House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) drew a sharp distinction Sunday between the Democratic Party and the agenda of the Democratic Socialists of America, saying he does not support the organization’s positions on issues including policing, immigration and the Senate.
“I don’t support the DSA agenda as has been articulated by the DSA itself,” Jeffries said during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” His comments came the same morning Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a potential 2028 presidential candidate, told CBS News that progressives should not use the Democratic Party as a vehicle because “they’re a separate party” — adding, in nearly the same construction Jeffries would use, “I don’t believe in defunding police. I don’t believe in open borders.”
“I do not support defunding the police. I do not support open borders. I do not support abolishing the Senate,” Jeffries said. Instead, Jeffries said House Democrats are focused on what he described as the “Democratic agenda”: lowering the cost of living, making housing and health care more affordable and addressing the affordability crisis.
His comments come as Democratic socialists and their allies have made significant gains in Democratic primaries across the country, prompting an increasingly public debate among party leaders and establishment-aligned Democrats over how far left the party should move.
Moderate Democrats are already organizing against the DSA’s growing influence. Third Way President Jonathan Cowan told The New York Times earlier this month that his organization is launching a $15 million effort through 2028 to discredit democratic socialism through opposition research, polling, social media campaigns and efforts to educate Democratic activists and leaders. “We are preparing for the next war that is coming,” Cowan said.
The effort followed a string of primary victories by socialist and left-insurgent candidates, most notably Abdul El-Sayed’s narrow victory over of establishment-backed Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary. El-Sayed will face Republican Mike Rogers in November for the seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters — a race Democrats likely must win to have any path to a Senate majority.
El-Sayed is not a DSA member and calls himself a capitalist, but Cowan accused him of running a DSA-style campaign without the membership card — what Cowan calls the “DSA dodge,” courting socialist organizations and their voters for organizing muscle while declining to formally identify with the group.
Jeffries stopped short of saying that DSA-aligned candidates cannot be part of the Democratic Party. “You’re going to have individual members who have been elected in Democratic primaries, and if they are elected in the general in November, will be part of the House Democratic Caucus,” Jeffries said.
He acknowledged that the caucus would include members from across the party’s ideological spectrum. “It’s going to be a broad caucus,” Jeffries said. “There will be progressives, there will be New Dems, there will be Blue Dogs.” But when pressed on whether there is room in the Democratic Party for democratic socialists, Jeffries reiterated that he does not endorse the DSA’s stated agenda.
Asked whether he would bring a vote to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement to the House floor if Democrats retake the majority, Jeffries repeatedly called instead for “dramatic” reform of the agency. “We’re committed to dramatically reforming ICE,” Jeffries said, while calling for measures including body cameras, judicial warrants for home searches and greater accountability for ICE agents.
Jeffries also said he does not currently support Medicare for All, despite having co-sponsored such legislation from 2013 through 2021. “No,” Jeffries said when asked whether he personally supports Medicare for All. “I haven’t co-sponsored the Medicare for All legislation that has been introduced over the last several years.”
Jeffries ultimately returned to the central message he said Democrats intend to take into the November midterms: affordability. “We’re focused on November 3rd, not January 3rd,” Jeffries said, arguing that Democratic candidates should campaign on lowering the cost of groceries, gas, housing and health care.
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