Jared Huffman

Nearly every Democratic leader is getting swept up in a party-wide blame game over their calamitous performance in the 2024 election – but House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) appears to be largely evading internal backlash.Why it matters: House Democrats' strong performance compared to the Harris-Walz ticket gives Jeffries a chance to emerge as a singular opposition figure in the Trump administration.Jeffries, House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) are widely expected to be unopposed in House Democrats' leadership elections on Nov. 19 and 20.Still, some Democratic lawmakers say Jeffries and his leadership team will have tough questions to answer about how Democrats move forward from their electoral collapse.What they're saying: Jeffries and his deputies have "done a great job ... and navigated the minority in one of the most difficult and ineffective congressional leaderships in history," said Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.).Schneider, a leader of the center-left New Democrat Coalition, added, "I don't think anyone is looking at them and saying, 'If only.'"Leading progressive Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) said of Jeffries: "He just has the complete respect and support of the caucus. There are no cracks here, and in fact most people think it was a heroic effort."State of play: The House majority remains in play as of Thursday as several key House races in California, Arizona and elsewhere remain uncalled.Jeffries said in a statement on Thursday afternoon: "It has yet to be decided who will control the House of Representatives in the 119th Congress."Still, Democrats are increasingly pessimistic they will be able to flip enough of the remaining GOP-held seats to eke out a majority.Zoom in: The fact that the House remains up for grabs at all even as President-elect Trump romped to a decisive victory over Vice President Harris is something many House Democrats are hanging their hats on.Incumbent House Democrats in battleground races outperformed Harris by an average of four percentage points, a Democratic strategist told Axios.Jeffries also managed to reverse much of the red wave that swept his home state in 2022, with Democrats defeating Reps. Marc Molinaro (R-N.Y.), Anthony D'Esposito (R-N.Y.) and Brandon Williams (R-N.Y.)."He supported members financially, he was a good surrogate, he let people run their races without trying to micromanage and he flipped seats in his home state," said Eric Koch, a Democratic strategist who worked on numerous battleground House races, including in New York.Zoom out: The main targets of Democrats' post-election ire so far have been Harris President Biden, who has taken particular flak for not dropping his candidacy sooner.Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) – who, unlike Jeffries, has led his caucus since 2017 – has faced some criticism after losing four Senate seats to Republicans.And Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison plans to step down rather than seek another term, according to Reuters.Between the lines: "If anything, he helped. He raised like a jillion dollars," a House Democrat close to Jeffries, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Axios."Nobody's thinking Jeffries [is at fault]. Not one person is going to blame Hakeem Jeffries for this," the lawmaker added.One senior House Democrat even extended Jeffries' apparent reprieve to his hand-picked campaign chief, telling Axios, "As far as I know, no one is blaming Suzan DelBene either," though they added, "that will come."Yes, but: While Jeffries may avoid blame for the outcome, he likely will not be able to sidestep the difficult conversation over the future of the Democratic Party.Said another leading House progressive: "Is our leadership capable and ready to learn from this moment and change? ... Are we going hear from our leadership that we're going to do things differently as a party?"The lawmaker noted that that perspective isn't exclusive to House Democratic leadership, however: "I think that this is like the DNC, the Democratic Party and folks from top to bottom."

The Harris campaign is casting a drastically wider net in recruiting House Democrats to stump for the presidential ticket, gauging the interest of almost every member, Axios has learned.Why it matters: Over a dozen Democratic lawmakers and aides described a "night-and-day" contrast with the surrogate operation under President Biden.To many House members, the shift is evidence of their new importance under the leadership of Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a former House member.What we're hearing: Harris' campaign has widely canvassed House members about their openness to being surrogates, an effort that began almost immediately after Biden dropped his candidacy in July. The center-left New Democrat Coalition polled their nearly 100 members at the campaign's request to "find out who's available," Rep. Annie Kuster (D-N.H.), the group's chair, told Axios.A senior House Democrat said the Harris campaign has "asked all members if they are interested in being surrogates," and those who agreed have been contacted each week about their availability to travel."They've asked what our interest level is in a way I haven't been asked previously. Often it's the people who really want to go do it who say something. This time, they're approaching everyone," said Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wisc.).Zoom in: Several House Democrats who were not stumping for Biden have signed on to do so for Harris."I wasn't a Biden campaign surrogate because I wasn't asked ... But Kamala, it's a different story," said Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.).A top aide to another House Democrat told Axios their boss has been tapped to travel twice and do swing-state media for Harris – a "glaring" difference from their non-existent role for Biden."They have asked for as many members as possible ... to be surrogates," said Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.), adding that Harris made the request to her directly when they were at an event together.Between the lines: The Harris campaign knows "the Biden team had an issue of many members not feeling included and are attempting to address the issue of including more people," said the senior House Democrat.Lawmakers saw Biden's approach as a function of his age and reliance on his tight inner circle and campaign co-chairs, including Reps. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) and Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.)."He has his circle, and they have their friends, and their friends have their friends, and that's it. And that's maybe what they're comfortable with," said another House Democrat.Biden was "leaning on the ones that were his surrogates when he was running the first time" in 2020, said Kamlager-Dove, while Harris "basically jumped into this a month ago."Yes, but: Sources noted that the general election was just starting at the time of the disastrous debate that precipitated Biden's withdrawal weeks later.The Harris campaign has also retained most of Biden's staff infrastructure, including Hillary Beard, a former chief of staff to Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Ala.) who oversees relationships with House members.Harris is also facing a truncated schedule, with Pocan telling Axios the vice president called many members the day Biden dropped out because she "realized that if you're starting a campaign with little runway, you've got to hit [the ground] more than sprinting."And Harris is trying to expand the map. "You're seeing surrogates go to Florida, you're seeing surrogates in Texas," said Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.).Zoom out: House members, feeling more highly regarded by Harris and her team, are rewarding the vice president in turn with far greater enthusiasm.One House Democrat who expressed interest in speaking at the Democratic National Convention was told by their staff that while it may have been feasible under Biden, there is far more competition for public-facing roles in Harris' candidacy.The Harris campaign has been hearing from members proactively reaching out with offers of assistance, according to a source familiar with the matter.Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) told Axios the campaign has "more interested surrogates than they know what to do with."The bottom line: "It's night-and-day," said Kuster, who told Axios roughly three-fourths of her group's members expressed interest in being Harris surrogates."Everybody wants in on this campaign, and they're excited about it."

CHICAGO — Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has distinguished herself in myriad ways in her long political career, as a highly effective legislator, legendary power player and the first female Speaker in the nation’s history. But as the California Democrat takes the stage on Wednesday night to address the Democratic National Convention, she will stand out [...]

The ascension of Kamala Harris to the top of the Democratic ticket has bolstered the party's chances of keeping control of the White House for another four years, but the effect on House races is much less clear. Since replacing President Biden as the Democrats' likely nominee, the vice president has delivered a bolt of [...]

It is a public-private partnership fulfilling a commitment to create a model for change and to work together to advance the state’s green goals.

District leaders and county supervisors can make a difference by keeping the issue on the front burner, pressing to make sure proposed improvements don’t languish as secondary priorities.

A number of Democratic lawmakers, governors and past leaders were quick to rally behind Vice President Harris as she pursues the Democratic Party's presidential nomination following President Biden's withdrawal from the race. Shortly after dropping out of the presidential race, Biden endorsed Harris as his successor, stating it is "time to come together and beat" [...]

A growing chorus of Democratic lawmakers called Friday for Biden to drop his reelection bid, even as the president insisted he'll return to the campaign trail next week.