Rep. Jen Kiggans (VA-02) was last month one of roughly two dozen House Republicans to not support far-right extremist Rep. Jim Jordan in his failed bid for House Speaker. But rather than standing up to her party, Rep. Kiggans became one of 220 House Republicans that unanimously voted to make Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana the new Speaker. Johnson, Vanessa Cárdenas previously noted, “has gone farther than most of his Republican colleagues in elevating alarmist and dangerous rhetoric.”
Johnson “has repeatedly flirted with what’s known as the ‘great replacement theory,’ the idea that Democrats are scheming to supplant American voters with immigrants,” The Washington Post’s Greg Sargent writes. “The Louisiana Republican’s views show how fringe conspiracy theories have gone mainstream in the Republican Party at the highest levels of power.” In his analysis at CNN, Ron Brownstein writes “Johnson has been noteworthy in embracing one variation of the xenophobic and racist Great Replacement Theory. That theory, which originated in far-right White nationalist circles, argues that Democrats and liberals are deliberately importing undocumented immigrants to ‘replace’ the White majority and diminish their political power.”
Similarly, Maria Cardona writes at The Hill that Johnson “espouses so-called “white replacement theory” and uses the violent language of ‘invasion’ when talking about migrants who come to the United States fleeing violence and dictatorships.” This dangerous and racist rhetoric, Cardona continues, “has led to brutal and deadly attacks on Latino Americans.”
Rep. Kiggans previously pointed to intimidation tactics used by supporters of Rep. Jordan, who has been a key amplifier of the white nationalist “great replacement” conspiracy theory and completely unworkable and cruel demands, including H.R. 2 – more accurately known as the Child Detention Act. But Rep. Kiggans then voted for someone even more extreme, cementing conspiratorial rhetoric “at the highest levels of power,” as Sargent wrote.
Rep. Kiggans’ votes here are just another example that she is unwilling to stand up to her party for the good of the country and the good of her state and district.
