Democrat Allegedly Cursing Out Staff in Leaked Audio Sparks Backlash

New allegations that Texas Representative Sheila Jackson Lee went on a verbally abusive and curse-laden tirade against staff members have prompted backlash on social media.

Lee is Democratic member of the House of Representatives with a considerable tenure, having represented Texas' 18th District since 1995. On Saturday, an unverified and undated recording began to circulate amongst Republicans on social media, purporting to feature Lee, who is also a leading candidate in the Houston mayoral race, calling staffers "two goddamn big-ass children" and "f***ing idiots [who] serve no goddamn purpose."

"Nobody gives a s*** about what you're doing and you ain't doing s***!" Lee purportedly said at another point in the recording.

Newsweek could not independently verify the authenticity of the clip, which was first circulated by accounts like RNC Research on X, the platform previously known as Twitter. Despite that, the behavior shown in the clip does fit a prior pattern of allegations against Lee, with the Houston Chronicle noting on Saturday that she "has long had a reputation as a demanding, sharp-talking boss," though this would be the first time that she was allegedly caught on tape behaving in such a manner. A 2019 lawsuit also alleged that Lee fired a staffer in retaliation for them suing the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation in response to an alleged rape from 2015.

Once shared on Saturday, the clip generated a wave of backlash against Lee from all sides of the political spectrum. Adam Kinzinger, a moderate Republican and former Illinois representative, wrote in a post that Lee had always been known to "abuse staff."

"She has always always been known to abuse staff," Kinzinger wrote. "But somehow gets away with it, this is awful."

Yvette Carnell, CEO of the ADOS Advocacy Foundation, a group that advocates in favor of reparation payments for the descendants of enslaved Africans, wrote in a post that Lee's reputation made her a poor choice "to be the face of reparations in Congress," and noted that she had said as much several years ago.

"It's not just what Sheila Jackson Lee says in this audio, but that someone recorded her knowing she was going to say it," Carnell wrote. "She's been accused of mistreating her staff for decades. It was always a bad idea for her to be the face of reparations in Congress. I said so in 2019."

"This is one of the first things you'll learn on Capitol Hill if you ever spend any time there," writer Justin Hart said in his own post. "Sheila Jackson Lee is about the worst person to work for - ever."

In a statement to the Houston Chronicle, Lee's mayoral campaign office dismissed the release of the clip as a political move against her, but notably did not confirm whether or not it was the congresswoman's voice in the clip.

"This is a low handed political tactic meant to discredit a thriving mayoral campaign and distract voters ahead of the early voting period," Lee's campaign said. "It's unsurprising that these attacks have originated from extremely conservative blogs and political operatives backing John Whitmire."

Newsweek reached out to Lee's office via email for comment.