Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, is facing online backlash after The Atlantic staff writer Elaine Godfrey reported that armed security guards removed her from Crockett’s Senate campaign rally in Lubbock, Texas, on Monday, as reported by Fox News.
Godfrey wrote Thursday that she was “thrown out” of the event after being described by members of Crockett’s team as a “top-notch hater.”
“Right before armed guards escorted me from the rally and left me on the edge of a Texas-county road, I was informed that I was no longer welcome at an event that I had already attended,” Godfrey wrote.
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According to her account, she had spent about an hour at the rally before being approached by a woman wearing a badge after she joined other reporters in attendance.
“‘Are you Elaine?’ she asked. I recognized her from the entrance of the event, where I had identified myself as she’d waved me into the building’s press area. Yes, I answered. ‘Her team has asked you to leave,’ she said. When I asked why, the staffer looked at her phone and read dutifully: ‘They just said, “Elaine from Atlantic, white girl with a hat and notepad. She’s interviewing people in the crowd. She’s a top-notch hater and will spin. She needs to leave,”’” Godfrey wrote.
Following publication of the article, Crockett told CBS journalist Shawna Mizelle on Wednesday that there was “no evidence” the Atlantic reporter had been removed from her campaign event.
Crockett described the episode as “silly season” and suggested that Godfrey had previously been sued for defamation.
Crockett told me today in Houston that there is “no evidence” that a journalist was kicked out of her campaign event. She says it’s “silly season” and alleges the reporter in question has previously been sued for defamation. @CBSNews
Full response: https://t.co/Ua1ytbpL3Z pic.twitter.com/3e7t7ciafB— Shawna Mizelle (@shawnamizelle) February 26, 2026
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In response, Godfrey wrote:
“Perhaps she was thinking of someone else, because that’s not something that has ever happened to me.”
The dispute quickly drew attention on social media, where critics questioned Crockett’s handling of the situation.
Former CNN journalist Chris Cillizza wrote on X, “This is so bad by @JasmineForUS. Not ready for primetime sort of stuff.”
This is so bad by @JasmineForUS.
Not ready for primetime sort of stuff. https://t.co/uJfDTkHhPe
— Chris Cillizza (@ChrisCillizza) February 26, 2026
Journalist Zaid Jilani also weighed in, asking “how in the world” Crockett expects to “win over enough Texans” if she “can’t get along with Atlantic magazine reporters,” noting that many of them “vote Democrat.”
If Jasmine Crockett can’t get along with Atlantic Magazine reporters 99 percent of whom vote Democrat (the 1 percent are the janitors), how in the world is she going to win over enough Texans to win the election? https://t.co/uigRf6x8jw
— Zaid Jilani (@ZaidJilani) February 27, 2026
A pro-Democrat Mormon account on X wrote that if Crockett “cannot handle questions from The Atlantic, and can’t do it without her staff calling the reporter a ‘white girl….top notch hater’ she will never survive the election.”
If Jasmine Crockett cannot handle questions from the Atlantic, and can’t do it without her staff calling the reporter a “white girl….top notch hater” she will never survive the election.
She has neither message, the temerity or the discipline to win. https://t.co/rWKQKSJG1f
— Dem Saints (@LDS_Dems) February 27, 2026
Another user posted, “Amateur night in Texas from the entire Crockett team.”
Amateur night in Texas from the entire Crockett team.
Shot: You cannot kick a reporter out of a public, on-the-record event simply because you don’t like what they write or how they write it.
Chaser: Absolutely do NOT give them a quote while you are doing it. https://t.co/r8DUglFG6C
— Ryan McKenna (@rwmckenna) February 27, 2026
The incident is not the first time Crockett has clashed with Godfrey.
In July, Godfrey authored a profile of the Texas congresswoman that reportedly drew backlash from Crockett after it included comments from fellow House Democrats “without telling her first.”
“She was, she told me, ‘shutting down the profile and revoking all permissions,’” Godfrey wrote at the time.
Despite the objections, the profile was published and included remarks from other Democratic figures.
Crockett’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital regarding the rally incident.
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