What Hakeem Jeffries thinks about the recent Squad primaries
During an interview ahead of an event in his district, the top House Democrat also discussed the tension in the Middle East and the enthusiasm ahead of his party’s convention.
👋🏾 Hi, hey, hello! Welcome back to Once Upon a Hill. The general election is in 82 days and the Democratic National Convention kicks off in Chicago in three days. I’ll be covering the DNC and am a sponge for recommendations on what to do, see and eat while in the Windy City.
The White House hosted 100 digital creators and industry professionals yesterday at its first-ever conference on the creator economy. For those of you who found your way to my journalism through my old Supercreator newsletter, you know an institution like the White House politically empowering the creative class made my heart smile.
Speaking of the heart, one person dies every 33 seconds from cardiovascular disease—a condition drugs like Entresto, Farxiga and Jardiance can help treat. The three drugs are among the first 10 selected for the Medicare drug price negotiation program established in the Inflation Reduction Act, which turns two years old tomorrow.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will be in Prince George’s Country, Maryland, this afternoon to mark an important milestone: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has reached agreements with all the participating manufacturers on new negotiated lower prices for those 10 drugs, an action that the government says will save Americans $6 billion the first year the lower prices go into effect in 2026. (By the way, the joint appearance will be Biden and Harris’s first together since they swapped spots at the top of the Democratic ticket nearly a month ago.)
I hope to write deeper dives on each of these developments as soon as possible. But in the meantime, below is a dispatch from a midday visit yesterday to Brooklyn, where House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) announced nearly seven figures in federal funding for a worthwhile local project.
Since becoming the top House Democrat last year, Jeffries has remained focused on a singular task: Yanking back control of the House from a Republican majority whose fealty to former President Donald Trump and the MAGA movement he views as an existential threat to American democracy.
It’s a job that requires him to lead a united front against ultraconservative policies in Washington while hopscotching the country to raise money for and support candidates who are running for reelection or looking to send GOP incumbents into early retirement.
It’s also a role I’m quite familiar with as one of Jeffries’ main Capitol Hill chroniclers. So I thought it would be interesting to travel to the Carnasie neighborhood of his Brooklyn district on Wednesday afternoon to watch him in action as he announced nearly $1 million in funding to construct a 6.5-acre, 90-million oyster reef to provide shoreline and storm surge protection to the borough’s shoreline.
Before the event, I caught up with Jeffries for the first time since Congress left DC for August recess to ask him about his takeaways from two recent primary elections featuring members of the so-called “Squad”: Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), who last week lost to a challenger backed by the well-funded pro-Israel lobby, and Rep. Ilhan Omar, the three-term Minnesota progressive who handily defeated a former city councilman earlier this week in a rematch of a closer contest two years ago.
The dynamics, aside from the fact the elections featured a couple of high-profile House progressives who oppose the war in Gaza, couldn’t have been more different. Bush, like Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) who lost his primary in June, was dogged by personal scandals and her opposition to the bipartisan infrastructure law. Meanwhile, Omar shored up her constituent services, raised gobs of money and secured critical funding for the kinds of community projects I was in Brooklyn to watch Jeffries announce.
“Every individual member has to run their race,” he told me. “And every district is unique to their representation and the makeup of that district and the issues that are important. And I think we’ve seen that throughout the primary process.”
He added that House Democrats would comprehensively evaluate all of their races once the primary season concludes in September.
Given Jeffries’ role in the Gang of Eight—the leaders of each of the two parties in the Senate and House and the chairs and ranking members of each chamber’s intelligence committees—who are briefed on sensitive intelligence matters by the executive branch, I wanted to take his temperature on whether the Middle East could spiral into a regional war if Iran or one of its proxies attacks Israel in retaliation for the killing of a senior Hamas leader in Tehran last week, which it blames Israel for.
And while White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters last week that the US shares Israeli concerns that an attack is imminent, Jeffries declined to offer a detailed assessment, instead turning to the need for a resolution in the peace talks between Israel and Hamas.
“I strongly support the position of President Biden and Vice President Harris that we need to get the peace agreement that’s on the table executed so we can get the hostages returned home, surge humanitarian assistance into Palestinian civilians in Gaza who are in harm’s way and make sure that the security gains of Israel relative to Hamas have been locked into place so that we can move toward a just and lasting peace.”
The US will join Israel and mediators Egypt and Qatar in Doha today to resume negotiations for a cease-fire and hostage release deal following a joint statement President Biden and the Egyptian and Qatari leaders released last week calling for Israel and Hamas to return to the negotiating table. Hamas will not attend the talks due to intense distrust that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is operating in good faith. But Qatari diplomats have reassured the US that they will work to have Hamas represented, according to The Washington Post.
In a few days, Jeffries will join fellow Democrats at a national convention that has taken on a fresh complexion in the wake of President Biden’s decision to drop his reelection bid 25 days ago and endorse Vice President Harris to be the Democratic nominee, a distinction she officially earned last week.
Jeffries praised Biden for cementing his legacy as one of the most consequential presidents by passing the torch to Harris, whom he characterized as a courageous, compassionate and common-sense leader who has united and energized the party and will get the job done if elected in November.
“The level of enthusiasm is off the charts and I’m confident that we’re going to have a great convention and then do what’s necessary to make Kamala Harris the 47th president of the United States of America, along with her partner Governor Tim Walz, and to take control of the House of Representatives.”
High enthusiasm levels were also found at the Paerdegat Yacht Club where dozens of students from the New York Harbor School were on hand to celebrate the investment Jeffries secured in the funding bills Congress passed in March.
“When I had the opportunity as the member of Congress from the 8th congressional district to support a variety of different initiatives through the Community Project Funding appropriations process, it was an honor to jump in head-first and to make sure that we were doing what was necessary to provide the monetary support to bring the Billion Oyster Project to life.“
The Billion Oyster Project is a long-term, large-scale plan formed at the Harbor School in 2008 to restore one billion live oysters to New York Harbor by 2035. Through this student-led work, thousands of young people in New York City learn about the ecology and economy of their local marine environment, knowledge that advocates hope will lead them to become more environmentally aware in the future.
“This whole coastline will have oysters in front of it and the oyster reef will serve to clean the water, provide habitat for other animals and protect the restored shoreline here. But the most important thing is that the students standing behind me are the ones who are doing all that work,” Pete Malinowski, executive director of the Billion Oyster Project, said. “So your support makes it possible for these students to practice welding, scuba diving, driving boats, conducting research, advocating for the environment, growing oysters and learning about real in-demand marine careers that exist here in New York City.”
Jeffries said projects like BOP are urgent due to the frequency of unexpected, severe, or unseasonal weather conditions, which can have devastating consequences for communities, ecosystems and human infrastructure.
“The benefit of this project is enormous in terms of cleaning the water, opening up and strengthening the ecosystem, allowing for marine life to grow and flourish and expand, and to strengthen the resiliency of our community in an environment where we’re continuing to face a rise in extreme weather events.”
Jeffries then joined the students on one of their vessels to survey the different areas of Jamaica Bay and the work the Billion Oyster Project has completed to date.
“We’re so thankful to you,” Jeffries said to the students before the vessel tour. “We’re honored by you. And we know that because of you, the best is yet to come in the United States of America.”
Do you have questions about the election? Drop me a line at michael@onceuponahill.com or send me a message below to get in touch and I’ll find the answers.