Rev. Frederick Douglass Haynes III, senior pastor of the 13,000-member Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, who counts Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, among his flock, launched a bid to fill her District 30 congressional seat Monday after she formally announced her run for the U.S. Senate on the same day.
The announcements from both Haynes and Crockett came just a day after he delivered a politically charged sermon critical of President Donald Trump and the U.S. Supreme Court, with Crockett in the audience. He would later pray for Crockett, asking God to protect her and give her courage.
“She’s Jasmine putting injustice in jeopardy. She’s Jasmine. She’s cool. She’s calm, collected, and a Crockett,” Haynes told his church as he claimed the 44-year-old staunch liberal politician is “the nation’s congresswoman.”
Friendship-West Baptist Church could not immediately provide a statement on Haynes’ congressional run when contacted by The Christian Post for comment on Tuesday. He told his congregants on Sunday that he was waiting on them to get tired enough of America’s status quo to “be energized to break out in a movement that makes a difference.”
“I’m waiting on us to get tired. Are you tired yet? Are you tired of an authoritarian president who’s been given carte blanche by the Supreme Court? And the Supreme Court decided this week that racist redistricting in Texas is actually legal. And so the law is on the side of injustice. Is anybody tired yet?” he questioned.
“Is anybody tired of immigrants being indicted by way of their character? So much so that from the highest office in the land, a woman of African descent who is a sitting congressperson could be labeled garbage,” Haynes said in reference to Trump’s characterization of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., as “garbage.”
“Anybody tired of that kind of evil coming from the White House?” Haynes asked.
The pastor further claimed that the country is seeing the “greatest wealth transfer in the history of this country” from the poor to the rich.
“Is anybody tired of the greedy exploiting the needy? Is anybody tired yet of the politics of gaslighting, where lies come from the highest office in the land as they erase our history? Is anybody tired yet? … If you want to energize a movement, you ought to be tired of injustice.
“Tired of a criminal justice system that puts a bullseye on the back of black men. Tired of a medical system that mistreats our black women,” he argued. He highlighted the story of Karrie Jones, a black woman for whom care was delayed for over 30 minutes when she arrived at the Dallas Regional Medical Center in Mesquite, even though there were evident signs she was about to give birth.
Haynes’ run for Congress comes approximately three months after he took a temporary break from his pulpit following an undisclosed medical diagnosis.
In his endorsement of Crockett’s work in Congress, Haynes suggested that she was anointed by God to do the work she has been doing and prayed that she continue to prosper.
“This district is better because of Jasmine Crockett. That’s why Trump didn’t want her to have it. So when you doing all of that, folk mad. Devil does what the devil does. And so we want to pray protection [for her],” Haynes said. “The old folk call them what? Protecting angels. So we going to pray right now that God would do what God will do.”
While Crockett has become a darling among progressives since she arrived on Capitol Hill in 2023, she has also drawn significant media attention during her tenure, as she has repeatedly drawn Trump’s disapproval. She has also been entangled in several controversies, including allegations of using a tax-funded police escort to bypass an airport security line and cut in front of disabled individuals.
Crockett has also dismissed allegations that she has created a toxic work environment for her congressional staff, with two former aids calling her a “no-show boss” who rarely visited her district office but focused on social media presence and personal activities.
Reports emerged earlier this month that Crockett has an unpaid lien exceeding $3,000 on her luxury condominium in Dallas that has been outstanding since April 2024, according to Fox News. The spending habits of her campaign have also come under question as Crockett’s campaign record filings show she spent nearly $75,000 in luxury hotels, limousine transportation and security this year for her travel across the U.S.
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