Democratic members have complained that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ laid-back style may not be best suited to fight back against President Donald Trump. Jeffries appears to have gotten that memo.
In the past several months, Jeffries has tapped more people — and plans to add further — to help boost his communications strategy, people familiar with his political operation told NOTUS.
The goal, they said, is to better counter Trump’s narrative and pierce through a fast-paced news cycle that is more focused on Republicans’ activity than Democrats’. And the messaging challenges aren’t just about the broader voting population: Jeffries is also seeking to reassure frustrated Democrats that he is doing everything he can to stop Trump’s policies.
“We’re taking on a lot of fights — Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, all the policy things,” said Antjuan Seawright, a Jeffries advisor. “But I also think that the news cycle is so noisy that people think that we’re not fighting.”
Although Jeffries has visibly toughened his opposition to Trump, some Democrats feel he’s not yet performing at the level they desire. In April, more than a dozen House Democrats told NOTUS that Jeffries has been falling short of fulfilling his role as the face of the opposition party.
A month later, one progressive House Democrat told NOTUS that Jeffries “is trending in the right direction,” but “there’s a lot of room for improvement.” The Democrat mentioned that some members have been explicit with Jeffries about their concerns.
“We need to step it up in terms of the coordinated message and taking gloves off,” said the member, who requested anonymity to speak frankly about the leader’s communications efforts.
People familiar with Jeffries’ political operation said that recent changes in his communications strategy aren’t a direct reaction to the criticism he’s received, but he has taken into account the calls for him to be more visible.
A spokesperson for Jeffries said the leader “continue[s] to be in a more is more environment.”
“The Leader’s embrace of this mentality speaks for itself as does his relentless focus on making sure that Republicans are not successful in jamming their reckless and extreme budget down the throats of the American people,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
Jeffries’ communications strategy this Congress session is to appear in conversations frequently and push a hopeful message about what Democrats would do if they were in power in addition to calling out Republicans, sources said.
As one person involved in Jeffries’ political operation put it, they’re employing an “everywhere people are” approach. Jeffries’ team has increased the number of platforms he appears on — whether it’s traditional radio and cable TV or podcasts and social media. His team has also been pushing for Jeffries to speak in more non-traditional spaces.
Last week, as House Republicans worked on their budget reconciliation bill, Jeffries hosted a virtual roundtable with healthcare advocates who spoke out against the bill’s prescription to cut Medicaid and Medicare. He was also featured in cable TV appearances and press conferences live-streamed on his YouTube account.
Much of his message focused on spending cuts.
“House Republicans have voted to take food out of the mouths of children, families, seniors and veterans as part of their toxic scheme to enact massive tax cuts for their billionaire donors like Elon Musk,” he said in a press conference last Thursday. This legislation is the height of irresponsibility.”
Jeffries also has been a proponent of more face-to-face interactions with voters. He has encouraged members to host town halls and recently hosted a listening session with local leaders to gain their input on Democrats’ ground game on the local level.
In early May, Jeffries spoke at “Trending Up,” a conference hosted in Washington that drew online content creators who talked about issues such as the economy and immigration and wanted to learn how to leverage their platforms for social advocacy. The conference featured popular creators from across the country, such as Elizabeth Booker Houston, an influencer who has almost half a million followers on Instagram.
When he delivered an address marking Trump’s 100 days in the White House, Jeffries highlighted an encounter he had with a woman from North Carolina who spoke to how possible Medicaid and Medicare cuts could impact her ability to care for her grandchildren.
Seawright said that Jeffries’ team was unaware of the woman’s party affiliation, but he believed she was a useful messenger “everyday people can relate to.”
He added he’s been encouraging Jeffries to just be himself and stick to the strategy that’s allowed him to ascend party ranks. Jeffries’ strategy, Seawright said, is to “survive and advance” onto the next fight and “good old-fashioned political block and tackle.”
“He’s a Brooklyn, New York, brawler. That’s how he fights,” Seawright said. “He’s not the only person fighting. So for the people that don’t like the way he fights, there are other people in the fight who may fight like they want them to.”
Jeffries has plenty of allies within the caucus. Rep. Troy Carter, first vice chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, commended Jeffries for how he’s led Democrats as they negotiate the GOP’s reconciliation package.
“You see a very smart, very seasoned leader getting even better as he tackles one challenge after another,” Carter told NOTUS. “I see the energy of a guy who’s being tested by fire, and he’s passing every single test.”
Rep. Ritchie Torres agreed and called Jeffries “a strategist in a world of tacticians” and “a chess player in a world of checkers players.”
“Hakeem is one of the most effective communicators in politics,” Torres told NOTUS. “He knows exactly what he’s doing.”
Still, there are growing pains. “Members are adjusting to style differences,” another House Democrat told NOTUS, requesting anonymity to discuss the issue.
Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi “was much more demonstrative in how she delivers everything — the way she talks, the way she does business,” this Democrat said. “And Hakeem is going to need more buy-in from members.”
Jeffries has also faced criticism for publicly focusing more on policy than on what some Democrats see as a turn toward autocracy. He’s said the budget has to be top priority.
“There’s nothing more urgent that we could be doing right now than stopping Republicans from jamming their reckless and extreme budget down the throats of the American people,” Jeffries told The New York Times earlier this month.
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Tinashe Chingarande is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.