‘Living Hell’: Newly Elected Democrats Already Allegedly Facing Party Establishment Backlash

One week after a historic blue tsunami swept the country during the midterms, some Democrats are allegedly rallying their newly elected congressmen to keep toeing the line — or suffer consequences.

The Democratic Party is determined to appoint current minority leader Hakeem Jeffries as its Speaker of the House candidate Wednesday — so determined in fact, that some of its members made threats to Democratic Ohio Rep.-elect Don Leonard if he does not get on board with the vote, Politico reported Tuesday.

Leonard, who flipped a district that President Donald Trump carried by 10 percentage points in 2024, said in a Monday Instagram video titled “To speaker or not to speaker?” that Jeffries’ allies threatened “to make life a living hell” for him if he voted the wrong way. He said they added he would “never be re-elected” if he did not get in line and support the New York Democrat.

However, Leonard remained defiant of his senior Democrats’ orders in the video, saying that he received a letter from Jeffries that “still left several of my constituents’ questions unanswered.”

“So unless Speaker Jeffries is willing to commit to enforcing our nation’s laws, like the Leahy Law, against Israeli genocide in Gaza; unless the speaker is willing to get to the heart of this crisis, which is Citizens United, he will not have my vote,” Leonard said in another clip posted on his social media. He referred to heavily scrutinized 2010 landmark Supreme Court decision that allowed unlimited political expenditures by corporations and labor unions under the First Amendment.

However, much of the rest of the incoming Democratic House delegation appears to be closing ranks around Jeffries. Left-wing Democrats such as Texas Rep. Greg Casar — who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus — as well as New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal announced their support for the party’s House leader, Politico reported.

Many Democrats say privately they believe Jeffries will be much easier to move on major issues than was former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Drop Site News reported on Tuesday.

Democratic Illinois Rep. Delia Ramirez of Illinois, the lead sponsor of the Block The Bombs Act barring transfer of some weapons to Israel, met recently with Jeffries, and came away with the impression that he would be willing to put the bill on the floor, the congresswoman reportedly told DropSite.

While the vote is still pending, former Speaker of the House and outgoing Democratic California Rep. Nancy Pelosi offered her congratulations to Jeffries in a press statement released on election day.

“With tremendous personal pride, I congratulate our next Speaker, Hakeem Jeffries. Exactly twenty years after I became the first woman to hold the gavel, he will make history as the first Black Speaker of the House,” Pelosi said in the statement. “I know the strength, judgment and resolve that office demands. Hakeem has those qualities in abundance. He has led Democrats to this extraordinary victory, and he will be a magnificent Speaker.”

Leonard, a former Ohio State University professor of city and regional planning, won an upset victory to his House seat unseating three-term incumbent Republican Rep. Mike Carey. The Democrat has been widely described as being a member of his party’s progressive flank. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rated the race as “Lean R.”

In March, police arrested Leonard at a ‘No Kings’ protest in Grove City after he refused to comply with officers and violated a noise ordinance while speaking into a megaphone at the demonstration, WOSU reported.

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