House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) pushed back on claims that Republicans had an “overwhelming mandate” from last week’s elections, noting strong Democratic performances in key House races.
Republicans regained the presidency and control of the Senate for the next Congress in last week’s election and narrowly retained control of the House of Representatives, which they flipped from Democrats in the 2022 elections. Jeffries conceded that Democrats would be in the minority for the next Congress and vowed to be bipartisan under the continued Republican hold of the chamber.
“The elections are over and the American people have spoken. Former President Donald Trump will be the next president of the United States of America. House Democrats have fallen a few seats short of reclaiming the majority,” Jeffries said at a press conference on Capitol Hill Friday.
“House Democrats will work to find bipartisan common ground whenever and where possible with the incoming administration in a manner consistent with our values, but at the same time, always push back whenever necessary, far-right extremism that will hurt the American people,” he added.
Jeffries pushed back on claims of an “overwhelming mandate,” which has been pushed by Republicans, noting the vast majority of vulnerable Democrats held their seats.
“If you believe that that’s an overwhelming mandate, not notwithstanding the adverse political environment that happened with a Trump wave sweeping every single battleground state in America, Democrats will have actually increased the number of seats in the new Congress, not decreased, and we’re still counting in California,” Jeffries said.
The Associated Press has projected Republicans will have at least 218 seats, while Democrats will have at least 209 seats in the House of Representatives for the next Congress, with eight races yet to be called. In the Senate, Republicans will hold a 53-47 majority in the next Congress.
When asked about Trump’s gains with several key voting demographics, including women and minorities, Jeffries reiterated how Democrats performed in states that Trump won.
Despite Trump winning the presidential races in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, and Wisconsin, Democrats won Senate seats in four of those five states and various key House races in most of those states.
“Donald Trump did make electoral gains in New York City, in many of the five boroughs, including most explicitly in parts of Queens and even in the South Bronx. At the same period of time this year, Democrats flipped four Republican-held seats in New York State in the House of Representatives,” Jeffries said.
Democrats will hold their House leadership elections next week where Jeffries and other top leaders are expected to be reelected to their positions.
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When asked about the House Ethics Committee’s investigation into former Rep. Matt Gaetz, who has been nominated by Trump for attorney general, Jeffries said he was “not going to get out” of the top Democrat on the committee.
“Transparency is always the best course of action, particularly when it relates to high-ranking government officials, but I’m not going to get out of the top Democrat on the House Ethics Committee, Susan Wild, until her and I have had an opportunity to talk,” Jeffries said.
