Hakeem Jeffries on track to become House speaker despite progressive holdouts

Familiar faces populate the more than 110 new members of Congress.

Some “freshmen” return to the House. Even though they’ve been gone for a while.

There’s Rep.-elect Hilda Solis, Democrat of California, who last served in Congress in 2009. She left to become President Obama’s labor secretary.

Rep.-elect Jerry Carl, R-Ala., just left Capitol Hill early last year after losing a primary to Rep. Barry Moore, R-Ala., who now moves to the Senate.

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And then there’s Rep.-elect Melissa Bean, D-Ill. She first won a House seat in 2004 and lost it in 2010. Now, Bean is back.

His advice to rookies?

Rep.-elect Melissa Bean returns to Congress with advice for newcomers: Hire a good planner and make time to eat. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

“Make sure you have a really good planner and they plan the meals, because your staff will be directing you all day,” Bean said. “You’re a bit like football that they pass from one member of staff to another. The whole day goes by and you’re starving.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., is set to become House speaker in January. But some progressives are resisting. Bean was subdued when she served before. Yours truly asked about the natural unease between left-wing Democrats and centrists.

“It’s a pretty united majority,” Bean responded.

“Do you think this is excessive tension?” I followed.

“I think it still is,” Bean replied. “But it’s a media thing, right?”

So to recap for new members: have a good schedule? Check. Make sure you have time to eat? Check. And blame the press.

Ha.

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But more seriously, some progressives are unwilling to publicly commit to supporting Jeffries for president. Most of these new members constitute what is now known as the “Bloc”. It’s a bit like “The Squad” a few years ago.

And they’re not talking about Jeffries.

They are trying to pressure the New York Democrat and others for legislative guarantees.

“We’re not withholding votes. What we’re doing is saying we’re undecided. We’re not going to rubber-stamp anything,” said Rep.-elect Adam Hamawy, D-N.J.

“I don’t think it’s about the individual. It’s about the agenda and the agenda that truly reflects the priorities of the American people,” said Rep.-elect Melat Kiros, D-Colo. “It’s about what kind of priorities, what kind of votes, what kind of plan do we have to actually fight for the bold change that the American people sent us here for.”

“I think we need to talk about improving the lives of workers and helping them join unions,” said Rep.-elect Claire Valdez, D-N.Y.

Nothing revolutionary is happening here. Progressive Democrats won. The Democrats won big. The Bloc wants to flex its muscles and execute its program.

House Democrats are preparing for a new Congress as competing factions seek a say in the party’s agenda. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Otherwise, these members have some explaining to do with their base. So it’s not that extraordinary that a group of members doesn’t automatically support someone for a leadership position.

They play the political game to get the best deal for the people they represent. They can’t just walk Jeffries out of the door. They must first obtain a concession.

Rep. Joe Courtney, Democrat of Connecticut, already witnessed these machinations when former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, tried to manage dissent over her leadership after the election.

“I actually think it’s a weaker version (of the protest) this time,” Courtney said. “I think (Jeffries) has done a great job of keeping the caucus moving in the same direction over the last two years. Which hasn’t been easy.”

“There’s no question that when it comes to management, having a larger majority is much easier than having a small majority. It’s just basic math,” said Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn.

“As the new president, he’s going to have to do a lot of work to make sure he listens to everyone and manages. So it’s going to be a lot easier than if he had a four-vote majority. But managing the Democrats is always a challenge.”

So for all the talk about the “problems” progressives may have with Jeffries, they are not offering an alternative name for the speaker. And frankly, no one could beat Jeffries in that environment.

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“You can’t beat somebody with nobody. And that’s kind of where this ‘race’ is,” Courtney said, putting “race” in quotes. “The worst thing that could happen would be to start this Congress like it happened in 2023, where we had 15 ballots (before electing a president).”

That’s a reference to House Republicans who blocked the election of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.

Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., seemed mystified by the progressive machinations against Jeffries.

“It’s a little strange. You have a coach who takes his team to the Super Bowl. They win by 30 points, and then you have people wanting to fire him the next day. It’s a little hard to understand,” Ivey said.

Progressives could voice concerns about Jeffries. But remember, Democrats have the majority because they flipped deeply red districts. The Democrats who will represent these districts know that voters could learn whether they supported Jeffries — or whether they broke with him.

Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer are under pressure from new progressives over the Democratic Party’s legislative priorities. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Rep.-elect Don Leonard, D-Ohio, appears to be one of the more outspoken new members. Leonard came out of nowhere to defeat Rep. Mike Carey, R-Ohio. On Instagram, Leonard said Democratic leaders informed him “in no uncertain terms” that if he didn’t support Jeffries, party leaders would make his “life hell” and assure him he would lose re-election.

So there are left-wing questions and centrist questions.

Yours truly asked Jeffries if the progressives’ skepticism was real or just politics as they tried to extract legislative promises from him.

“I’m going to work hard to talk to every member about what we’ve been able to do together over the last two years, and the opportunities we have to do together over the next two years, to achieve the radical change that the American people voted for so decisively last Tuesday,” Jeffries responded, without answering directly.

“Looks like you haven’t defined it yet. Have you?” I followed.

Jeffries laughs.

“You think I didn’t fix the vote?” he replied.

“I’m asking you. You are the vote counter. Do you have them? Yes or no?” I asked.

“I guess we’ll find out next Wednesday,” Jeffries said.

I reported on-air that it would take a lot to distract a potential president from Jeffries.

House Democrats will likely have more than 260 seats in the new Congress.

The magic number to win the gavel in the House is 218. It’s hard to see Jeffries losing 42 votes. Especially when no one competes with him. In addition, he only needs to gather 131 votes within the Democratic caucus (a little more than half of the 260) to become the official candidate.

But that said, there are tensions within the Democratic ranks.

This is partly natural within such a massive coalition. This is not interpreted by the press.

The question is how Jeffries will handle these disparate factions when he takes the gavel as president on January 3.

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The current dispute is a symptom of the problems that may lie ahead.