected to serve as the representative for Texas’s 30th Congressional District. She was sworn into office in January 2023.

She and 35 other Democrats comprised the freshman class of representatives for the 118th Congress. Crockett was chosen to be the freshman class representative, which elevated her profile. The position allowed Crockett to be a liaison between current party leadership and the incoming Democrats before they were sworn into office.

“While I am focused on having a successful transition, I look forward to using this position in leadership to advocate for this historic class of new members and ensuring that Texas priorities are prioritized,” she said at the time.

In Congress, she is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Equality Caucus, and the Congressional Progressive Caucus. She is also on the Committee on Agriculture and the Committee on Oversight and Accountability.

Crockett describes herself as a “pragmatic progressive” for policy goals, which, combined with her business degree, allows her to work with businesses in areas where other “Squad” Democrats may be unwilling to.

She has one of the highest social media followings of people in the expansive Texas delegation, with a quarter of a million people following her on both X and Instagram. She often posts about chaotic happenings in the House, such as the ousting of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy and the expulsion of former Rep. George Santos.

​​“She can speak so directly to people and bring humor to the table in a way that makes folks want to listen. And that’s what we need right now,” Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX) said.

In September, she went viral for her remarks during an Oversight Committee hearing about the Republican-led impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden when she took aim at Trump’s mishandling of classified documents.

“These are our national secrets, looks like, in the s***ter to me,” Crockett said in reference to the bathroom where Trump kept some documents in Florida. One video of the clip on TikTok has more than 8 million views.

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She’s also found an unlikely friend in Washington, with Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who she called her “best partner” in the Senate.

“I think she’s been very approachable,” Cornyn said. “It’s not easy to get things done or bills passed in either of the two houses, especially if you don’t have a dance partner. So I offered to be her dance partner.”