Rep. Dan Crenshaw, the freshman Republican congressman from Texas, and a former Navy SEAL who was wounded in combat, defended himself Tuesday after a video showed an Illinois Democrat calling him “a racist.”
The Democrat, Rep. Sean Casten, an Irish-born lawmaker whose district covers suburbs west of Chicago, told an audience earlier this month that Crenshaw was “a racist” because the Texan proposed an amendment in Congress to prevent illegal immigrants from voting.
“The last amendment on the floor that day … came from Dan Crenshaw, the new Republican, the Navy SEAL with the eyepatch,” Casten said, according to the Washington Free Beacon. “He came up with an amendment to say, ‘We’re going to add a rider on this bill that says that illegals can’t vote.’ And I sat there and I said, ‘You know what? You’re not allowed to vote if you’re not a citizen.’ … Why are you doing that? The reason you’re doing that is because you are a racist. Because you are trying to appeal to people who will vote for you if you stand up and oppose brown people.”
Crenshaw responded Tuesday on Twitter, after video from Casten’s Oct. 5 remarks surfaced.
“When you can’t articulate a coherent argument, you resort to calling your political opponents racist,” Crenshaw wrote. “Can’t say I’m surprised. Just another day in Washington with the Democrat Party.”
Later, a Crenshaw spokeswoman added, in a statement to the Free Beacon: “If Rep. Casten is so deeply offended that our laws prohibit non-citizens from voting in federal elections, then he should be honest with his constituents and let them know how little he values the power of their vote.”
In a party-line vote, the Democrat-controlled House defeated Crenshaw’s proposal, the outlet reported.
Casten previously made headlines in June when he came out in support of the impeachment effort against President Trump.
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The Democrat also drew criticism last year when he said Trump and 9/11 mastermind Usama bin Laden “have a tremendous amount in common.”
Crenshaw, during a September appearance on Fox & Friends, accused Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders of deliberately tweeting about veterans issues in order to “make people angry.”
