Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett has come under fire for a swipe at her state's governor, dubbing Greg Abbott - who is wheelchair-bound - as "Gov. Hot Wheels".
"You all know we got Gov. Hot Wheels down there. Come on, now," Crockett, a Dallas Democrat, quipped about Abbott, a Republican, while speaking at the Human Rights Campaign banquet. "And the only thing hot about him is that he is a hot-ass mess, honey."
Abbott, who became paralyzed in 1984 after a tree fell on him during a jog, which resulted in severe spinal cord damage, has been Texas' governor since his election in 2014.
Crockett, who joined the House in 2022, faced a barrage of criticism from Republicans for her remarks, which she made off-the-cuff during her address to the civil rights group after expressing gratitude to Morgan Cox, a board member of the group and fellow Dallasite, as seen in a video on Human Rights Campaign's YouTube channel.
"Crockett's comments are disgraceful," blasted Texas Sen. John Cornyn on social media platform X. "Shameful."
On Tuesday, Crockett hinted that her comment wasn't aimed at Abbott's disability but was instead a jab at his policy of dispatching thousands of undocumented immigrants from Texas to sanctuary cities like New York and Philadelphia, as she explained in a post on X.
"I was thinking about the planes, trains, and automobiles he used to transfer migrants into communities led by Black mayors, deliberately stoking tension and fear among the most vulnerable," the post stated.
There was no immediate response from Abbott's office when asked for a comment.
Crockett has been under fire from Republicans after suggesting last week that tech tycoon Elon Musk, who is leading the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency, "be taken down."
