Texas Dems in U.S. House Split on Kirk
as Veasey Pushes Broader Resolution
Capitol Inside
September 22, 2025
A dozen Texas Democrats in Congress were uncharacteristically divided late last week on a resolution to honor slain GOP activist Charlie Kirk in a development that did not sit well with the minority party's biggest star in the U.S. House delegation from the Lone Star State.
U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Dallas admitted in an interview on CNN on Sunday that she was upset that only two white Democratic colleagues voted against the measure that GOP sponsors designed as a memorial tribute to the 31-year-old who was assassinated September 10 at a rally at a small college in Utah. Crockett portrayed Kirk as a non-stop source of racist rhetoric.
"One of the things I do want to point out that's not been laid out that honestly hurts my heart is when I saw the no votes, there were only two Caucasians," Crockett said on the show State of the Union. "For the most part, the only people that voted no were people of color because the rhetoric that Charlie Kirk's continuously put out there was rhetoric that specifically targeted people of color."
Sponsored by House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, House Resolution 719 was approved on a vote of 310-58 on Friday. All of 215 Republicans voted for the proposal along with 95 Democrats. Thirty-eight Democrats were recorded as present while 22 others did not participated in the vote.
Crockett, a former Texas House member who's Black, has been mentioned increasingly as a possible challenger for Governor Greg Abbott when the Republican incumbent seeks re-election in 2026. Crockett was one of four congressional Democrats from Texas to vote against HR 179 along with U.S. Reps. Veronica Escobar of El Paso, Sylvia Garcia of Houston and Al Green of Houston.
Democratic U.S. Reps. Henry Cuellar of Laredo, Lizzie Fletcher of Houston and Vicente Gonzalez of McAllen voted for the Kirk resolution. U.S. Reps. Lloyd Doggett of Austin, Julie Johnson of Dallas and Greg Casar of Austin were recorded as present while U.S. Reps. Joaquin Castro of San Antonio and Marc Veasey of Fort Worth skipped the vote.
Fletcher, Doggett and Johnson are white. Doggett has announced his retirement as a consequence of the redistricting plan that the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature enacted last month in special session. Johnson's district was transformed to Republican on the new map.
Crockett revealed that Kirk had insulted her on his podcast just weeks before his death. "I wasn't aware of this at the time, but he got out there, and he was talking negatively about me directly," Crockett said.
Veasey introduced an alternative resolution on Friday with a list of co-sponsors that had grown to 152 by Monday. The Veasey proposal in House Resolution 746 condemns political violence in general with an array of specific examples including Kirk and Minnesota Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, who were assasinated at their home in June. Here's an excerpt ...
Whereas, in September 2025, conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated by gunfire during a speaking event in Orem, Utah, in a horrifying attack authorities have described as politically motivated;
Whereas, in June 2025, multiple Minnesota legislators and their families were targeted in coordinated shootings, including the assassination of Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark Hortman, and the attempted assassinations of Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette Hoffman;
Whereas, in April 2025, arsonist Cody Balmer threw Molotov cocktails into the Pennsylvania Governor’s Residence, setting fire to the building;
Whereas, in July 2024, an armed individual attempted the assassination of President Donald J. Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, resulting in death and injury, followed by a second attempt in 2025 at his golf club in Florida;
Whereas, in October 2022, Paul Pelosi, husband of then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was brutally attacked in his home by an assailant seeking to harm the Speaker;
Whereas, on June 8, 2022, an armed individual was arrested near the Maryland home of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh after traveling from California with the stated intent to assassinate him;
Whereas, on January 6, 2021, the United States Capitol was attacked by a violent mob seeking to disrupt the certification of the Presidential election, resulting in deaths, injuries, and threats to the safety of Members of Congress, staff, and law enforcement officers;
Whereas, in 2020, members of a paramilitary militia group plotted to kidnap and assassinate Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
| 
