Some Democrats Want More Than A Hakeem Jeffries Victory. They Want A Blowout.

Hakeem Jeffries’ supporters don’t just want him to win — they want him to win big.

The massive Democratic House victory last week has transformed what might have otherwise been a fraught effort for the sitting minority leader to secure the speaker’s gavel, where a smaller majority could have empowered a tightknit block of hard-left holdouts. Now a broader group is intent on sending a message.

“The people want to see unity,” Rep. Troy Carter of Louisiana said in an interview. “They don't want to see fighting. They don't want to see infighting. They want to see the level of togetherness to advance an agenda.”

The good feelings surrounding Democrats’ House gains have quieted the debate about the leadership of the caucus, however large it might be. As counting continues and operatives hold out hope for 260 seats — the largest majority for any party since 1993 — progressive activists continue to call for an alternative to Jeffries.

While no sitting or incoming lawmaker has announced outright opposition, several who ran on populist economic platforms are withholding endorsements.

“I want to see who the other options are and what their agendas are, so that we can make sure that it aligns with the needs of my congressional district,” said Rep.-elect LaKesha Womack of North Carolina.

On Capitol Hill, Jeffries’ allies aren’t fretting about the ultimate outcome — he can afford at least three dozen defections — but his allies are now working to unify Democrats ahead of a nominating vote next week and an official tally on the House floor in early January.

“The American people want us to focus in on issues of affordability,” Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, the incoming Rules Committee chair, said in an interview. “That's what I heard: affordability, affordability, affordability. So let's get on with the business of electing Hakeem as speaker, and let's focus in on what this election was all about.”

The chaotic past four years of GOP rule are hanging over the vote. Hamstrung by relatively tiny majorities, GOP leaders struggled to keep unruly factions in step — often resulting in dramatic confrontations. In 2023, a group of discontented Republicans voted out a speaker for the first time, putting the deposed Kevin McCarthy into the history books.

Many Democrats said they are intent on setting the tone early that this majority will be functional and productive, not constantly racked by factional warfare.

“I don't believe that we can have the kind of acrimony that we had under Kevin McCarthy and the Republicans,” Rep.-elect Dan Koh of Massachusetts told reporters Sunday. “We need to learn from MAGA. … We need to get to the bottom of [President Donald] Trump's corruption and lower costs for people. We can't have months and months of acrimony.”

Jeffries boasts strong backing around the caucus, with power bases in the Congressional Black Caucus, which is projected to have more than 60 members next term, and the New Democrat Coalition, which is tracking toward more than 140 members. While there is overlap between those two groups and there could be defections, support from these two groups alone already puts Jeffries close to the 218 votes he would need in January.

Plenty of top progressives are endorsing Jeffries, too. Rep. Greg Casar of Texas, the Congressional Progressive Caucus chair, is voting for him, as is the group’s influential former chair, Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, perhaps the best-known face of the party’s leftist wing, is also backing Jeffries and whipped out a whiteboard on a recent livestream to explain to her massive social-media following how the speaker election works.

Not everyone is on board. A handful of new members, many but not all of whom are progressive, reaffirmed this weekend that they are as yet uncommitted to Jeffries.

“I have a lot to consider,” moderate Rep.-elect Zack Mullock of New Jersey said Sunday. “But it'll be an important decision that I'm going to talk to a lot of people who know a lot more than I do.”

Outside critics are hoping the noncommittals mean there’s an opening to block Jeffries’ ascension — or at least win concessions. Some leading progressives are framing the upcoming votes as a chance to resolve, or at least talk through, certain internally divisive issues before Democrats enter the majority.

Rep. Ro Khanna of California cited “Medicare for All” health care policy and the U.S. relationship with Israel as particular flashpoints.

“It’s a healthy process to have that conversation,” he said. “I think we will advance some of those policies that people voted for, and I'm part of those conversations.”

Jeffries said Monday he would be having plenty of personal conversations in the coming days.

“I'm going to work hard to talk to every single member about what we've been able to do together over the last two years, and what the opportunities are for us to do together in the next two years, to deliver upon the dramatic change that the American people so decisively voted for,” he said at a news conference.

The members of the new Congress, both incumbent and incoming, will vote on a speaker nomination next week, which requires only a simple majority of Democrats. The tougher test is on the floor in January, where a speaker must win a majority of all 435 members.

One recent benchmark is the backlash Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California faced after Democrats retook the majority in 2018, in the middle of Trump’s first term. After being elected speaker with zero internal opposition in 2007 and 2009, 32 Democrats opposed her comeback in the caucus vote, and 15 ultimately voted for another candidate or recorded themselves as “present” on the floor — barely allowing her to eke through.

But the caucus largely united behind Pelosi as she subsequently battled with Trump, and Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina — who was No. 3 leader under Pelosi — said it was not important that every Democrat be in lockstep.

“I don't know why everybody thinks you got to be unanimous,” he said. “You can have unity and not be unanimous.”

Mia McCarthy contributed to this report.