For the past two years, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries says there’s been a lingering question that’s plagued him ever since President Donald Trump won the White House and the Republican Party took control of both the House and Senate.
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Heading into that election, Republicans promised to lower costs on day one, start no new wars and protect Medicaid, Jeffries said.
“They left behind a graveyard of broken promises,” Jeffries said. “What’s extraordinary to me, over the last two years, I’ve been trying to figure out: Were they just lying to the American people, or are they incompetent?
“I came here to make clear: It’s all of the above,” said Jeffries to an enthusiastic crowd of supporters at a “Take Back the House” campaign rally Thursday, Oct. 22, in Buena Park.
Jeffries, who is from New York, is poised to become House speaker if Democrats gain control of the House come Nov. 3. He stopped in Orange County with less than two weeks to go before the Nov. 3 general election to campaign for Rep. Derek Tran, D-Orange, who is running for a second term in Congress to represent California’s 45th Congressional District.
Tran, who headlined the event that featured several local, state and congressional candidates running for posts to represent Southern California this year, said a Democrat-controlled House will rein in corruption at the White House and stop Republicans in their tracks.
“When I am out in the district, this is what I’m hearing from families out there. It comes down to three things: costs, care and corruption. Trump and his Republican cronies continue to lie, grift and betray the American people, while families across California are getting squeezed, at the gas pump, at the grocery store and on their rent,” Tran said. “Enough is freaking enough. The gravy train ends this November, and Democrats are going to make sure of it.”
Despite being the minority party in Congress, Jeffries touted House Democrats’ efforts over the past two years, citing how they “ran Pam Bondi out of town” – referring to the former attorney general – and did the same to former Homeland Security director Kristi Noem.
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For Jeffries, Nov. 3 isn’t Election Day; “It’s judgment day” for Trump and the Republicans in Congress, who have made life in the U.S. more unaffordable than ever, he said.
“Most importantly, we know that the status quo is unacceptable, that we need, in this country, dramatic change. That’s what Derek Tran is going to bring about, that’s what House Democrats will fight hard to bring back,” he said. “I’m confident, together, that we can make it happen. Show the courage and the character, and the conviction, during this extraordinary time to get things turned around.”
The lead-up to this election has been dominated by affordability concerns Americans across the country face, strong opposition to the ongoing war in Iran and the subsequent gas price spikes because of it, as well as attempts to restrict mail-in voting by the Trump administration.
This week, Trump has campaigned in Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina and Iowa, and has plans to campaign in several Republican states in the week leading up to the election. Jeffries, speaking to reporters after Thursday night’s rally, says it’s a sign that Trump and his Republican Party “are on the run.”
“But we take nothing for granted. We’re going to work hard to turn out every vote,” he said.
Jeffries, too, is going on something of a campaign tour. Last weekend, he campaigned in Ohio for Rep. Marcy Kaptur in a heavily contested congressional district, the Associated Press reported. Jeffries also has plans to campaign in San Diego, Texas, Nebraska, Virginia and Long Island in the coming days, the New York Times reported Thursday.
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