This morning we’re going to focus on Speaker Mike Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries as part of our regular “Leader Look” series.
Speaker Mike Johnson. Rightly or wrongly, Johnson constantly feels like he’s being underestimated and doubted. Whether it’s his ability to pass legislation, raise money or manage the oftentimes choppy waters of the House, Johnson feels like he’s not getting a fair shake by some Republicans, Democrats and the news media.
Yet it’s difficult to fully analyze Johnson’s performance without taking into account his governing partner, President Donald Trump. On every critical issue that comes through the House, Johnson is aided by a push — sometimes a shove — from Trump.
Trump helped Johnson get reelected as speaker. Trump helped Johnson pass a government-funding bill last month. The president then helped House Republican leaders jam through a critical budget resolution, followed by even more lobbying on a joint House-Senate budget proposal. Trump raised more than $30 million for the NRCC’s dinner earlier this month, reversing several months of lackluster NRCC fundraising. Team Johnson will have you know that the $32.2 million he raised in the first quarter was the most by a GOP speaker ever.
Johnson’s reliance on Trump isn’t the speaker’s fault. In Trump’s Washington, the president controls everything. Johnson doesn’t have his own agenda; he has Trump’s agenda. The GOP-run Congress is no longer truly an equal branch of government. It’s an organ of the Trump machine.
But we’ve seen some interesting moves by Johnson recently that show he’s getting accustomed to hardball tactics sometimes used by speakers to flex their institutional muscle.
When Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) filed a discharge petition to institute remote voting for new and expectant parents, Johnson sought to quash it through a rule — an extraordinarily heavy-handed power play that’s uncharacteristic for most Republican speakers.
Johnson also used a rule to turn off the fast-track process for members of the House to overturn Trump’s tariffs. Again, this is the opposite of the bottom-up approach that Johnson promised. It’s a hard-nosed tactic to protect Trump and his global trade war.
But Johnson is in the midst of a massive legislative undertaking that will define his speakership. The “one, big beautiful bill” — a Johnson creation in many ways — is making its way through the Capitol. At every stage of the process, Johnson tries to bring maximum pressure to force rank-and-file Republicans to move forward toward final passage of the reconciliation package.
Johnson has massive decisions ahead of him. Moderate Republicans are freaking out about their political future as the GOP charges toward Medicaid cuts. Conservative hardliners want to rip up the Inflation Reduction Act, something many Republicans don’t want to do. The Trump administration is floating the idea of having Republicans abandon the “no-new-taxes” pledge that has bound them together for decades. There are countless calls to be made — and Johnson has set a deadline of 38 days from now to get the reconciliation package to Trump’s desk.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. When we looked at Jeffries six weeks ago, he was coming off a bad stretch. Jeffries had privately berated some of his most vocal members for their wild behavior during Trump’s joint address. Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) had just been censured. Moderate Democrats and progressives continue to fight over the party’s direction, and the base was loudly demanding that Jeffries do something — anything — to take on Trump.
Since then, Jeffries has dramatically stepped up his media appearances and outreach. He’s doing more direct-to-camera reels for social media and trying to talk like a regular person while doing so (see his latest video calling some Trump Cabinet officials “dumb effing individuals,” for example). Jeffries holds two press conferences with Capitol Hill reporters each week, up from his usual one. Jeffries can’t stop the Trump agenda, but he can try to talk it to death.
Jeffries has also guaranteed that House Democrats will win the majority in the 2026 midterms thanks to Trump, a full 20 months before the elections.
Yet Jeffries is in some ways still finding his footing as leader. He’s straddling an older generation of Democrats who abide largely by a bygone political decorum versus a younger group of lawmakers who want to employ the guerrilla tactics embraced by many Republicans.
Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer clashed over government funding in mid-March. Jeffries was a hard no — and led all his members in opposition — on a long-term CR, while Schumer allowed it to pass. Jeffries and other House Democratic leaders even held a presser to bash their Senate counterparts. Jeffries offered a brisk “next question” when asked if he still had confidence in Schumer, a noteworthy slap at the Senate Democratic leader.
But the two leading Hill Democrats huddled the next day in Brooklyn, and they seem to be back on track — mostly. There will be sharp partisan battles over Medicaid, taxes, the debt limit, government spending and immigration where the pair will have to work closely together.
