Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas said that she received an alarming phone call from a House Republican staffer shortly after her heated exchange with South Carolina Republican Nancy Mace earlier this week.
“That was a pretty heated exchange between y’all and Mace. My money’s on Mace,” the staffer said during the call, according to Crockett’s office.
The Texas lawmaker said Mace’s behavior sets a troubling example.
“When this type of behavior is not checked at the top, then it allows other little people to believe that they can just do whatever to a hosted member of Congress,” she told The Independent on Thursday.
On Tuesday, during a contentious House Oversight & Accountability Committee hearing, Crockett accused Mace of fearmongering about transgender people. “Somebody’s campaign coffers really are struggling right now, so she’s gonna keep saying’ trans trans trans’ so that people will feel threatened and child, listen—” Crockett charged, prompting a furious Mace to insist, “I am not a child. Do not call me a child.” She then asked Crockett if she wanted to “take it outside.”
Crockett told The Independent that she did not take Mace’s words lightly.
“I will say that I think that I do need to take it seriously, because violence has become a very real thing in this chamber, and ultimately, kind of in this country when it comes to politics,” she explained. “And she threatened violence.”
“She needs to be careful about trying to do that stuff literally, because she's just trying to get clicks and trying to raise money, but it does incite violence, period, not only on me, but on her,” Crockett added. “So she needs to be careful, and honestly, it's just unbecoming of a member of Congress.”
After the exchange, Mace insisted in an X post that she didn’t want real violence.
“I’m no child. And if I wanted a physical fight, you’d know it. That’s not what this was,” she wrote. “I won’t be bullied by someone who wants to take away women’s rights while lecturing about civil rights. I won’t be bullied by someone who thinks being scared of rape is a ‘fantasy.’ This ain’t political, it’s personal.”
In recent months, Mace has gone on the warpath against transgender people, introducing a resolution to ban trans people from using restrooms on Capitol Hill in the wake of the election of Sarah McBride, the first openly transgender member of Congress.
Earlier this week, the House voted to ban trans athletes from women's sports, after Republicans repeatedly hammered Democrats on trans girls playing women's sports in 2024 campaign ads. But only two Democrats from Texas voted with Republicans and one Democrat —Don Davis of North Carolina — voted "present."
Crockett, who was elected to Congress in 2023, became a popular figure among Democrats during her first term on the Oversight Committee for jousting with Republicans.
She found herself at the center of another viral moment when she mocked Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene after the Georgia Republican made fun of her “fake eyelashes.” Crockett responded with a barb about Greene’s “bleach-blonde bad-built butch body,” without ever directly naming her.
Crockett will remain on the Oversight Committee, but it was also announced this week that she will join the House Judiciary Committee, a more prominent committee than Oversight.
