Over 80 House Dem Candidates Revolt Against Jeffries Ahead of Midterms

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries may be hoping to ride a Democratic wave into the speaker’s office this November, but a growing number of candidates in his own party are refusing to say they will help him get there.

More Democratic House candidates are telling reporters that supporting Jeffries for speaker is not automatic if the party wins back the House.

That is a major shift for a leader who, only a few years ago, appeared nearly untouchable inside the Democratic caucus.

Jeffries and his allies insist there is no real threat of a mass defection. They point out that he has not lost a Democratic vote across 20 speaker ballots while serving in the minority.

But the next Congress could bring a different political reality.

A new class of Democratic lawmakers, many of them progressive and eager to distance themselves from establishment leadership, could create the first serious challenge to Jeffries’ once-unshakable support.

Axios previously reported that more than 80 Democratic House candidates across the country were either unsure whether they would support Jeffries’ leadership or openly opposed to it.

Since then, the warning signs have grown harder to ignore.

The tension was clear in New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District, where Democratic nominee Rebecca Bennett refused to commit to voting for Jeffries before winning her primary. Bennett is running against Rep. Tom Kean, a Republican, in a race Democrats likely need to win if they hope to retake the majority.

Iowa’s 1st Congressional District Democratic nominee Christina Bohannan has also declined to make a commitment.

“I don’t know yet. I haven’t made that decision,” she said when asked by Punchbowl News whether she would support Jeffries.

“I want to get elected first,” she continued.

The nonpartisan Cook Political Report has classified both Bohannan’s and Bennett’s districts as toss-ups.

Republicans currently hold both seats.

In Montana’s 1st Congressional District, Democratic nominee Sam Forstag offered a similar answer. The seat is rated “likely Republican,” though no incumbent is running.

“I’m not committing to anyone one way or the other,” Forstag told Punchbowl News. “I will stand with whoever will stand with working people in this state.”

The resistance is not limited to swing districts.

Mai Vang, the leading progressive primary challenger to Rep. Doris Matsui in California, previously said she would “support the person that my future colleagues elect as our leader.”

But in an unprompted statement last week, Vang sharpened her criticism.

“The Democratic Party and its leadership—Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries—have failed to mobilize meaningful opposition to Trump’s illegal war and their silence as AIPAC and corporations flood Congressional primaries with millions of dollars is deafening.”

“I cannot support this kind of leadership,” Vang said. “If we want to defeat Trump and rebuild trust with working Americans, we need new leadership and a new direction.”

Adam Hamawy, a candidate in New Jersey’s 12th District, also criticized Jeffries’ leadership.

“Most Democrats agree that he’s been failing to meet the moment,” Hamawy said, adding that he is “looking for someone that’s gonna stand up to the administration.”

Claire Valdez, a New York State Assembly member running to replace retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez, told Axios that “there would need to be some conversations” before she could say whether she would support Jeffries.

Utah state Sen. Nate Blouin, the Congressional Progressive Caucus-backed candidate for a new safely blue district in Salt Lake City, also declined to make an immediate commitment.

“I’ve never met Leader Jeffries, I’ve never had conversations with him,” Blouin said.

Blouin said he looks forward to “voting for someone who is committed to fighting for our communities, our shared priorities, making sure that we are moving in a direction that is aligned with the American people on foreign policy.”

“I think those are critical concerns,” he added.

Not every candidate is turning against Jeffries.

New York Assembly member Alex Bores, who is running to replace retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler, praised the Democratic leader while acknowledging room for improvement.

“I’ve seen real fight coming from our caucus, and that matters.”

“There’s room to grow, but I’m encouraged,” Bores said, adding that Jeffries is “doing a difficult, thankless job” and that he would support his fellow New Yorker’s leadership.

Jeffries’ defenders credit him with keeping House Democrats largely unified through shutdown fights, speaker battles, and repeated clashes with President Donald Trump and House Republicans.

But the public hesitation from Democratic candidates shows a party struggling with its own internal divide.

Progressives want a more confrontational leader. Some candidates want distance from Washington leadership. Others appear unwilling to hand Jeffries their vote before knowing the makeup of the next Congress.

Anabel Mendoza, a progressive candidate in Illinois’ 7th District, told Axios that she wants Rep. Rashida Tlaib in charge because she is “10 toes down on what matters.”

For Republicans, the Democratic infighting is a political gift.

Democrats are asking voters to hand them the House majority while their own candidates cannot agree on who should lead it.

The rebellion also exposes a deeper problem inside the party. The Democratic base is increasingly impatient with leadership it sees as too cautious, too corporate, too tied to donors, and too weak in confronting President Trump.

That puts Jeffries in a difficult position.

If Democrats fall short in November, questions about his leadership will only grow louder.

If they win narrowly, he may face pressure from the very candidates who helped deliver the majority.

Either way, the path to the speaker’s gavel may be far more complicated than Democratic leaders want to admit.