U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, representing Texas’ 30th Congressional District, has become a breakout star in the Democratic Party, effectively keeping politicians and pundits three times her age in check using clapbacks, one-liners—and facts.
I spoke to Crockett at the Democratic National Convention, where she delivered an energetic, standout 10-minute speech, in which she blasted Trump as a “career criminal” (“Kamala Harris has a résumé. Donald Trump has a rap sheet”) and introduced herself to much of America as a former public defender and mentee of Kamala Harris. “Will a vindictive vile villain violate voters’ vision for a better America or not?” she asked the crowd. “I hear alliteration is back in style.”
I was one of the first creators in history invited to the DNC this fall. In 2016, Donald Trump was elected president. His presidency—rife with policies that disproportionately affected women—inspired me to start a business devoted to helping women fight the patriarchy by getting rich. Today, the business has generated an audience millions of women strong, plus a New York Times bestselling book and top podcast.
Crockett, too, understands the intersection of money, politics and the patriarchy intimately well. Below, find highlights from our discussion at the DNC, including her advice for young entrepreneurs, her fight for reproductive justice in Texas, and what it means for a woman of color to be nominated for president of the United States.
This interview has been excerpted and edited for clarity and length.
Tori Dunlap: Can you tell me who you are and what you do?
Jasmine Crockett: I’m Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett. I proudly represent Texas’ 30th congressional district in Washington, D.C.
Dunlap: I own my own business, and I am one of 2 percent of women entrepreneurs who have hit over a million dollars in revenue—but we’re only at 2 percent! What do you say to women who want to start their own businesses, and then how do we support them in their journeys to become successful?
Crockett: So a couple of things.
Number one, just do it. You know, one of the things that I found—I’m actually a business major with an emphasis in finance, who happens to go to law school, and then prior to entering politics, I owned my own law firm as well, as well as some other stuff. You just gotta do it.
One of the things that we found is that men are not as risk-averse as women are, so I’m not saying to jump in the deep end like they do, but just know that you are more than capable, because women are such analytical thinkers. You will never think of everything, but you will think of enough to make sure that you can get started.
And don’t be afraid to ask for help. Look at someone who is successful. Look at someone who is in that 2 percent and say, you know what, I’m just getting started. Don’t look at it and act as if it would be about competition, because there is enough for all of us. Again, there’s only 2 percent that are sitting in that particular category. So that means that we’ve got more space to expand. Look for someone that can mentor you, that’s willing to mentor you, so that hopefully you don’t end up taking some of the missteps that they took.
And then finally, I got to put in a plug for the federal government as someone who sits on Oversight [the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability], which means I see oversee all governmental agencies. The Small Business Administration has been so critical in making sure that small businesses are able to graduate and become big businesses. So make sure you’re talking to them—you know, any opportunities that you have to make sure that you are not going into debt as you are trying to build, but instead, you’re getting grants and things like that.
Look at different corporations. I won’t name any names because of the way that we’re doing this, but I’ve worked with a number of corporations that are specifically working with small businesses, and they’re giving them not only grants, but they’re also giving them training. So think outside the box—research, research, research.
The Small Business Administration has been so critical in making sure that small businesses are able to graduate and become big businesses. So make sure you’re talking to them.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett
And finally, I love interns. I actually have some of the youngest Hill staffers. Actually I do have the youngest, I’m sure, office on the Hill. I hired three people that graduated college at the age of 20. They had all interned with me, so I knew exactly who they were and what they were capable of. And while most people thought I was crazy, and there’s been some turnover in my office, it hasn’t been those young 20-year-olds.
Dunlap: Texas has some of the most restrictive reproductive laws in the country. How are you working to protect reproductive rights in such a difficult climate?
Crockett: Yeah, it’s tough. I mean, you know, the best thing that we can do is educate people.
I do have a bill that myself and [U.S. Rep.] Dan Goldman [D-N.Y.] put together, and it is the Abortion Care Awareness Act.
It gives you information about what the law is in this state, in that state. It lets you know whether or not this agency [is a crisis pregnancy center], if you’re going to is really one that wants to talk to you about what does it look like and what are all your real options, versus trying to convince you that it’s not what you want to do.
That’s pretty much what we can do now: Give people information and education, knowing what states have how many weeks, knowing what penalties exist, whether they’re civil penalties, criminal penalties, knowing which states give you full access, that kind of stuff.
But at the end of the day, it’s not anything that any one person can fix. It took a lot of people to break it, and so it’s important that while we are talking about the presidential election, we don’t lose sight of the Senate as well as the House.
And we also can’t get discouraged if, for some reason, we still don’t end up making it over the hump.
Our biggest obstacle right now is really the filibuster in the Senate, and whether or not we have 50 senators is the first question.
The second question is, will they do a carveout? You know, we’ve got carveouts for so many things, but we don’t have them when it comes to voting rights. We don’t have them when it comes to abortion access. So I don’t know what the new 50 senators will look like; if we go ahead and maintain control. I just know that two senators that definitely weren’t willing to help us out with carveouts are gone, and hopefully we can get 50 senators that realize that we’re talking about people’s lives.
The ‘pro-life’ thing to do would be to allow medical professionals to advise people about what it is that they need to do to save lives in general—whether that means that your life will suffer because of the economic harm that you may face, or whether you physically may lose your life overall. Being pro-life is bigger than just saying it. It’s a series of actions.
Our biggest obstacle right now is really the filibuster in the Senate, and whether or not we have 50 senators is the first question. The second question is, will they do a carveout? … Hopefully we can get 50 senators that realize that we’re talking about people’s lives.
Rep. Crockett
Dunlap: We are sitting here on the last night of the DNC. Today, we are about to nominate not only a woman, but a woman of color to be the nominee and hopefully, potentially, the first female president. How does that feel?
Crockett: It’s a bit surreal. Yeah, it feels surreal, but I am so honored that this is where we are because we have had so much darkness and so much hate in this country that has been brought on, frankly, by MAGA and Trump. And to have hate on one side, and to have hope on the other, is a powerful visual.
She exemplifies everything that this country stands for. We are a country of immigrants. This is a woman that was born to two immigrants who came to this country with hopes and dreams, and they did their best in raising phenomenal children. And to somehow think that two people who had no idea what was awaiting them on the other side in the United States, could somehow manage to raise the next and the first woman and first woman of color president of the United States at the same time in which we are demonizing migrants that are seeking a better life … I mean, it is wild to me.
Dunlap: What does Kamala Harris’ presidential nomination mean for women, women of color and immigrants?
Crockett: She is our ancestor’s wildest dreams.
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