Democrats appear closer than ever to winning the House majority, and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ is already working to corral — and connect with — a growing chorus of progressive dissenters, The Washington Sun has learned.
At least six progressives who won their House primaries and will likely get elected in November have not committed to supporting Jeffries for speaker should Democrats win a majority. Even just a handful of holdouts could be enough to stand in between Jeffries and the gavel, or, as quite a few Republican speakers have learned, make life as the chamber’s leader very difficult.
Colorado’s Melat Kiros, New York’s Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez, New Jersey’s Adam Hamawy, Pennsylvania’s Chris Rabb and Michigan’s Donavan McKinney have all declined to back Jeffries ahead of the November election. Jeffries and members of his leadership team have been conducting public and private outreach to the incoming cohort of progressives, according to multiple sources familiar with the conversations.
Jeffries has now spoken with all the progressives who won their primaries, and has met with or plans to meet with them all in person, one of the sources said.
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Reps. Joe Neguse of Colorado and Lauren Underwood of Illinois, two members of Jeffries’ leadership team, have also conducted their own outreach to the lefty insurgents, multiple sources said. Neguse and Underwood are both angling to move up the leadership ladder in the next Congress. The calls were described as friendly and welcoming by the sources, with the congressional Democrats offering advice and support to potential new members.
Jeffries, Neguse and Underwood declined to comment on the story.
Jeffries has also signaled some movement on major issues that divide progressives from the establishment. The longtime pro-Israel Democrat said that U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East “must change” after a divisive vote over aid to Israel fractured his caucus this summer. In a letter to colleagues, Jeffries argued that Israel “is capable of paying for its own sophisticated weapons” and future security agreements should “be structured consistently with defense agreements that exist with our other Western allies and strictly adhere to our human rights laws and values.” He voted against the amendment aimed at cutting off U.S. aid to Israel.
He also recently stepped into the Democratic debate over health care. He told NBC News last month that he doesn’t support “Medicare for All,” the policy preference of many progressives, but later clarified in a radio interview that health care should be “a right available to every single American.” A clip from 2025 recently made the rounds on X with Jeffries saying, “Universal health care is the goal.”
Jeffries’ efforts may already be working. William Lawrence, a progressive House candidate from Michigan who previously said he hoped to be able to vote for a Jeffries alternative for speaker, has since thrown his support behind the New Yorker. Lawrence’s campaign against a Republican incumbent also recently picked up the support of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the official campaign arm of House Democrats.
The left is also getting a glimpse at how Democratic leaders could use their power to constrain dissenters next year. Progressives recoiled from a proposal floated in a caucus meeting earlier this month that could penalize members seeking committee leadership posts for bucking party leadership on procedural votes. Democrats are locked in a debate over what to do after two moderates broke ranks to pass rule votes that helped advance the GOP leadership’s floor agenda. But, as one progressive pointed out, opposing the procedural steps that bring bills up for floor votes are often dissenters’ only point of leverage against leadership.
The tactic only works, however, if a party has a very narrow majority, and both Jeffries and progressives are waiting to see, should Democrats win, what sort of a margin they secure. Ultimately, that’s what progressives believe will decide how much muscle they can flex on the Hill next year.
“If we have a big majority then the voting bloc will have very little power,” one progressive candidate said. “If it’s thin, then [Jeffries] is going to need to negotiate with anyone who has concerns about him having the gavel.”
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