Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday sought to take the autumn for the failure of Democrats to flip management of the Home in final week’s elections. However his colleagues weren’t shopping for it.
In a closed-door assembly of the Home Democratic Caucus within the Capitol, Jeffries stood earlier than his friends and mentioned he was accountable for the Republicans’ victory, in accordance with various lawmakers within the room. The pushback, they mentioned, was rapid.
“He stood up there at this time and mentioned, ‘It is all on me.’ And the entire caucus began booing [as if to say], ‘This isn’t on you,’” Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) mentioned as he left the assembly.
“I just felt like he’d been stewing over this. …. Like: ‘We lost, I’m the top person. It’s on me,’” Cleaver added. “After which the caucus did precisely what I wished them to do: ‘Oh, no. This isn’t going to go down like this. You are not [to blame].'”
That demonstration of help for Jeffries within the Democrats’ first all-caucus assembly since Election Day forecasts a straightforward victory for the minority chief within the social gathering’s management elections, that are slated to happen subsequent week. Cleaver predicted the vote throughout the caucus could be unanimous.
The assembly got here as Democrats are licking their wounds following an election cycle that may put President-elect Trump again into the White Home for a second time period and go away Republicans in charge of all levers of energy in Washington subsequent 12 months.
Within the wake of their defeat, Democrats are scrambling for solutions to what went mistaken — and who’s at fault.
Some are blaming President Biden, who had masked his obvious feebleness for months earlier than taking himself off the poll in July. Others are pointing fingers at Vice President Harris for not taking better steps to distance herself from Biden in a cycle when voters have been anxious about excessive prices and anticipating change. Nonetheless others have blamed social gathering leaders extra broadly for elevating tradition struggle points, together with transgender rights, which grew to become a robust messaging instrument for Trump and Republicans late within the marketing campaign.
These grievances have been largely put aside throughout Wednesday’s assembly of Home Democrats, which targeted largely on the introduction of latest members who’re coming to Capitol Hill for the primary time. Reporters exterior the room may hear cheering and applause all through the two-hour gathering. One lawmaker known as it “a pep-rally.”
However no less than one lawmaker was given the ground to voice grievances about how Democratic leaders had made his marketing campaign tougher.
Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas) urged the social gathering brass to not stress frontliners like himself to take robust votes on points they know might be tough to defend of their districts.
“I got clobbered on all the transgender messaging in my district, and it was very painful,” Gonzalez mentioned. “All I’m saying is: Don’t ever whip me to take votes that I know are losers in my district.”
Nonetheless, even Gonzalez, who survived a troublesome problem to win a fifth time period in a closely Hispanic district received by Trump, wasn’t able to level fingers at Jeffries.
“He is accepting the blame, proper. However I do not actually blame him, to be trustworthy with you,” Gonzalez mentioned.
