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Hakeem Jeffries heckled in Denver as report claims he is the only contender for House speakership
Despite Democrats’ midterm wins, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries faces rising opposition and protests over his path to Speaker amid Kushner ties.
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The results of the US midterm elections brought back the good times for the Democrats. The only exception, perhaps, is Hakeem Jeffries.
The US House minority leader is all set to succeed Mike Johnson as the US House Speaker when the new representatives-elect are sworn in in January 2027. In fact, on Friday, Axios reported that no other Democrat representative-elect wants to challenge Hakeem Jeffries for the position of House Speaker.
But opposition is coming from the grassroots. A petition started on September 3 urging the Democratic Party to choose a new speaker gained traction after Jeffries announced his candidacy on November 4. As of this writing, it has gathered 11,74,826 verified signatures on Change.org.
And now, it is spilling onto the grounds, too. On Friday, as Hakeem Jeffries attended an event for the Democrats in Denver, Colorado, he was met with protesters who shouted obscenities at him.
Hakeem Jeffries heckled in Colorado
Jeffries was in Denver for the What's Next conference, organised by Majority Democrats, a Political Action Committee associated with the Blue party. As he was being interviewed on stage by Fox News journalist Jessica Tarlov, protesters interrupted the session.
"You are a f***** liar," one of the protesters shouted, calling Jeffries a "traitor."
“The American people demanded impeachment!” one of the protesters shouted, according to The New Republic. “Your version of accountability is shaking hands with the Trump family!”
Hakeem Jeffries' association with Jared Kushner
The central agenda behind opposing Hakeem Jeffries' House speakership is his alleged link to Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law. Earlier in September, the New York Times reported that Jeffries held multiple 'secret' meetings with Kushner. According to the report, the duo had talked about prospects of bipartisan cooperation.
Furthermore, Jeffries is being questioned over his role as the House Minority Leader after Democrats committed two major missteps in the House as sessions resumed after the midterms. First was the vote to impeach Pete Hegseth, the US Secretary of War, in a motion brought by Kentucky GOP lawmaker Thomas Massie. It fell short in the procedural vote after 11 Democrats did not show up.
Then came a vote on a veteran's bill, the Take Care of America's Veterans Act, on Wednesday. Democrats had opposed the bill for a long time, but it passed by voice vote after the party did not ask for a recorded vote on it. They tried next to get the House to vote again on it, this time on record, but that did not transpire.
