LEADER JEFFRIES ON MS NOW: “WE WILL STOP THE MAGA POWER GRAB AND PUSH BACK AGAINST THEIR EFFORTS TO RIG THE MIDTERM ELECTIONS”

Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on MS NOW's PoliticsNation, where he emphasized that Democrats will continue to fight back against Republican attempts to decimate Black and Latino representation in Congress as part of their effort to rig the 2026 elections.

REV. AL SHARPTON: We start off with the Democratic Leader of the House of Representatives, the Honorable Hakeem Jeffries. Leader Jeffries, thank you for coming on and starting this special session of PoliticsNation. Let's start with context tonight. With this week's Supreme Court ruling, what changed for Black and minority voters in states with histories of voter discrimination, like of course, Louisiana?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, great to be with you, Rev. It was a very unfortunate decision, to say the least, in terms of this Supreme Court conservative right-wing majority detonating the Voting Rights Act, which is going to make it more difficult, particularly in states in the Deep South, for African American communities to elect the candidate of their choice. The notion that this Supreme Court majority concluded that we don't have to worry about racial discrimination any longer and that partisan gerrymandering is of more important value than making sure that we actually protect communities from racial gerrymandering is extreme. And so we're going to work hard to do what we have to do, one, to make sure we take back control of the House along with the Senate and then to aggressively move toward dismantling the right-wing attack on our democracy, beginning with passing the John Robert Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.

REV. AL SHARPTON: Now, several House seats held by Democrats were already in danger due to recent gerrymanders at Trump's demand. Congressmembers Don Davis in North Carolina and Vicente Gonzalez in Texas have been listed among the most vulnerable because of new, more Republican-tilted maps. And just since the Court's decision this week, Louisiana has suspended its House primaries to give Republicans the time to redraw a new map. In Florida, Republicans just passed a new map that creates up to four more GOP seats. And the Governors of both Tennessee and Alabama have called special legislative sessions next week to fast-track redistricting. Leader Jeffries, what's being done to ensure that Black and Latino representation, specifically in the form of Confederacy, doesn't just disappear because of this rule?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, first of all, important to note that every single one of the seats that Republicans have targeted to date before the Callais decision have been seats held by Black or Latino representatives in Congress. The five seats in Texas that were targeted were held by three Latinos, Vicente Gonzalez, Henry Cuellar and Greg Casar, and two African Americans, Marc Veasey and Al Green. Then, of course, they've targeted one seat in Missouri, the seat currently held by Reverend Congressman Emanuel Cleaver-we're going to make sure he's reelected. They've also targeted, in North Carolina, as you indicated, the seat held by Don Davis, another African American. We're going to make sure that he is reelected as well. And then, in Florida, a handful of the seats that they're targeting are currently represented by an African American in South Florida and a Latino in Central Florida. And so, they're not even trying to hide the fact that, in addition to trying to rig the midterm elections, they want to decimate Black and Latino representation in Congress. We're going to battle them politically. And we're also going to make sure, as we've done in places like California and Utah and most recently in Virginia, that we push back aggressively so that republicans can't create a numerical advantage for themselves in order to artificially hold on to power in the aftermath of the midterm elections.

REV. AL SHARPTON: Now, for months, you pressed blue states to respond to Republicans' redistricting push. California, of course, responded to the opening shot from Texas last year. Virginia responded last month. And this week, you said Democrats will now be prepared to respond in states even like New York, where Governor Kathy Hochul says she'll now push ahead with redistricting. You added Illinois, Maryland and Colorado will be in play as well. November is very close, Leader Jeffries. Are you confident what's happening can be counted in time for your Caucus to retake the House?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, we're going to take back control of the House. And understand, Rev., as you know, we're only three seats short. That's a historically close margin. When we took the House back in 2018, we were 24 seats short. And of course, in that cycle, we were able to flip a total of 40 seats. This time around, we only have to net three, which is why Republicans are panicking right now because they failed the American people on the economy, on healthcare, on this reckless and costly war of choice. And Democrats have been making clear to the American people we are the party that's going to focus on driving down the high cost of living, fixing our broken healthcare system and cleaning up corruption wherever it's found in the Congress, in this Supreme Court and certainly as it relates to this administration. Now, a large part of the battle that needs to be fought is going to be post-2026 because this Supreme Court decision, as wrong-headed and awful as it is, came late in the cycle. And so, the Republicans are limited in the damage that they can do effective 2026. However, we've got to make sure that we're prepared to push back aggressively as we approach 2028, which is why, as you've indicated, we're ready to go in New York, in New Jersey perhaps, in Colorado, certainly in places like Illinois and Maryland and in Washington State. Those are going to be the opportunities that we will have to once again ensure that we stop the MAGA power grab and push back against their efforts to rig the midterm elections this time around, which we've done, and push back against any efforts into the future, which we'll have to do in connection with 2028.

REV. AL SHARPTON: And I might add that they're underestimating that many of our Black representatives are in districts where many whites have voted for them. We're not dealing with a constituency that whites have not supported the best candidate Black or white. We're talking about where they've tried to eliminate the possibility of Black representation. But, I must bring this up-

LEADER JEFFRIES: Absolutely. Right, right. Go ahead, Rev., sorry.

REV. AL SHARPTON: Last night-I have to bring this up-last night, the President posted a year-old image of you holding a baseball bat, writing on his Truth Social platform, quote, 'Low IQ Democrat Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is nothing but a thug and he is a danger to our country.' End of quote. Now, that follows these comments from Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis on Thursday, where he uses what seems like a very specific cadence to mock you in the midst of this redistricting fight. Take a listen.

RECORDING OF RON DESANTIS: We gonna do maximum warfare against Republicans. Florida Republicans, you F around, you gonna find out, all this stuff. And you know, what I said was, listen, and he's like, oh, if you do the redistricting, we're gonna take out all your Members, we're going to do all this stuff. And what I've said was go ahead, make my day.

REV. AL SHARPTON: Leader Jeffries, what message are these, in my opinion, openly racist attacks sending, coming from the very same GOP leaders attacking every aspect of Black representation right now?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, their responses certainly speak for themselves in terms of the moral depravity of it all. And listen, they fail. Ron DeSantis is a failed Governor, failed presidential candidate. He's a disaster. The cost of living is skyrocketing out of control in Florida. Nobody can get homeowners insurance. And gasoline, because of Trump's war, is through the roof. And so, you know, these people have decided that they want to launch ad hominem attacks now. Of course, Donald Trump probably doesn't even know what that means. But the reality of it is they cannot distract from the fact that they've just failed. And the American people, I'm confident, are going to make a decision not based on personal attacks against me or other Members of Congress. They're going to make a decisions based on who actually is ready to do the job to make their life better. And as far as I'm concerned, the voters will have the last laugh in November and then we're going to get to work. And we certainly are going to hold these extremists accountable. And, you know, Ron DeSantis sounded like a fool. He's embarrassing himself, Rev. I mean, that's not a Brooklyn accent. I don't know what kind of accent that was, but at the end of the day, we'll keep the pressure on them. They're just big mad because they never thought we would forcefully respond to their efforts to rig the midterm elections by gerrymandering maps all across the country. We responded forcefully, immediately, strongly and, as a result, they now found themselves down, not up, as it relates to a redistricting battle that they once thought was going to net them ten, twelve or fifteen seats. We've completely wiped that off the map.

REV. AL SHARPTON: All right, many thanks for kicking us off in this special PoliticsNation tonight. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, thank you again.

Full interview can be watched here.

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