Overview:
A blue tsunami has brought Hakeem Jeffries within reach of a historic speakership. But a growing progressive revolt is raising uncomfortable questions about Black political power, ideological loyalty and who gets to lead Democrats.
When the blue tsunami surged across the U.S. on Election Day, it not only delivered Democrats a commanding majority in Congress but also swept House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to the precipice of history.
For the first time in the nation’s 250-year existence, Jeffries, a Black man representing a district in Brooklyn, New York, is poised to become House Speaker, one of Washington’s most powerful offices. It is a moment generations in the making, unimaginable even during Reconstruction, when Southern voters sent newly emancipated Americans to Congress.
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The universe, however, occasionally complicates the most triumphant moments.
Even as he prepares to join the ranks of legendary, era-defining Speakers such as Nancy Pelosi, Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill and Newt Gingrich, a political groundswell is building against Jeffries. Progressive activists, convinced that voters delivered Democrats a clear mandate for wholesale change, are mounting a campaign to deny him both the gavel and his place in the annals of Congress.
Their argument: Jeffries is too cautious, too closely aligned with the Democratic establishment and too willing to negotiate with President Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans. Anti-Jeffries activists have flooded congressional offices with phone calls, an online petition has garnered more than a million signatures and social media is awash with content demanding Democrats choose a different Speaker.
Thankless Job
The irony is difficult to ignore. At the very moment Black political power is poised to reach a new level, some of the loudest voices trying to stop it come from the progressive left — a movement that has long championed racial justice and equality.
The resistance extends to Capitol Hill. Democratic Representatives-elect Chris Rabb of Pennsylvania, Melat Kiros of Colorado and Darializa Avila Chevalier of New York, all affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America, have declined to pledge their votes to Jeffries. Kiros told The Lever that she wants a leader who will prioritize their legislative wish lists, including Medicare for all and stronger regulation of Big Tech.
He is going to have to be responsive to some of the interests of progressive members of the House. He’s at least got to make an effort to show that he is being sensitive to their needs and being as responsive as he possibly can be.
andra Gillespie, political scientist, emory university
“If that’s not a priority of yours, then I don’t think you should be Speaker,” she said.
Andra Gillespie, a political scientist at Emory University, says the dissatisfaction with Jeffries is very real and has garnered a lot of attention. But several factors — including Jeffries’ race, internal party politics, and the difficult nature of the “thankless” job he wants — have kept any would-be contenders on the sidelines.
“There are people who are complaining. There are people who are saying they won’t support Jeffries,” Gillespie says. “But nobody seems to be stepping up to want to give him a serious challenge.”
Meanwhile, “There are people who have openly said, ‘I want to vote for the first black Speaker of the House,'” Gillespie says.
‘We’re a Caucus of Yes’
Though it’s coming from the far left, not every progressive is joining the revolt.
Rep. Greg Casar of Texas, chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, has emphasized working with Jeffries rather than replacing him.
“We’re not a caucus of breaking things. We’re a caucus of ‘yes,’ and of building things,” Casar told Bloomberg, according to The Lever.
Jeffries’ potential elevation would mark another milestone in a Congress where Black Americans were once excluded from meaningful political power. In 1870, Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina became the first Black member of the House. More than 150 years later, no Black lawmaker has ever held the highest office.
In 2023, yielding to grassroots demands for fresh leadership, Pelosi — then 83 and the Democrats’ House leader for two decades — hand-picked Jeffries, now 56, to succeed her as minority leader. Running unopposed, he was unanimously elected; since then, he has maintained his caucus’s support through the party’s years in the political wilderness and helped engineer Democrats’ sweeping 2026 victory.
For his supporters, the effort to block Jeffries seems misguided and hollow.
Rep. Sam Liccardo of California told Axios Jeffries has his support, “and anybody talking about a challenger is just selling tickets to a circus with no tent.”
Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut was equally emphatic: “Jeffries absolutely will be speaker.”
Politics vs. History
But the controversy raises what Gillespie calls a complicated question: Should Jeffries be judged solely on his politics, or does his assumed place in history carry more weight?
Among members, “I think that there is a certain reticence to scuttling the nomination of the first Black Speaker of the House,” Gillespie says, noting that even influential would-be challengers like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York might struggle to get enough votes to defeat Jeffries — assuming they wanted the job.
“In the absence of somebody else stepping forward and presenting themselves, or having built the relationships with people to make a credible claim, I view a lot of this as just talk,” she says. But that doesn’t mean Jeffries should dismiss it.
“It suggests he is going to have to be responsive to some of the interests of progressive members of the House,” Gillespie says. “He’s at least got to make an effort to show that he is being sensitive to their needs and being as responsive as he possibly can be” if he wants to keep the gavel for long.
Nevertheless, Jeffries’ race is particularly relevant for a party whose dominance in the 2026 midterms was unquestionably powered by Black voters. Black women chose Democrats at an astonishing 92%, while 8 in 10 Black men voted for the party. By contrast, only about half of white women and 47% of white men voted for Democrats. The movement for a progressive alternative to Jeffries may be legit, but it risks alienating Black voters.
Jeffries has not ignored the warning signs. In his Nov. 4 letter announcing his candidacy for Speaker, he pledged to pursue three priorities: “Affordability,” “Accountability” and “American Values.” Asked recently if Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth should be impeached, Jeffries had a simple answer: “Hard yes.”
Still, despite the growing opposition, no House Democrat has stepped forward to challenge Jeffries for the speakership; leadership elections are scheduled for Nov. 17-18. Without a credible threat — so far — to his leadership, experts say the Speaker’s gavel remains Jeffries’ to lose.
Rep. Marc Veasey of Texas described the Democratic victory as a triumph of “common sense, not any extremist ideology,” according to Axios.
‘Big and Bold’ Agenda
Even Jeffries’ House critics are preparing to work with him. Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, a former Congressional Progressive Caucus chair, has said progressives intend to push Jeffries toward an ambitious agenda rather than challenge his leadership.
“We will be driving an agenda that truly is big and bold,” she told Axios.
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For Jeffries, the immediate challenge is holding together a party whose victory has exposed competing ideas about what Democrats should do with power.
Progressives, on the other hand, must reconcile their commitment to expanding Black political representation with a campaign to stop the first Black politician poised to occupy one of the nation’s most powerful offices.
For Democrats, the answer could shape far more than who holds the gavel.
