Hakeem Jeffries faces progressive holdouts but no rival as House speaker race takes shape

Familiar faces populate the 110-plus new members of Congress.

A few “freshmen” are returning to the House. Even if they’ve been gone for a while.

There’s Rep.-elect Hilda Solis, D-Calif., who last served in Congress in 2009. She departed 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 is now moving to the Senate. 

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

Her advice to the rookies?

“Make sure you get a really good scheduler and that they schedule eating because your staff will run you all day long,” Bean said. “You’re kind of like the football that they pass from one staff member to the other. The whole day goes by, and you’re starving.”

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

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

“Do you think that’s overstated tension?” I followed up.

“I think it always is,” Bean answered. “But that’s a media thing, right?”

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

Ha.

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But, seriously, there are some progressives who aren’t willing to publicly commit to supporting Jeffries as speaker. Most of these incoming members comprise what’s now known as “The Bloc.” It’s kind of like “The Squad” some years ago.

And they’re not tipping their hand about Jeffries.

They’re trying to squeeze 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 actually reflects the priorities of the American people,” said Rep.-elect Melat Kiros, D-Colo. “It’s about what kind of priorities, what kind of floor votes, what kind of plan do we have to actually fight for the bold change the American people sent us here to do.”

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

There’s nothing groundbreaking going on here. Progressive Democrats won. Democrats won big. The Bloc wants to flex its muscles and execute its agenda.

Otherwise, those members have explaining to do with their base. Thus, it’s not that extraordinary to have a group of members not automatically supporting someone for a leadership post.

They’re playing the political game to get the best deal for the people they represent. They can’t just back Jeffries out of the gate. They must first extract a concession.

Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., witnessed these machinations before when former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., tried to manage dissent about her leadership after elections.

“I actually think it’s a weaker version [of protest] this time,” said Courtney. “I think [Jeffries] did a great job of keeping the caucus really marching in the same direction in the last two years. Which was not easy.”

“There’s no question that as a management matter, having a bigger majority is a lot easier than having a tiny majority. That’s just basic math,” said Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn. 

“As a new speaker, he’s going to need to do a lot of work to make sure he is listening to everybody and managing. So, it’s going to be a lot easier than if it had been a four-vote majority. But managing Democrats is always a challenge.”

So, for all of the talk about “issues” progressives may have with Jeffries, they’re not offering up an alternative name for speaker. And, frankly, no one could beat Jeffries in this environment.

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“You can’t beat somebody with nobody. And that’s kind of where I think this ‘race’ stands,” said Courtney, putting “race” in air quotes. “The worst thing that could happen is to start this Congress off like it happened in 2023, where we went through 15 ballots (before electing a speaker).”

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

Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., appeared mystified at progressive machinations over Jeffries.

“It is kind of odd. You get a coach who takes his team to the Super Bowl. They win by 30 points, and then they got folks who want to fire him the next day. It’s a little hard to figure out,” said Ivey.

Progressives may express concerns about Jeffries. But remember that Democrats have the majority because they flipped deeply red districts. The Democrats who will represent those districts know that voters could note if they supported Jeffries — or broke with him.

Rep.-elect Don Leonard, D-Ohio, appears to be one of the most outspoken incoming members. Leonard emerged from 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, the party brass would make his “life a living hell” and assure he would lose re-election.

So, there are questions from the left and questions from centrists.

Yours truly pressed Jeffries about whether the skepticism from progressives was real or just politics as they try to extract legislative promises out of him.

“I’m going to work hard to talk to every single member about what we’ve been able to do together over the last two years and what the opportunities are for us to do together in the next two years, to deliver upon the dramatic change that the American people so decisively voted for this past Tuesday,” Jeffries replied, not directly answering.

“That sounds like you don’t have it nailed down. Is that right?” I followed up.

Jeffries chuckled.

“You think I don’t have the vote nailed down?” he countered.

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

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

I have reported on the air that it would take a lot to sidetrack a prospective Jeffries speakership.

House Democrats will likely have north of 260 seats in the new Congress.

The magic number to claim the gavel on the House floor is 218. It’s hard to see Jeffries losing 42 votes. Especially when no one is competing against him. Moreover, he only needs to marshal 131 votes in the Democratic Caucus (just better than half of 260) to become the official nominee.

But that said, there is tension in the Democratic ranks.

Some of that is natural inside such a massive coalition. It’s not construed by the press corps.

The question is how will Jeffries manage those disparate factions when he clasps the gavel as speaker Jan. 3.

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The dispute now is a symptom of what problems could lie ahead.