Texas State Rep. Jolanda Jones, a Democrat who is currently running for a vacant U.S. House seat in Texas’ 18th Congressional District, is facing criticism for a recent CNN interview in which she made a violent gesture while discussing her plans to deal with Republicans.

Jones joined CNN to discuss Republican redistricting in the Lone Star state, which drew out five currently Democrat-controlled districts in order to counteract census “errors” and gerrymandering in Democrat-controlled states like Illinois.

Host Erin Burnett fawned over a recent quote from Jones in which she called on Democrats to “fight ugly” against the Trump Administration’s agenda, astonishingly claiming that Democrats have had a “they go low, we go high” mentality over the past several years. The congresswoman, who is currently vying to replace the late Rep. Sylvester Turner in the deep blue 18th Congressional District, responded by stating that this hypothetical mentality Burnett claims Democrats have been subscribing to “doesn’t work.”

“I’m from the hood, OK? So when a bully comes, like, if there are no rules, you literally have to figure it out. So Donald Trump has changed things. And people trying to do what’s always been done is not going to work. And I think that’s why Democrats are losing black people. That’s why they’re losing poor people, because poor people, all they want is for us to fight,” the Democrat lawmaker said.

“So 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 because we can go back and forth fighting each other’s faces,” Jones continued while making a throat slashing motion.

“You’ve got to hit hard enough where they won’t come back. And so, yeah, for the same way I went to New York and spoke with Governor Kathy Hochul and said, 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.”

Unfortunately for the congressional hopeful, Democrats in the states she mentioned have already gerrymandered their maps far beyond what Republicans have done in Texas, or, in the case of New York, are constitutionally barred from doing so.

California Governor Gavin Newsom has responded to GOP-led redistricting efforts in Texas by advancing a plan that would draw out five Republican-controlled districts in the Golden State. Voters are currently voting on a ballot measure to advance the plan, which is expected to pass.

The California governor’s plan is controversial, as the new Texas maps will bring the state within the margin of California’s current maps, where Republicans control just 17 percent of available seats despite the fact that 40 percent of voters broke for the GOP in 2024. For comparison, the proposed Texas maps allow Democrats to control 21 percent of the available seats after receiving 42 percent of the vote. Newsom’s proposed changes — which will require an amendment to the state’s constitution and a special election — will leave just four Republican-controlled districts out of 52 total seats.

Democrat-dominated Illinois is also consistently ranked as one of the most gerrymandered states in the nation, and any effort to draw out an additional Republican district could leave incumbent Democrats vulnerable. Additional blue strongholds like Massachusetts already have zero Republican-controlled districts, while New York lawmakers were barred from drawing new maps that were favorable to Democrats by a state appellate court.

Jones is no stranger to controversy surrounding redistricting efforts. She previously faced intense backlash from Jewish groups after comparing GOP-led redistricting efforts to the Holocaust, for which she apologized.

The state lawmaker is currently among nine Democrats vying for the party nomination in the deep blue 18th Congressional District, which encompasses parts of the Houston metropolitan area. According to the most recent poll from the University of Houston’s Hobby School of Public Affairs, which was sealed on October 16, Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee leads the Democratic field with 27 percent support, making him the slight frontrunner. Former Houston city council member Amanda Edwards follows closely behind at 23 percent, while Jolanda Jones trails in third at 15 percent.

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