Texas Gov. Greg Abbott accuses Rep. Jasmine Crockett of racism after she objects to redistricting plan

Without offering proof, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott accused Democratic U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett of making frequent racist remarks after she raised concerns that his plan to redraw the state’s political maps would harm minority voters.

During a Sunday appearance on Fox News, Abbott dismissed Crockett’s objections to his controversial redistricting scheme and even appeared to suggest the Dallas Democrat was being racist for bringing them up.

“It wouldn’t be a day ending in ‘Y’ if Jasmine Crockett didn’t say something racist,” Abbott fired back when Fox host Shannon Bream brought up Crockett’s argument.

Abbott made a mid-decade redrawing Texas’ maps a priority for the current special legislative session after President Donald Trump urged Texas to add five more Republican-friendly seats to the U.S. House. Crockett and others have blasted the plan for diluting the voting strength of people of color.

The Fox appearance, Bream played Abbott an interview Crockett gave MSNBC in which she raised concerns that the Republican redistricting plan would water down political power for Blacks, Latinos and Asians. 

“Right now, African-Americans are only going to have one-fifth of the voting power that they should have in the state of Texas under this map,” Crockett said. “And we know that our Latino brothers and sisters will only have one-third of the voting power. And frankly, Asians, which tend to be one of the fastest growing demographics in the state of Texas, have literally no power.”

The outspoken Crockett has taken flak for controversial remarks, including referring to Abbott, who uses a wheelchair, as “Governor Hot Wheels” in a speech this spring. In December, the congresswoman also told Vanity Fair that some Hispanics who vote for President Donald Trump despite his history of disparaging Latinos exhibit “almost like a slave mentality.”

Even so, it seems like a major stretch for Abbott to claim Crockett has made racist remarks daily, or if we’re to assume he was speaking metaphorically, on a regular basis. The governor’s office had no response Monday morning to the Current’s request that he clarify his remark or offer evidence to back it up.

Further, Abbott himself has come under fire for a history of making racially charged remarks about migrants.

The governor drew sharp rebukes from immigrant-rights groups last summer after delivering a speech at the Republican National Convention in which accused the Biden White House of allowing “rapists, murderers, even terrorists” to enter the country across the southern border.

Last year, Abbott also faced blowback from Latino lawmakers and organizations after lamenting on a conservative talk show that Texas can’t shoot migrants illegally crossing the border because “the Biden administration would charge us with murder.” 

In 2019, Abbott issued a statement saying “mistakes were made” when he fired off a fundraising urging supporters to “DEFEND” the Texas border from migrants and “take matters into our own hands.” That letter was dated one day before a white supremacist shooter targeted Latinos inside an El Paso Walmart, killing 23.

“Unless you and I want liberals to succeed in their plan to transform Texas — and our entire country — through illegal immigration, this is a message we MUST send,” Abbott also said in the letter, which echoed elements of the racist “Great Replacement Theory.” That racist conspiracy theory posits that liberals want open borders to steal the voting power of white conservatives.

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This article appears in Aug 7-20, 2025.