Press Release

Today, the Huffington Post reported that Republican Secretary of State candidate Kim Crockett has raised questions about whether non-English speakers and people with physical disabilities should be allowed to vote.

While discussing a Supreme Court case in 2020, Crockett said the following on the Justice and Drew radio show, at roughly 8:50 into the program:

Crockett: “So the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that indeed you can help an unlimited number of people vote if they are disabled or can’t read or speak English, which raises the question, um should they be voting? We can talk about that another time…”

The Supreme Court case Crockett was referring to was a challenge to Minnesota’s voter assistance law, which outlines the help people can receive if they have trouble voting “because of inability to read English or physical inability to mark a ballot.”

DFL Party Chairman Ken Martin released the following statement on Crockett’s appalling comments:

“Even in today’s extremist Republican Party, I have never before seen a candidate question whether people who do not speak English or people with disabilities should be allowed to vote. Kim Crockett’s suggestion that we consider denying the right to vote, one of the most fundamental freedoms in our nation, to thousands of American citizens is disgraceful and deserves our strongest condemnation.”

“Crockett has already attacked or denigrated Jewish people, Minnesotans who don’t speak English, immigrants, and people with disabilities. Why in the world would anybody trust her to oversee our elections and defend our freedom to vote?”

Background on Kim Crockett:

– In 2019, Crockett was suspended from her job at a far-right think tank for making racist comments about Somali refugees to right-wing activists that were documented in the New York Times. 

– Crockett publicly apologized at the time, but recently revoked that apology at a campaign event, saying “I would say everything today that I said in 2019.”

– In 2022, Crockett was heavily criticized for playing an anti-Semitic video during the Republican State Convention, which depicted a Jewish philanthropist as a puppet master controlling Minnesota’s Secretary of State, who is also Jewish and election lawyer Marc Elias, who is also Jewish.  Casting a Jewish individual as a puppet master who controls events is a common anti-Semitic trope. 

– The Anti-Defamation League said Crockett’s video “contributes to the normalization of antisemitism.” The American Jewish Committee said Crockett’s video uses a “vicious antisemitic trope” and that the video’s “implication and antisemitic bigotry are unworthy of a candidate for office”.

– The Minnesota Republican Party was forced to apologize for Crockett’s disgraceful behavior. Crockett herself called the whole thing a “contrived and bogus political attack” in a campaign email, which included a photo of her reading Tucker Carlson’s book.

– Crockett told a local newspaper that she was driven “batty” by statistics that showed Minnesota’s population growth was mostly due to people not born in the United States.

– Crockett has falsely claimed that immigrants are receiving welfare benefits “much more than they have historically” and complained about the burden this imposes on taxpayers.