- A new House Democrat told Axios they were “inundated” and had received “about 150” calls since the election urging them not to vote for Jeffries.
- A senior House Democrat said they received “over 500” calls in the past two days, telling Axios they were also asked about it in person at a meeting of their district’s Chamber of Commerce.
- “I think our numbers are higher” than 500, another House Democrat said. “It’s our No. 1 problem, and it’s not close.”
State of affairs: Jeffries is in pole position to become House speaker after Democrats’ landslide victory Tuesday, which is expected to give them a massive majority of more than 250 seats.
- He has enjoyed the unanimous support of his caucus since becoming Democratic leader in 2022 and has never had a single House Democrat fail on a speaker’s vote.
- But the last presidential vote took place in January 2025, just before Democrats’ grassroots base began denouncing the party leadership for what they saw as insufficient resistance to the Trump administration.
- “Democrats in both chambers cannot return to politics as usual. People want leadership ready to join us in this new political era,” Ezra Levin, co-executive director of the progressive group Indivisible, said in a statement to Axios on Friday.
A Democratic chief of staff who said his office had received “about 300” calls told Axios, “A lot of people are saying Jamie Raskin needs to be speaker.”
- Raskin (D-Md.) has often been presented as a more progressive alternative to Jeffries, whose associations with pro-Israel groups and corporate PACs have long been a sore point for the left.
- The top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, Raskin became a superstar among the party’s base after serving on the Jan. 6 committee.
- Raskin expressed no interest in making an offer. A spokesperson for his office declined to comment.
The plot: A third House Democrat, who said he had “received between 300 and 400” calls, told Axios that actor Mark Ruffalo’s post on X calling for “a new speaker” was responsible for much of the outreach.
- The post links to a Change.org petition that says Jeffries “is just not the right choice.” The petition had nearly 900,000 signatures on Friday.
- The webpage reveals that the person who started the petition “receives compensation” through the Change Ambassadors program, which raised eyebrows on Capitol Hill.
Reality check: Jeffries remains the overwhelming favorite to become president, House Democrats say. No one has suggested they would be willing to run against him.
- A fourth House Democrat, who said his office received about 50 calls urging them not to vote for Jeffries, told Axios the chances of anyone else becoming president were “zero.”
- A fifth — a senior progressive who said they, too, had received many calls — told Axios there was a “0.0 percent” chance Jeffries wouldn’t get the gavel.
- Democratic leadership elections are scheduled for November 18-19, and a floor vote for president will take place when the new Congress meets on January 3.
Between the lines: Call volume also varies, some members said, with progressives tending to receive more than moderates.
- “It’s ridiculous. I haven’t had one,” Rep. Jim Himes (D-Connecticut) told Axios, adding, “Jeffries will absolutely be the spokesperson.”
- Rep. Sam Liccardo (D-Calif.) said, “I will support Hakeem Jeffries, and anyone talking about a challenger is just selling tickets to a circus without a tent.”
Yes, but: Jeffries faces continued skepticism and hesitation from new members – and not just from the progressive side of the “Bloc.”
- Axios interviewed nearly a half-dozen new House Democrats in deeply red seats Thursday who refused to take a position one way or another on voting for him.
- Don Leonard, an Ohio Democrat who won President Trump’s seat by 10 percentage points, told a local media outlet that he would “look for a new leader” if Jeffries does not commit to changing his pro-Israel stance.
The bottom line: The dozen members of the “Bloc” were expected to use a small majority to extract concessions from Jeffries.
- With a massive majority of several dozen seats, however, it has significantly greater room for maneuver.
- His allies are confident they will get enough Democrats to get them across the finish line — even if he doesn’t get the unanimous vote he has enjoyed in the past.
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