by Frank Holmes, reporter
Democrats feel confident they will win the 2026 midterms, but this November’s contests could hand at least one top Democratic Party leader a career-defining embarrassment.
Rumors turned into rumblings, as Democratic candidates say they will not support Rep. Hakeem Jeffries for another term as Speaker of the House.
The writing has been on the wall for a while. But ironically, it may be Nancy Pelosi’s handwriting: Insiders say the elderly Democrat is outraged at the way Jeffries has treated her.
Let’s untangle this tangled web.
Axios found only 31 out of 113 Democratic candidates running in House primaries that the party is likely to win refused to support Jeffries when contacted last October.
Twenty said no, 57 gave no comment, and 24 said they would probably vote for Jeffries.
Only seven gave a definite yes.
“I think we need to have a new type of leadership that’s…going to fight back significantly harder against the Trump administration,” said Heath Howard, a disabled 25-year-old state representative from New Hampshire. Howard describes himself on Threads, a left-wing alternative to Elon Musk’s X, as “a democratic socialist.”
The liberal website followed up with some Democrats this week, and the results will have Jeffries sweating all the way to November.
“Most Democrats are agreed that he’s been failing to meet the moment,” said Adam Hamawy, who is running to replace Democratic Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey. Hamawy, the son of Egyptian immigrants, operated on Senator Tammy Duckworth while he was serving as an Army surgeon.
Jeffries is losing Democrats who had previously said he had their vote. Mai Vang, who is running against 81-year-old U.S. Rep. Doris Matsui of California, had said she would “support the person that my future colleagues elect as our leader,” whoever it is.
But when Axios asked again, Vang changed her vote to a hard no. “I cannot support this kind of leadership,” she told Axios. “If we want to defeat Trump and rebuild trust with working Americans, we need new leadership and a new direction.”
Liberal websites say Jeffries’ headaches come down to a single word: Iran.
The Democratic Party’s progressive base believes Jeffries has done too little for the anti-war Resistance since President Donald Trump launched the military action against Iran, Operation Epic Fury, on February 28.
“Democratic Leaders Face Backlash Over ‘Cowardly’ Responses to Trump War on Iran,” reports the far-Left website Common Dreams.
But others say the October article proves Jeffries has been bleeding support for some time. The would-be speaker’s “stature has fallen greatly since, largely due to his persistent support of Israel despite the country’s ongoing genocide in Gaza,” adds The New Republic.
Democrats who want to dump Jeffries, like Utah State Senator Nate Blouin says he plans on “voting for someone who is committed to fighting for our communities, our shared priorities, making sure that we are moving in a direction that is aligned with the American people on foreign policy.”
The Congressional Progressive Caucus endorsed Blouin in his House race—and the candidate some endorse to challenge Jeffries for the gavel is CPC member Rep. Rashida Tlaib.
“Rep. Jeffries’ throat-clearing and process critique only serves Trump and the war machine,” said Claire Valdez, who is running to succeed Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez, a New York Democrat.
Valdez, who just got elected in 2024 to represent Queens in the New York State Assembly’s District 37 and already wants a promotion, lashed out at Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., both of whom voted against a War Powers Resolution over the war with Iran. In fact, Jeffries let four Democrats cross the aisle to join Republicans in voting down the measure.
Valdez didn’t categorically rule out voting for Jeffries but said, before she could support her fellow New Yorker for another term as speaker, “there would need to be some conversations.”
Translation: If the vote is close, she plans to shake him down for everything she can get. And Valdez, a former United Auto Workers chair, knows how to bargain.
But even people who back Jeffries sounds lukewarm and unenthusiasic.
As we plunge headlong into another catastrophic war, Sen. Schumer and Rep. Jeffries’ throat clearing and process critique only serves Trump and the war machine.
Democrats should speak clearly and with one voice: no war.
— Claire Valdez (@claireforny) February 28, 2026
Alex Bores, a New York Assembly member who plans to give Jeffries his vote if he beats eight other candidates in his primary, said the House Speaker has “room to grow, but I’m encouraged.”
Peeling back the cover, there may be something more to this: It could be an act of Democrat-on-Democrat violence.
Vang, a 41-year-old leftist of Hmong ancestry, may want revenge against Democratic leadership after Jeffries’ predecessor, Nancy Pelosi, supported Matsui at the California state Democratic Convention. Vang contends that kind of endorsement violates state party rules, but Pelosi got away with it, anyway. “What it reaffirmed to me is that the wealthy and well-connected can break their own rules to maintain the status quo,” said Vang.
But does Pelosi want revenge on Jeffries?
Insiders say Pelosi has a history of undermining Jeffries’ role as House Democratic leader. The former House Speaker, whose legacy overshadows the forgettable successor from Brooklyn, has publicly praised Jeffries…but her former aides say Pelosi is hopping mad over how he’s treated her.
Pelosi offered to help Jeffries’ team after his election as House Minority Leader, but a Jeffries aide reportedly responded, “the members don’t want any Pelosi,” Ashley Etienne, a former Pelosi staffer, told Politico last May. “I was hearing from leadership staff that the leadership on Capitol Hill right now wants to sort of move away from that Pelosi era — that they … don’t want to embrace anyone or anything that’s like Pelosi.”
Etienne gave Jeffries a C+ grade as House Speaker.
The attacks hit home, because most Americans agree that Jeffries is an underwhelming force in U.S. politics. The RealClear Polling average shows 37 percent of voters have a negative opinion of Jeffries, compared to 28 percent positive—nine points underwater.
Overall, members of the Democratic Party had a net negative approval rating of 22 points—eight points lower than Republicans, 10 points below President Trump, and four points behind Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to a recent NBC News poll.
“In fact, only the nation of Iran (-53 rating, 8% positive, 61% negative) drew a lower net rating than Democrats of the 14 name-tested people and entities,” reports the New York Post.
The New York Demcorat laughed off all the stories showing that, win or lose, he could be in trouble come November. Jeffries’ spokesman, Justin Chermol, called it “a frivolous story.”
But even his supporters say he could crash down to the back benches if the president’s party somehow wins the midterms, a rare event in presidential history. “Obviously, if we can’t win the majority this year, that’s a problem,” said Virginia Democratic hopeful and Navy veteran Jason Knapp.
That may be why Jeffries has tried to crank up his Trump Derangement rhetoric to absurd new levels.
“F**k Donald Trump!” said Jeffries last month after the president’s social media account posted a video depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as primates.
Renowned retard, Hakeem Jeffries has a meltdown over a meme. "Fu#k Donald Trump" pic.twitter.com/metRmxVYdp
— Retard Finder (@IfindRetards) February 7, 2026
The story may well be overblown. The betting site Kalshi currently gives Jeffries three-to-one odds of becoming the next Speaker of the House after the 2026 midterms.
But no one will know until the primaries start to show whether far-Left, democratic socialists continue their march to take over the Democratic Party.
The Vang-Matsui and Hamawy primary will be held on June 2. The Valdez and Borres primaries take place June 23. Howard faces Democratic primary voters on September 8.
By then, we may know who will have the last laugh: Hakeem Jeffries or Nancy Pelosi.