Hakeem Jeffries’ office condemned Rep. Jen Kiggans on Tuesday after the Virginia Republican appeared to agree with a radio host who told the top House Democrat to “get your cotton-picking hands off of Virginia” during a Monday interview about redistricting.
The exchange put Kiggans at the center of a fresh political backlash just as Democrats and Republicans are fighting over redistricting in Virginia ahead of the November midterm elections. During the conservative radio segment, host Rich Herrera said Jeffries should either move to Virginia and run for office or stay out of the state, using language that has racist roots in the United States. Kiggans replied, “That’s right. Ditto,” and then added, “Yes. Yes to that.”
By Tuesday, the reaction had hardened. Jeffries spokesperson Christie Stephenson called the remarks indefensible, saying, “Extremists who endorse disgusting, vile and racist language are pathetic,” and adding that Kiggans “has no interest in our nation’s progress toward a multiracial democracy and apparently craves a return to the days of Jim Crow racial oppression in the South.” Top Democrats including US Minority Whip Katherine Clark and California Governor Gavin Newsom also called on Kiggans to resign, while the Congressional Black Caucus posted a clip of the interview on X and wrote: “Did she agree with him? Yes. Is this racist? Yes. Should she resign? Yes to that, too.”
Kiggans later tried to draw a line between Herrera’s language and the point she said she was making. She said she was agreeing with the broad sentiment behind criticism of Democrats’ efforts in state redistricting, not endorsing the slur. “The radio host should not have used that language and I do not — and did not — condone it,” she said. “It was obvious to anyone listening that I was agreeing Hakeem Jefferies should stay out of Virginia.”
The uproar lands in a political climate already primed for this fight. In February, Donald Trump posted a racist video depicting Barack Obama and Michelle Obama as primates, prompting Sen. Tim Scott to call it “the most racist thing I’ve ever seen” before the clip was later removed and the White House blamed a staffer for posting it to Trump’s account. Now the Kiggans episode has become part of a broader national argument over race and redistricting, with both parties looking for advantage before November and every public remark carrying immediate political cost.
The answer to the question raised by the exchange is clear from the backlash: Kiggans is not being treated as if she merely misspoke. She is being accused of agreeing with racist language directed at Jeffries, and that is why Democrats are pressing for resignation rather than explanation.
