Texas Democrat Jolanda Jones is rejecting Michelle Obama’s well-known mantra, “When they go low, we go high,” and making it clear she plans to take a far tougher approach.
During a fiery CNN interview Wednesday, Jones said she’s done playing nice with political opponents — and she made that point with a sharp gesture across her neck. “If you hit me in my face, I’m not going to punch you back in your face. I’m going to go across your neck,” she said on OutFront. “You’ve got to hit hard enough where they won’t come back.”
Jones, a state representative running for a U.S. House seat in Houston after the death of Rep. Sylvester Turner, had already raised eyebrows earlier this week when she told Axios that when Republicans go low, “I’m going to the gutter.”
She doubled down on that sentiment Wednesday, arguing Democrats have been too soft — especially on issues like redistricting. “If they’re going to try to wipe us out in Texas, we need to wipe out every Republican in New York, in California, in Illinois,” she said, recalling a conversation with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Jones said she refuses to feel bad about fighting hard for her constituents. “The people that I represent need someone who’s willing to go in the ring and fight for them,” she said.
According to Jones, Democrats are losing support from Black and low-income voters because those voters “want them to fight.” She claimed the old “go high” attitude doesn’t cut it anymore — especially in the Trump era.
“I’ve never subscribed to that belief,” she said. “Because in the hood that I come from, when they go low, if you go high, they’re going to take your feet out from under you, and you will not recover from that.”
Her message was clear: the time for polite politics is over, and Democrats, she warned, must be ready to “fight like never before” because the country is “under attack.”