Jasmine Crockett pulls back from helping Democratic Party after some claimed she’s ‘not a team player’

The Texas congresswoman tells theGrio she will be focusing her attention more on engaging Black churches and spending more time in her district and home state.

U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett feels some way after recently opening up about her failed bid for committee leadership in the House of Representatives.

On Monday, the popular Texas congresswoman pulled her name out of the running to serve as the ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform after she came in last place in a preliminary caucus vote.

During a recent wide-ranging interview with theGrio, Crockett shared that she is having second thoughts about the time and energy she put into supporting Democrats in Congress following discussions about her candidacy for higher leadership in the caucus.

“I really gave a lot to the caucus, a lot of my time, a lot of my energy, as well as my treasure,” said Crockett, who on Monday, implied that she would take a backseat like the 92% of Black women within the Democratic Party who were left disillusioned after the 2024 presidential election loss of former Vice President Kamala Harris.

When asked to elaborate about whether she felt frustrated as a Black woman seeking a leadership role within the Democratic Party, Crockett told theGrio, “There’s absolutely a frustration as a Black woman in America in general, but, yeah, I mean, I won’t deny that.”

Her disappointment with her party stems from communications behind closed doors while debating her candidacy for the Oversight ranking member position. The powerful role would’ve made Crockett the top Democrat on a committee that is the main investigative body of the House.

“It was frustrating to hear over and over that I wasn’t a team player,” said Crockett, who had highlighted her fundraising prowess–which included raising more than $4 million for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee–and her attendance of more than 100 events as a surrogate for the party in the 2024 election.

“One of the reasons that I laid out how much money I raised, how many trips I’d taken, how much money I’d given, is because, in my mind, I was the biggest team player,” Crockett told theGrio. “And so for me, if that’s not, you know, going hard for the team, then, honestly, I have some figuring out to do as relates to, how is it that I can get a caucus that believes that I’m down for them.”

The Democratic Party star, who boasts millions of followers on social media and is a mainstay on cable TV news, said that, based on the feedback she received from her colleagues, “I will not be doing as much of what I did, because that obviously was not read as looking out for the team.”

Crockett said she will instead put her attention outside Capitol Hill and more on grassroots work around the country, particularly at Black churches. She named well-known ministers and civil rights activists like Revs. Al Sharpton, Jamal Bryant, and William Barber who have served as a “rock” and “foundation” for “mobilization and education” in Black communities.

“I would rather go and do more of my labor in fields of love, where they are begging me to be. And really, you know, it’s still enormous to the benefit of the party,” said Crockett, who emphasized, “I’m not going to stop working. I’m just going to shift my focus.”

Crockett said, most importantly, she needs to turn her attention back to her district and the state of Texas.

“I spent so much time on the road for others, and frankly, my district and my state have been begging for more time with me,” she shared. “We’ve got some big elections taking place in my state. I’m gonna labor again in a place that is begging for me, versus going everywhere else.”

But that doesn’t mean you won’t be seeing Crockett on national stages. She shared that she will make appearances for the National Bar Association, NAACP, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. (of which she is a member), and various other organizations.

“But as far as specific member events, that will be less for sure…I’mma focus on home right now,” said Crockett.