Despite much of the prognostication that the Republican Party is in for a painful time come the 2026 midterms, it appears that the party’s blue donkey counterparts are already grappling with some pain of their own.
Notably, no Democrat appears to be in hotter water than House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
While criticisms of the progressive Jeffries are nothing new from the GOP, it appears that his biggest immediate headaches are actually coming from within Jeffries’ own party. And that’s good news for a struggling Republican Party less than two months before the November midterms.
According to Fox News, two of Jeffries’ House Democrats broke ranks, defied the minority leader, and helped pave the way for a batch of Republican bills to advance.
Democratic Reps. Jared Golden of Maine and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington state broke from their party in a procedural vote to help move the GOP bills forward.
Of critical importance: These bills were reportedly well on their way to failing, meaning that Golden and Perez were — quite literally — the saving grace of these Republican bills.
Fox News didn’t mince words, calling it “an embarrassing blow to Jeffries’ leadership,” while also adding that “it is almost unheard of for the minority party to break ranks and help the majority pass one of their rules, even if lawmakers on that side support the underlying legislation.”
Politico reported that the final vote was 214-211, with two Republicans (Reps. Andy Harris and Ralph Norman) voting “no.”
Several Republicans were a hesitant “yes,” only agreeing to vote affirmatively after what Politico called “extended talks with House GOP leaders.”
In other words, this slate of GOP bills really were in dire straits — that is, until a couple of Democrats intervened.
Fox News reported that both Golden and Perez have strong pro-Ukrainian ties, and getting these GOP bills passed was likely tied to that. Golden, specifically, acknowledged that the Russian sanction bill would’ve died, had these other GOP bills stalled out.
This act of brazen defiance against Jeffries and his leadership is not the first time that these two specifically have crossed the top House Democrat.
Jeffries issued a blistering statement after the last time Golden and Perez broke ranks, just a few weeks earlier.
“The decision by two of our colleagues to blindside the entire House Democratic Caucus and join with the Republican majority to pass a procedural rule on the brink of failing represents a significant breach of trust,” Jeffries said at the time. “It is an action that necessitates a serious response, and we have asked the Committee on Caucus Rules to take this up in short order.”
The only issue, as Fox News noted, is that it’s unclear whether that “serious response” ever actually came.
And those leadership capabilities have come under a microscope.
Just a week before this latest headache, reports began surfacing that basically questioned whether Jeffries was the man to lead the House Democrats — a critical question, especially if the Democrats re-take the House in November.
“He’s got a lot of people mad at him,” a senior House Democrat told Axios.
But perhaps the most scathing — and pertinent — critique of Jeffries came from a California Democratic House candidate, who said, “Voters don’t trust Jeffries.”
That could be a problem in the midterms.
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