Representative Jen Kiggans, a Republican in a tough re-election fight, faced criticism after she agreed with comments by a local radio host that included a racist line about Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic minority leader.
A vulnerable Republican congresswoman in Virginia set off an uproar from Democrats after she agreed with remarks by a local radio host who said that Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the House minority leader and a Black man, should keep his “cotton-picking hands off of Virginia.”
The dust-up surrounding the congresswoman, Representative Jen Kiggans, who is facing one of the country’s toughest re-election battles, is the latest chapter in Virginia’s redistricting saga. Ms. Kiggans was speaking with Rich Herrera, the host of a conservative morning talk show in Richmond, to discuss the fallout from the State Supreme Court’s ruling that invalidated a new congressional map that Virginia voters had approved in an April referendum.
During their conversation, Mr. Herrera lamented a discussion that Mr. Jeffries and Democratic members of the Virginia congressional delegation had on Saturday in which lawmakers discussed the idea of having the entire Virginia Supreme Court replaced in a long-shot effort to restore the voter-approved map.
“If Hakeem Jeffries wants to be involved in Virginia politics, then I suggest he does what a bunch of New Yorkers are doing — leave New York, move down here to Virginia, and run for office down here,” Mr. Herrera said. “If not, get your cotton-picking hands off of Virginia.”
Ms. Kiggans replied: “That’s right. I, ditto. Yes, yes to that.”
After a Democratic opposition research group, American Bridge, circulated a clip on social media of Ms. Kiggans’s response to Mr. Herrera’s remarks, Democrats denounced Ms. Kiggans, with some calling for her to step down from office.
Ms. Kiggans said on social media Monday evening that she had been agreeing with Mr. Herrera’s sentiment about Mr. Jeffries’s involvement in the Virginia redistricting fight, not with his racist remark about Mr. Jeffries, the highest-ranking Black person in Congress.