House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said the 2026 midterm elections are when the Democratic Party will stop President Donald Trump’s agenda, as the party has “no choice” but to beat Republicans.
Jeffries made the comment during an appearance on ESPN host Stephen A. Smith’s podcast and suggested that Democrats lost their momentum in the 2024 election because “the extreme left” held them back. When asked about pushing back against “the far left” ahead of the midterm elections, Jeffries said “the extreme left” protests him more so than Trump because he does not “bend the knee” to either.
Smith then pressed Jeffries to find out “what’s the plan” for the Democratic Party going forward, to which the minority leader responded that the party needs to “stop bad things from happening.”
“Listen, we’re going to win in the midterms, and we have no choice but to be successful in the midterms,” Jeffries said. “But we’ve got to get through the first 100 days, then the first year, and then, of course, get to the midterm elections.”
Jeffries added that it is “all hands on deck” for the Democrats because the Republican Party controls the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives. He also said he and his allies need to be “coordinated” in opposing Republicans in future elections.
JEFFRIES STRESSES ‘MAXIMUM ATTENDANCE’ NEEDED IF DEMOCRATS HOPE TO QUASH GOP BUDGET
Toward the end of his interview with the minority leader, Smith suggested that Democrats need to “get folks to stop complaining” about everything Trump has done in the past, arguing that most voters are ready to “move on” from constantly opposing the president. Jeffries said earlier in the interview that people “can’t forget” the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, while also clarifying that Democrats cannot focus on that in winning over voters.
Smith said after his interview that the Democratic Party “looks a bit discombobulated” and is still lacking a rudder ahead of the midterm elections. He concluded that Democrats “better find somebody soon” to be the face of the party.