28
Jasmine Crockett went from defending the defenseless as a public defender and civil rights attorney to forging change from within the Texas legislature as state representative of the 100th District.
Most newly elected legislators are expected to watch and learn from experienced colleagues, especially if they're in the minority. However, Jasmine Crockett didn't run for office to tread water. She came to make waves. Before being elected to the Texas House of Representatives, she fought injustice as an attorney. As a criminal defense and civil rights attorney, Crockett made headlines defending Black Lives Matter protestors and victims of police brutality. In 2020, Crockett decided she needed to change the legal system itself to make a difference and ran for state representative. Since taking office in January, Crockett has sponsored 185 bills and wrote 75 on her own. Issues like voting rights, the pandemic response, and police reform were too urgent. When Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and the GOP-controlled state legislature tried to ram through a restrictive voting bill, Crockett and her fellow Democrats did the only thing they could to stall the onslaught of extreme GOP legislation: They staged a walkout. The battle is only the beginning for Crockett. "I plan to be more aggressive. I plan to study from now until the next session all the rules and pull out all the stops to do whatever it takes to kill as many bad bills as I can." All we can say is, don't mess with this Texan.