TLDR: Democrats just won big. This is part one of a series I’ll be doing on what Democrats should do with their power. In this post, I’ll argue why we need to pick someone different from Hakeem Jeffries or Chuck Schumer for leadership. If you are already on board, sign A Fight Worth Having’s petition telling Democrats in the House and Senate to change Democratic Party leadership below:
On Tuesday, Democrats won. And they didn’t just win. This is the biggest Democratic wave since 1974, when Nixon resigned over Watergate. It’s looking like Democrats will end up with about a 90-seat majority in the House and, though the count is still coming in, they seem likely to have 56 seats in the Senate. And more exciting than them winning is what these candidates promised to win. In South Carolina, Annie Andrews flipped South Carolina by saying healthcare is a right, not a privilege, and calling for banning private equity from owning hospitals. Scott Colom flipped Mississippi by rejecting AIPAC and denouncing corporate donations. James Talarico flipped Texas by campaigning against the billionaire class trying to buy our elections and rig the system in their favor. Abdul El-Sayed won Michigan by vowing to end the war in Iran and our funding of genocide in Gaza, so we can instead invest that money in housing, healthcare and education at home.
The Democrats who won the hardest states and districts did so by running against a rigged economic and political system. They ran to protect the little guy from the big guys. And they ran on change. And change doesn’t just mean taking on Trump – it means changing the Democratic Party as well.
But Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries will never allow the system to be changed. Schumer will never allow the filibuster to be abolished, even though Talarico is calling for it. Neither Schumer nor Jeffries will ever allow America to stop funding Israel’s genocide, despite the fact that even JD Vance is saying America’s relationship to Israel was one of the top four reasons Republicans just lost in a bloodbath. Neither Schumer nor Jeffries will ever let us pass Medicare-for-all or a raise to the minimum wage or raise taxes on corporations and billionaires, even though all those policies poll at nearly 70% support with the American people. Schumer and Jeffries can’t support them because their number one priority is keeping Democratic Party donors happy, and the donors don’t want it.
And the American people know this. Polling by Center for Strategic Politics and Redbox Research found that a majority of Harris voters in 64% of districts surveyed want someone other than Hakeem Jeffries for Speaker of the House:
And according to polling from Data for Progress, a majority of Democrats want someone other than Schumer for Senate Majority Leader:
So herein lies the problem. Democrats just won with a huge mandate to end the war in Iran, lower the cost of living, and take on corporate power in America. But Democratic leadership is against all of that. It’s why Jeffries continuously blocked the War Powers resolution last year when it had a chance of stopping the war in Iran. It’s why Democrats in the Senate never filibuster the NDAA to block defense spending, even though they could. So if we keep the same Democratic Party leadership, we will fail on delivering what Americans just told Democrats they want – and we will lose this majority.
The people who just got elected from those swing states understand that. That’s why so many of them, like Abdul El-Sayed from Michigan, Troy Jackson from Maine, and Adam Hamilton from Kansas, have already committed to not backing Schumer for leader.
The problem, though, is that it’s risky for elected members to say they won’t back Schumer or Jeffries for leader. If they do it and lose that gambit, they risk retribution from leadership in the form of being kept off committees, having no money get sent back to their districts, or even having a primary challenger be put up against them by the establishment.
So that’s where you come in. The leadership fight is happening right now. Who becomes the next Speaker of the House and Senate Majority Leader will get determined in the next few weeks. Hakeem has already started making the calls to get folks on his side, and I’m sure Schumer is doing the same, so time is of the essence if we want to see change.
We already have the polls showing Americans want a change in leadership, but polling only goes so far. The main way elected officials know their constituents actually care about an issue is when they see them actively engage on it. One way to do that is to call your representative – in the House and the Senate – to tell them that you would like them to not vote for Jeffries or Schumer for leader. Another would be to sign the petitions below:
A Fight Worth Having is running these petitions, and their plan is to deliver the petition to every relevant Congressmember. Signing these petitions shows that making sure Jeffries and Schumer aren’t leaders isn’t just popular, but that it’s also salient.
It’s good to have some wins. Now let’s give voters the change they voted for.
The combined total AIPAC funding to Schumer and “Genocide Jeffries” approaches $4 million dollars!
Time for a leadership change in Democrat Party. Time to stop rewarding people primarily for being part loyalists. We need to rally behind the issues and get leaders who can deliver those results not ones who have simply survived and have tenure. Survival and tenure are not bad things, but may not necessarily produce the leaders going forward.