The Scoop
Rep. Jasmine Crockett is taking a harder line on the political journalists covering her Texas Senate campaign, ejecting an Atlantic reporter from an event and calling the Capitol Police on a CNN journalist attempting to visit one of her offices, according to three people familiar with the incidents.
At a campaign rally in Texas on Monday, security escorted Atlantic reporter Elaine Godfrey from the premises. Godfrey has covered Crockett at length, though the coverage has appeared to frustrate the Texas congresswoman.
After initially granting Godfrey access for a profile last year, Crockett told the staff writer last year that she was “shutting down the profile and revoking all provisions” before the piece was released.
In a statement first shared with Semafor, Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg did not name the reporter. He told Semafor that one of the publication’s reporters had been registered to attend an event with Crockett in Texas, but was asked to leave and escorted off the grounds after starting to ask questions.
“In a democracy, elected officials answer questions from the press rather than hide from them,” Goldberg said. “This is completely unacceptable behavior by Rep. Crockett and her team, and needs to be addressed immediately.”
It was the second time in recent weeks that Crockett’s campaign has clashed with national media that has descended on Texas to cover what has become an increasingly contentious primary between the House Democrat and state lawmaker James Talarico.
Crockett’s campaign called the Capitol Police, the agency that provides security to lawmakers nationwide, on CNN reporter Edward-Isaac Dovere earlier this month, asserting that he may have trespassed when he attempted to visit a campaign office location, two people familiar with the situation told Semafor.
CNN declined to comment. Godfrey did not respond directly to Semafor’s request for comment. Crockett’s campaign did not respond directly to Semafor’s requests for comment, but denied that Godfrey was removed from an event.
Know More
Once a necessary force for politicians on both sides to reckon with, campaign reporters are now often feeling the squeeze of the increasingly partisan drift of new media and a shifting media landscape that no longer solely relies on them.
President Donald Trump set the tone for the aggressive modern posture towards campaign reporters with his 2016 campaign. He occasionally ejected or denied access to journalists the campaign didn’t like, or singled them out in the crowd at campaign rallies.
Democrats have long expressed their own complaints about the media; in recent years some have begun to adopt a less tolerant approach towards political journalists that annoy them.
Crockett is among a newer generation of Democrats that has adopted a more openly confrontational stance towards the media — as she increasingly appeals to influencers to help get her message out. Earlier this week, an aide for California Gov. Gavin Newsom emailed a reporter from RealClearPolitics telling them to “fuck off” after they asked for proof of the governor’s dyslexia, one topic in his new book.
Correction: An earlier version of this story reported that an Atlantic reporter was escorted out of a Crockett event on Tuesday. It was on Monday.
Notable
- Dovere interviewed Crockett for CNN about her Senate campaign decision before she made it.