Texas Lawmaker Faces Backlash Over Holocaust Comparison, Issues an Apology [WATCH]

Texas State Rep. Jolanda Jones issued an apology Tuesday after comparing Texas Republicans’ redistricting proposal to the Holocaust during an interview with former CNN host Don Lemon, as reported by Fox News.

Jones made the remarks while speaking from an undisclosed location in New York, where she and several other Texas House Democrats had traveled in an attempt to break quorum and block a vote on a GOP-led congressional redistricting plan.

The proposal, if passed, could secure up to five additional U.S. House seats for Republicans in the 2026 midterm elections. Democrats claim the plan would dilute minority voting power.

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During the interview, Jones emphasized her opposition to the redistricting effort and equated inaction to complicity in historic atrocities.

“We better have the courage to stand up, otherwise we will fall for anything,” she told Lemon. “In this country, we will be defeated, deported… we will lose all of our rights. And if you think it can’t happen, it can.”

“I will liken this to the Holocaust. People are like, ‘Well, how did the Holocaust happen? How was somebody in a position to kill all them people?’ Well, good people remain silent or good people didn’t realize that what happens to them can very soon happen to me or somebody I love.”

Democrat Texas State Rep. Jolanda Jones just compared Texas redistricting to the Holocaust:

“I will liken this to the Holocaust … how did the Holocaust happen? … well, good people remained silent.”

DON LEMON: “Mmhm.”

The ignorance and the melodrama is simply astounding. pic.twitter.com/fRFNYET5MK

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) August 5, 2025

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She later walked back those comments in a statement provided to Fox News Digital, saying:

“I made a statement on ‘The Don Lemon Show’ comparing Trump’s attempt to disenfranchise Black and Brown people to the Holocaust. That was a mistake, and I apologize for it. Trump is coming for my community, and I get emotional about it and make strong statements. But that was going too far, and I retract that comparison.”

Texas Rep. Jolanda Jones apologized for comparing Democrats fleeing the state over redistricting to the Holocaust. She and others left to avoid voting on a GOP map they say disenfranchises minority voters, calling the actions “racist.”

The controversy unfolded after Jones joined other Texas Democrats in fleeing the state to block the redistricting bill. In response, Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows announced he would sign arrest warrants for the absent lawmakers if authorized by the chamber.

Governor Greg Abbott called on the Texas Department of Public Safety to arrest the lawmakers and said he may seek to expel them from the chamber.

Andrew Mahaleris, press secretary for Governor Abbott, condemned Jones’ remarks and criticized the broader walkout by House Democrats.

“Fleeing Texas House Democrats continue to beclown themselves through this desperate, anti-democratic stunt,” Mahaleris said.

“Unlike these radicals, Governor Abbott refuses to abandon Texans. If the House Democrats who deserted Texans were serious about delivering results, they would come back to the Texas Capitol and do the job voters elected them to do.”

During her appearance with Lemon, Jones also rejected Republican arguments that she and other Democrats would be forced to return eventually. “I ain’t got to do nothing but die,” she said.

Jones continued, “I always wondered what I would have done walking on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, or if I’d walked during the Montgomery bus boycott. And you know what? Now is our civil rights moment.”

As of now, the Texas House has yet to reach quorum.

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