Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries was repeatedly heckled and called a “traitor” on Friday as the New York congressman worked to secure enough support to become the next House speaker.
The disruption occurred during the What’s Next conference in Denver, where Democratic insiders and newly elected lawmakers gathered to plot how to leverage their congressional majorities heading into the next presidential election.
A panel discussion moderated by Jessica Tarlov was interrupted when a protester shouted at Jeffries, “You are a f*cking liar.” The man expressed frustration over what he viewed as a lack of urgency in impeaching Trump administration officials.
“You don’t fight for the people!” one man shouted. “What makes you think you can lead us?”
A separate protester also confronted Jeffries over the Democratic Party’s failure to enact the Green New Deal, a proposal claiming to solve climate change by drastically reshaping the American economy.
The audience largely booed the hecklers as Jeffries attempted to brush off the interruptions, telling the crowd, “Remember, y’all, I grew up in Brooklyn.”
The protesters were then removed from the room. The interruptions came just days before Democrats are set to hold leadership elections on November 18, according to Newsweek. Jeffries, who has served as the House minority leader since Nancy Pelosi stepped down from leadership, is poised to be the party’s choice for speaker.
But a grassroots campaign to oppose Jeffries includes a petition that has amassed more than 1.1 million signatures. Some leftists point to Jeffries’ support for Israel and relationship with AIPAC. As of Friday, however, no House Democrat was mounting a formal challenge for the gavel.
Still, Jeffries faced more backlash earlier this week after Democrats failed to defeat a procedural motion blocking an impeachment effort against War Secretary Pete Hegseth. The House voted 211-204 on Tuesday to kill Rep. Thomas Massie’s (R-KY) impeachment resolution against Hegseth. The outgoing Kentucky congressman was the lone Republican to oppose the procedural motion, joining all Democrats present in the losing vote.
Eleven Democrats and seven Republicans were absent. Had the 11 missing Democrats been present and voted with their party, the motion would have failed 215-211, forcing a floor vote on the articles themselves just one week after the midterm elections.
Ben Rhodes, former deputy national security adviser under President Barack Obama, sounded the alarm.
“Democrats not showing up for the Hegseth impeachment vote is a giant warning sign. Forget Republicans — did Democrats and their leaders watch the election results last week?” he posted on X.
Other liberal influencers identified the 11 absent Democrats on social media. They included Reps. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Haley Stevens (D-MI).
“This is a major Hakeem Jeffries fail,” leftist commentator Krystal Ball said on X. “You could have impeached the war criminal Pete Hegseth, but Dems didn’t show up to vote.”
Speaking to reporters, Jeffries struggled to contain the fallout.
“I haven’t had a conversation with anyone on the floor team about what may or may not have happened in terms of the Hegseth resolution, but this is not the end of it,” he said. “It’s just the beginning.”
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