Why Texas's lone Black freshman Democrat refuses to give up on the fight for voting rights

Texas State Rep. Jasmine Crockett has emerged as one of the faces on the frontlines of a fight to protect voting rights alongside other women of color like state Reps. Gina Hinojosa, Jessica Gonzalez, Rhetta Andrews Bowers and Senfronia Thompson.

But after being the victim of racist hate mail while attending undergrad at Rhodes College and watching Black people face inequalities in the criminal justice system, both careers became a calling she had to answer. Today, Crockett is making waves as the outspoken and passionate lone Black freshman Democrat in the Texas state legislature. In her first year in the state House of Representatives, Crockett proposed more than 60 legislative bills -- many of which she drafted herself -- that tackled criminal justice reform, loosening drug laws and expanding voting access. Though none of them passed, she hasn't given up.