Progressive Primary Challengers Snub Hakeem Jeffries for Speaker as Dem Infighting Escalates

‘We need new leadership in there,’ one Dem hopeful says

Left-wing Democratic primary challengers are refusing to back House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.) for speaker, as grassroots Democrats have started turning on their party’s leaders.

“I wouldn’t vote for Jeffries,” activist Saikat Chakrabarti, who is running against former speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.), told Axios. “From what I’m seeing of Jeffries right now, I don’t think he’s leading.”

Former Media Matters producer Kat Abughazaleh, who is challenging longtime congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D., Ill.) with a campaign slogan suggesting that Democratic leaders “suck,” said she is “not super happy with” Jeffries and that her vote for speaker “just depends on the situation,” Axios reported.

An anonymous House Democrat agreed with the activists, with Axios reporting that the incumbent thinks “progressive primary insurgents could ‘absolutely’ be a problem for Jeffries.”

The comments reflect rank-and-file Democrats’ growing discontent with their party’s leadership, driven partly by what they see as Democratic politicians’ inability to counter the Trump administration. Politico reported last week that Democrats are “on the verge of a Tea Party-style, intra-party revolt” against their representatives in Congress, while CNN and NBC polls show the party’s favorability has plunged to record lows of 29 percent and 27 percent, respectively.

Nearly 70 percent of voters in swing districts see congressional Democrats as out of touch, according to a poll by the Democratic group Navigator Research.

And Jeffries’s Senate counterpart, minority leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), is facing mounting calls to resign after he voted with Republicans this month on a funding bill to avert a government shutdown.

“I’m not sure who else in the party right now could lead, is the problem,” Chakrabarti said. “I think we need whole new people to run, come, take over the party. We need new leadership in there.”

Abughazaleh urged Jeffries to “get based” and not “chastise members of his own party for standing up to Trump,” according to Axios.

Jeffries said at a press conference that he is “very” confident that he will have the full support of his caucus in the next speaker election. “I’ve had unanimous support now, what, 20 different times across 2 different Congresses? Kind of speaks for itself,” Jeffries added.