‘It’s on him’: Democrats look to Hakeem Jeffries to plot a path to revival

(CNN) — Hakeem Jeffries nearly became House speaker. Instead, he’s steering the Democratic Party through an identity crisis and hoping to avoid an ugly intraparty civil war.

Even without the gavel, many Democrats across Washington say House Minority Leader Jeffries — a 54-year-old New Yorker with centrist roots and messaging chops — is about to become the de facto voice of the party’s future and the face of resistance to Donald Trump. As expected, he was reelected to lead the House Democratic caucus on Tuesday, and he did not face a challenge.

So far, Jeffries has said little about his role in the party’s postelection rebuild. But his allies say he’s aware of the part he’s about to play. And many are making the case directly to him: Multiple Democratic donors have personally urged him to “take the lead” until the party has a new official leader, according to two people familiar with the discussions.

“‘You are the guy for the entire country right now,’” Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a longtime ally, recalled recently telling Jeffries. “I don’t think he’s ever tried to reach that kind of position, but it’s on him.”

Jeffries is already playing referee in some of the biggest internal spats emerging from the election. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus, for instance, is privately sparring over how the party should handle Trump’s promised mass deportations. Progressives are seething over corporate influence in internal meetings. One group of centrists has even privately discussed a contentious term limits proposal aimed at the party’s old-guard committee leaders, according to two people familiar with the conversations.

One of Jeffries’ most urgent questions will be how to handle another two years in the minority — this time, in a GOP-run Washington. He and his leadership team are already discussing how to avoid a repeat of 2016, when Democrats “chased Donald Trump every hour” while failing to deliver their own message, according to one leadership aide. There are even some preliminary talks about sending Jeffries and leadership to battleground turf around the county to help diagnose their party’s failings outside of Capitol Hill.

Back in Washington, even though Democrats will be in the minority, they have a significant role to play in a House with a narrow Republican majority where GOP infighting over the last two years led to one of the least productive sessions ever. In the last Congress, Democrats repeatedly helped Republicans keep the government open and propped up Speaker Mike Johnson when he faced a challenge to his leadership post. In a new era under a Trump administration with Republicans in control of both chambers of Congress, Democrats are weighing whether they want to continue to extend a lifeline, with many expressing their ideas to Jeffries directly.

“We have to take a long hard look at what our leverage is” Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the influential House Appropriations Committee, told CNN.

Even before the election, Jeffries had been aggressively working behind the scenes to try to convince the Biden-Harris administration to sharpen its economic strategy. In meetings with White House advisers, Jeffries frequently paraphrased a famed Hollywood quote that every good story needs a good villain, according to two people who’ve heard him say it, as he urged Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to make an enemy out of corporations over price gouging. For more than a year, he was on a “crusade” with the Biden-Harris team, urging them to craft a more hard-hitting, succinct economic message, that person said. He even tapped other senior House Democrats to echo his message to the Biden team, according to another person familiar with the efforts.

Still, unlike some in his party, Jeffries is not in despair, according to multiple people familiar with his thinking. He believes he has a road map to flip the House in 2026 that looks a lot like the way he helped his party win back most of its New York seats this year. Democrats there dramatically overperformed Harris. And with his skill in recruiting candidates, some Democratic operatives are already talking about ways for Jeffries to be more involved in primaries — not just general elections — to ensure their party has the best chance at flipping the shrinking number of competitive seats nationwide.

Some are more pessimistic: Several Democrats told CNN the party won’t be fixed in Washington and that the fact that the party lost battleground seats in New York in the 2022 midterms was a clear warning sign. But Democrats say Jeffries — alongside Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who will serve as minority leader in the next Congress — might be the best person to at least try.

“He is the next generation,” said Rep. Gregory Meeks, a fellow New York Democrat. “He can talk hip-hop and he can talk civil rights.”

Working with Republicans

Flanked by newly elected members of Congress, Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal had a bold prediction for how Democrats will operate in the next Congress: “Democrats will be united for a block and tackle and let [Republicans] figure out how they’re going to run.”

Not all Democrats feel that way.

House Rules Committee Chair Jim McGovern, whose panel plays a key role in determining what legislation gets brought to the House floor, is listening to Johnny Cash’s rendition of “I Won’t Back Down” as he prepares for the next Congress. But McGovern believes his party should look for opportunities to work with Republicans when the situation presents itself: “If there are areas we can work together, absolutely.”

For his part, Jeffries has telegraphed that he is open to working with Republicans, but — this time — does not want to get caught responding to Trump’s every move. Multiple members have approached Jeffries to weigh in on how the caucus should approach the strategy.

Pledging to work with Republicans when possible, Jeffries said, “The House Democratic Caucus will be a check and balance on this incoming administration. That’s not a partisan strategy. That’s James Madison’s strategy. So we’re going to do it.”

But when asked to respond to Trump’s string of controversial Cabinet picks, Jeffries didn’t hesitate to draw a line.

“No, that I’m not doing, because that’s all a distraction,” he said.

Internal party sparring

One of Jeffries’ toughest tasks will be keeping Democrats unified on immigration despite the many intraparty divisions.

Those cracks are already beginning to show. At a meeting of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus last week, Democrats heard from a panel of immigration experts about Trump’s mass deportation plans.

But things quickly got tense. At one point, one of the experts mentioned undocumented immigrants sitting in jail cells, and Rep. Henry Cuellar, a famously outspoken member on border issues, spoke up.

“I hope all of us are for deporting undocumented criminals,” Cuellar said as he looked around at fellow Democrats and an awkward silence fell over the room, according to three people who attended the meeting.

And that’s not the only time Democrats like Cuellar have spoken up to party leaders since the election.

Jeffries sat quietly alongside his two deputies as multiple fellow Democrats — including Reps. Gabe Vasquez of New Mexico, Susie Lee of Nevada and Scott Peters of California — spoke up about the role that border issues played in the party’s tough losses this month, according to two people in the room.

In the Democrats’ first postmortem “listening sessions,” these lawmakers said the party failed to address issues such as border security and crime. While Democrats did attempt a border deal with Republicans earlier this Congress, they said it happened far too late.

The border was not the only issue Democrats feel they were late to develop an inclusive response to, leading many to say that in this soul-searching period, the party needs to develop a better strategy of responding early and often.

“Democrats have to figure out how to communicate, where to communicate and on what mediums,” one lawmaker told CNN.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

CNN’s Ali Main and Haley Talbot contributed to this report.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.