By Lauren Burke
The questions stated before Virginia Congressman Gerry Connolly died on May 21, after a battle with esophageal cancer: Did congressional Democrats make a mistake when they didn’t choose New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez instead of Connolly during their leadership elections in late 2024?
Since then, there has been an ongoing discussion in the party and by many political pundits about the direction of party messaging. Today, Texas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett will attempt to lead the House Oversight Committee. Her colleagues in the House Democratic Caucus would have to vote her in over any other member who might run for the position. With Democrats out of power in the U.S. House and Senate, almost all messaging is opposition communications. “I know that we’re behind — the first thing that you have to do is accept it. I get it. I get it,” Crockett said on the Black Virginia News podcast from a Congressional Black Caucus pen and pad session on May 15 at the U.S. Capitol. The discussion centered around the party’s messaging strategy and general failure to break through.
What has also been made clear at town halls is that constituents want their elected representatives to act with urgency in a fight with a presidential administration that has mandated unprecedented job cuts, caused economic uncertainty, and cuts to the federal workforce. Rep. Crockett appears to have heard the message as shown in the letter to her Democratic colleagues announcing her run for Oversight ranking member. The committee has jurisdiction to investigate federal government agencies and wasteful spending. “Our country is in an existential crisis driven by an out-of-control Executive with a flagrant disregard for our Constitution, our way of governance, and our very way of life as citizens of a democratic republic. The Administration has refused to respect congressional authority, abide by lawful judicial orders, or respond to public outrage. The magnitude of these unprecedented times warrants resistance and tactics never before seen. We must pull back the curtain on the unmitigated chaos under Trump 2.0 and translate our findings to the American people in a way they can digest,” Rep. Crockett wrote in her letter today to colleagues announcing her run to lead Oversight.
Though President Trump’s approval numbers are nothing for The White House to celebrate — the Democrats are polling at a historic low with an NBC News poll revealing that the party has only a 27 percent positive view among registered voters. The number was the lowest since 1990 since the poll was first conducted. Texas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), has only been in Congress since January 2023. But since then, she has applied the party’s messaging in a way that fits contemporary technology. Many political observers believe she represents the future as the party is criticized for being too quiet during a time of unprecedented action by the chief executive in The White House. Rep. Crockett ran and won the long-held seat of Congressional Black Caucus veteran Eddie Bernice Johnson to represent Texas’s 30th congressional district. Johnson passed away in December 2023. The 44-year-old lawmaker and civil rights attorney served in the Texas legislature before coming to Congress.
