Hakeem Jeffries Caves to Far-Left Demands Ahead of Midterms
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries celebrated Virginia’s successful effort to pass a constitutional amendment allowing the state’s majority Democrats to redraw several congressional districts to favor their party after putting a great deal of time and money into the effort.
The vitory likely also provides Jeffries with some relief – and some motivation – after he faced somewhat of a rebellion from dozens of rank-and-file Democrats last month over differing ideas of what “due process” looks like for now-former Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.). She resigned this week under pressure from the House Ethics Committee after the bipartisan panel cited her for two dozen violations following her previous federal indictment for allegedly embezzling millions in FEMA funding during the COVID pandemic.
“Jeffries has staked much of his credibility as a party leader on the effort, pouring time, money and political capital into a nationwide push to create new blue districts as Republicans rush to do the same in red states,” Politico reported this week.
Following the Ethics findings, scores of Democrats expressed their opinion that Cherfilus-McCormick should resign from the House immediately, “but Jeffries and his leadership team have signaled they will continue to defend Cherfilus-McCormick until the resolution of her federal criminal trial,” Axios reported last month.
Jeffries “said it’s not normal to have the Ethics Committee meeting [before the criminal trial]. That normally, [the Department of] Justice asks for that to be postponed until after the trial,” one lawmaker told Axios.
Meanwhile, more and more Democratic candidates are telling Axios that they can’t promise to support his leadership.
It’s a big change from Jeffries’ once “untouchable” position in the Democratic Party just a few years ago. This could mean his path to the speakership will be harder than people thought, Axios noted.
Jeffries and his supporters say they aren’t worried at all about a mass defection. They point out that he hasn’t lost a Democratic vote in 20 speakers’ ballots, even though he is in the minority.
However, Axios reported last fall that more than 80 Democratic House candidates across the country were either not sure if they would support Jeffries’ leadership or were completely against it. Since then, things have only gotten worse for him.
Mai Vang, the leading progressive primary challenger to Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.), previously said she would “support the person that my future colleagues elect as our leader.”
But in an unprompted statement last week, she told Axios: “The Democratic Party and its leadership—Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries—have failed to mobilize meaningful opposition to Trump’s illegal war and their silence as AIPAC and corporations flood Congressional primaries with millions of dollars is deafening.”
“I cannot support this kind of leadership,” Vang said. “If we want to defeat Trump and rebuild trust with working Americans, we need new leadership and a new direction.”
“Most Democrats agree that he’s been failing to meet the moment,” said Adam Hamawy, a candidate in New Jersey’s 12th district, saying he is “looking for someone that’s gonna stand up to the administration.”
When asked if she would support Jeffries’ leadership, Claire Valdez, a New York State Assembly member who is running to replace retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.), said in an interview with Axios that “there would need to be some conversations.”
“I’ve never met Leader Jeffries, I’ve never had conversations with him,” said Utah state Sen. Nate Blouin, the Congressional Progressive Caucus-backed candidate for a new, safely blue district in Salt Lake City.
Blouin said he looks forward to “voting for someone who is committed to fighting for our communities, our shared priorities, making sure that we are moving in a direction that is aligned with the American people on foreign policy.”
“I think those are critical concerns,” he added.
