MINNEAPOLIS — We spent some time with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries over the weekend at his stops here and in Milwaukee as the New York Democrat seeks to lead his colleagues to power.
Everywhere he goes, Jeffries is introduced as the next speaker.
“I didn’t know it until I got here that I was going to have the privilege of introducing our future speaker here this evening,” Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) gushed when she opened for Jeffries at a Friday night dinner celebrating the 100th anniversary of the NAACP’s Milwaukee chapter.
The next day at a canvassing event outside Minneapolis, Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) — a Frontliner representing a D+1 district — enthusiastically greeted Jeffries as “Mr. Future Speaker” in front of about 100 of her supporters.
Yet the ever-cautious Jeffries won’t guarantee a Democratic victory no matter how many ways you ask him.
“We’re in a strong position to be successful, but there are close races all over the country,” Jeffries said in an interview before the Craig event. “We’re taking nothing for granted.”
Jeffries has been blitzing swing districts during the last week, including in the Midwest. On Thursday, Jeffries was in Long Island, N.Y., for Laura Gillen, who’s challenging embattled GOP Rep. Anthony D’Esposito. On Friday, Jeffries attended a fundraiser in Milwaukee for Democratic hopefuls Rebecca Cooke and Peter Barca. NBA legend Doc Rivers was there. On Saturday, Jeffries revved up the crowd for Craig. Then it was on to Nebraska, where Democrat Tony Vargas has a good chance to unseat Republican Rep. Don Bacon. That will be followed by a trip to New Hampshire for Maggie Goodlander.
For the 54-year-old Jeffries, this is an extraordinarily important moment. Jeffries — along with Minority Whip Katherine Clark and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, aka “The New Three” — replaced the iconic Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer and Jim Clyburn at the start of this Congress. There were huge questions about how Jeffries would do on fundraising — Pelosi’s raison d’être — and whether he’d cut deals with a brand-new GOP majority.
The DCCC has clobbered the NRCC on fundraising (see below), although the Congressional Leadership Fund — the Republican-leadership-aligned super PAC — has kept the GOP in the money game.
And the House GOP majority has been one of the least productive in history. Hardline conservatives ousted Kevin McCarthy as speaker in October 2023. Then Democrats had to save Speaker Mike Johnson following another uproar from the right over Ukraine aid.
Pretty much anything significant that House Republicans got done this Congress occurred because Democrats either supplied a majority of votes — government funding and the debt limit — or there was a bipartisan deal that won Democratic support, such as the prospective ban on TikTok and FAA reauthorization.
The historic level of GOP inaction and infighting should put Democrats in an ideal position to win the House. It’s all right there for them. Yet thanks to redistricting and a deeply divided country, only a few dozen House seats are really in play. This means the majority will be hashed in a series of political knife fights from coast to coast, including in Jeffries’ home state of New York.
Does Jeffries worry about a backlash if Democrats don’t win the House, especially since the road to the majority goes through New York?
“Our objective is to win back the House of Representatives. We’ll leave the post-mortem for the post-election period,” Jeffries said. Jeffries predicted Democrats could pick up at least two of the New York seats they’re targeting.
Yet what if Democrats win the House and former President Donald Trump is back in the Oval Office? Unlikely but possible. And remember, Jeffries was one of the House managers for Trump’s second Senate impeachment trial following the Jan. 6 insurrection.
“Without commenting on the hypothetical nature of a possible Trump presidency, as House Democrats, our view has always been that we will find a bipartisan common ground with Republicans on any issue wherever and whenever possible, if it will make life better for the American people,” Jeffries said. “We will stand up for traditional American values, not Trump values.”
We also asked Jeffries about Trump’s increasingly erratic behavior, an issue that Vice President Kamala Harris has made a major part of her closing argument as she seeks to become the first woman president.
“Donald Trump is a threat to traditional American values and to the American way of life,” Jeffries said. “It’s clear to me that a Trump presidency is not a return to normalcy. It’s a return to chaos, dysfunction and extremism every single day of our lives for four years. That’s a disaster.”
Yet there’s another major challenge for Harris, Jeffries and Democrats — Black men supporting Trump. As the top-ranked Black man in Congress trying to make history as the first Black speaker, this is a key topic for Jeffries. He covered it extensively in his Milwaukee speech.
“Vice President Harris has articulated a clear agenda that will focus on the economic wellbeing of both Black men, Latino men and working-class men in addition to the ‘Opportunity Agenda’ that she’s articulated as part of her campaign,” Jeffries added.
We’ll have more from our interview with Jeffries in the Midday edition, including the state of his relationship with President Joe Biden, Project 2025 and other issues.
