House Democrats on Wednesday elected New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries — who has repeatedly painted conservatives as racists — as their leader, making him the successor to Nancy Pelosi, who led the House Democrats for decades and served as speaker when her party was in the majority.
House Democrats elect Hakeem Jeffries as party leader, first Black lawmaker to lead a party in Congress https://t.co/DexG6TNH7B
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) November 30, 2022
Jeffries’ leftist rhetoric over the years has included saying of Kyle Rittenhouse, “Lock up Kyle Rittenhouse and throw away the key,” prompting Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) to fire back, “If this isn’t proof that the Democrat Party has largely departed from American principles of neutrally applied justice and the right of self-defense, then I don’t know what is.”
If this isn’t proof that the Democrat Party has largely departed from American principles of neutrally applied justice and the right of self-defense, then I don’t know what is. https://t.co/WYsTAw3PeU
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) November 11, 2021
In July 2021, Jeffries, who was named one of seven impeachment managers by Pelosi in the Senate impeachment trial of former President Trump, ripped Republicans for their efforts to restore election integrity across the nation while branding them as racists, tweeting, “The Civil War ended in 1865 and the racists lost. Get over it.”
Crenshaw fired back on Twitter with a blunt reminder of exactly which party had the history of racism, snapping, “You’re right, the Democrats lost.”
You’re right, the Democrats lost. https://t.co/fapklELoeh
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) July 14, 2021
Appearing on Spectrum News NY1, Jeffries was asked if President Biden had exaggerated when he called measures such as voter ID and tighter control of mail-in ballots “the most significant test of our democracy since the Civil War.”
“He’s not exaggerating at all,” Jeffries replied. “The Republican party has adopted voter suppression as an electoral strategy. Which is a shame because the modern history here in America post the enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 has largely been — this was a settled question. The right to vote was a sacred thing, an important part of our democracy.”
Jeffries implied that Republican efforts stemmed from racist reaction to the election of Barack Obama, calling the GOP efforts part of a “voter suppression epidemic.”
In February 2022, Jeffries attacked the legitimacy of the conservative members of the Supreme Court.
“Supreme Court majority has zero legitimacy,” he tweeted. “Ghosts of the confederacy are alive and well.”
The Supreme Court majority has zero legitimacy.
Ghosts of the confederacy are alive and well.
— Hakeem Jeffries (@RepJeffries) February 8, 2022
In September, Jeffries claimed that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and fellow Republican and Texas Governor Greg Abbott were “behaving like human traffickers” after DeSantis sent 50 illegal immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard.
DeSantis, who served three terms in Congress before becoming the Sunshine State’s governor, fired back at his former House colleague, noting that the Biden administration has been moving illegal immigrants around the country since coming to power.
“When Biden is flying these people all over the fruited plain in the middle of the night, I didn’t hear a peep out of those people,” DeSantis said.
Ryan Saavedra contributed to this report.