The Democrats’ Predicament in the House

The speaker’s gavel could well prove a poisoned chalice for Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, considering the unruly caucus he would end up leading if the House tilts to the Democrats. Feature, say, the push by leftists in Mr. Jeffries’s party to focus the House’s legislative agenda toward an expansion of transgender rights. That goal conflicts with the Democrats’ avowed midterm pledge to concentrate on the issue of affordability if they win a majority.The surging cost of living, and “not culture war fights,” per Politico, “has been the overriding theme of Democrats’ push to retake control of Congress.” Yet even before Election Day, the far left of Mr. Jeffries’s party is urging a drive to, as Politico reports, reverse President Trump’s policies relating to transgender persons in terms of “health care, participation in athletics and protections against discrimination.”Members of the Democratic Socialists of America, too, are eager to push their agenda in the event that Mr. Jeffries accedes to the speakership. The DSA “is organizing behind the scenes,” per the Wall Street Journal, “to extract commitments from party leadership to advance far-left priorities.” It’s telling, too, that these DSA candidates, in the Journal’s telling, “haven’t publicly backed Jeffries for speaker.”The withholding of support by the DSA suggests that the far-left faction intends to play political hardball, using its leverage in a potentially slim House majority in exchange for policy concessions. The national co-chairman of the DSA, Ashik Siddique, tells the Journal that the bloc and its candidates “will decide together on what red lines to set with Jeffries.” The narrower the majority, the more influence the DSA members could potentially have.A Michigan House candidate, Donavan McKinney, is up-front about the quid-pro-quo nature of these negotiations with Mr. Jeffries. “This is about receiving assurances that we can push legislation that our communities need,” Mr. McKinney told the Journal. Currently a state legislator, Mr. McKinney averred that he has “had conversations with leader Jeffries, I told him, how long do you want to be speaker for?”The potential threat to Mr. Jeffries’s ability to lead the House is being underlined by political consultant James Carville, as these columns have noted. Mr. Carville is particularly attuned to the risk of a closely divided chamber. “I would be disappointed if it comes in at 225 House seats,” he said. “I would rather the Republicans keep the House by five than the Democrats win by five, because if that happens, they’re hostage to the DSA.” In that event, Mr. Carville averred, “Hakeem cannot move. There’s no place for him to go.” A similar dynamic confronted, say, Speaker Kevin McCarthy vis-à-vis his GOP caucus when Republicans in 2022 took the House with 222 seats, just a handful above the required majority of 218. Mr. McCarthy faced from his party’s right wing policy demands that within months made his speakership unsustainable.Could Mr. McCarthy’s abortive leadership of the lower chamber prove a cautionary tale for Mr. Jeffries? Congressman Tom Suozzi is warning against catering to the demands of fringe elements in their party. In words that apply to the GOP and the Democrats, the Long Island solon avers: “You have to focus on what people care about.” For now, he adds, “that’s affordability, and they want some relief. That’s what we should talk about.”

The Democrats’ Predicament in the House

The Democrats’ Predicament in the House

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