U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) never wanted to be a politician. She said she doesn’t relish the spotlight, the contention, and certainly not the death threats that come with being one of the most outspoken members of Congress.
Crockett certainly doesn’t love politics as much as Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), nor does she hail from a political family like Rep. Emilia Sykes (D-Ohio).
Where Sykes, who represents Ohio’s 13th Congressional District — all of Summit County and parts of Stark and Portage counties — and Beatty, from Columbus, are measured and practiced, Crockett is fiery in her insistence on accountability and principles. Beatty said her political mistake was not running for office soon enough.
Crockett joked that she made a mistake by running at all.
Crockett, in fact, told attendees Saturday at the 65th anniversary celebration of the Akron Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. that she never would have run for elected office had a 17-year-old she represented as a public defender in small-town Texas not been sentenced to prison for lifting candy from his school’s concession stand.
“I just thought that, ‘You know what, I’ve got to do the right thing,’” Crockett said at the John S. Knight Center in downtown Akron.
And no, she told the crowd, the minor she defended was not Black.
While the weekend appearance of Crockett, Beatty and Sykes highlighted Summit County’s Democrat world, the local Republican party hosted Vivek Ramaswamy, a former Trump administrator who is running for governor of Ohio.
‘I had no idea that God was preparing me’
In 2010, Crockett lost her first bid for elected office after she said she raised a whopping $7,000 in a race for district attorney of Bowie County, Texas. Even in defeat, she felt her campaign pulled her opponent to the moral high ground on several issues.
“I had no idea that God was preparing me and teaching me in that moment for later moments,” Crockett said of her first defeat.
Now, having climbed the political ladder with a successful run for the Texas House of Representatives (2020) and for Congress (2022), she said she has more tools, more influence, and the same unmovable insistence on doing what she believes is right.
Despite their differences, all three Black lawmakers told the crowd that they’re called to the messy work of congressional politics.
For Crockett, it’s fighting for equity and better conditions for poor people. Beatty is driven by economics, healthcare and education. Sykes? Doing right by Akron.
‘Stop waiting on somebody to come and save you’
During Saturday’s roundtable, the congresswomen spoke of the shoulders they stand on as Black women in the halls of power and how they honor the legacies of Shirley Chisholm and Maxine Waters — both of whom helped to open the doors they walked through.
“Thirteen [members] of Congress founded the Congressional Black Caucus,” Beatty said during the discussion. “Twelve brothers and one bad sister, Shirley Chisholm. She’s a Delta.”
They implored the audience to take action and fight for what they want politically.
Crockett and Beatty said politics isn’t an endeavor every two or four years. It’s not about the church visits to build reelection support or donor meetings to raise money. It’s about the people they represent — the people they’re asking to enter the arena in some capacity.
“Stop doubting yourselves and stop waiting on somebody to come and save you,” Crockett told the audience of more than 600 people. “The person that you are waiting for is you.”
When priorities aren’t legislation
The lawmakers also discussed the difficulties of passing legislation with Democrats in the minority party in both halls of Congress.
“Y’all know me, I keep it real,” Crockett said. “We ain’t getting nothing good passed right now. My priorities, honestly, aren’t in legislation.”
Instead, she said her priorities are on full display as the second-highest ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the ranking member of the House Committee on the Judiciary. In those committees, her public spats with Republican counterparts such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) often trend on social media and make national headlines.
“You have to figure out where you can be the most powerful,” Beatty said of Crockett.
For Crockett, that’s using her background as a lawyer to try to keep Republicans within the ethical and legal framework established for elected officials.
It’s an uphill political battle, she said — and she’s game for it.
Sorority honors local leaders
The Akron alumnae chapter on Saturday handed out a bevy of awards:
- Summit County Executive Ilene Shapiro’s office won the Community Partner Award.
- Roxia Boykin, a retired healthcare executive and graduate of Kent State University, won the Outstanding Delta in the Community Award.
- Four local leaders received Outstanding Community Leader Awards: Summit County Executive Ilene Shapiro, Summit County Council Member Brandon Ford, former Akron City Council Member Russ Neal and Ohio State Rep. Veronica Sims.