House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) formally launched his bid for speaker on Wednesday. He told House Democrats their new majority will make it a priority during its first 100 days to reverse Medicaid cuts, restore SNAP funding, extend Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits, end President Donald Trump’s tariffs, and stop the war in Iran.
Jeffries laid out the agenda in a letter to colleagues the day after Democrats won control of the House and Senate in the midterm elections.
“The days of the House functioning like a wholly owned subsidiary of the Trump Administration are over,” he wrote. He repeated the line later that afternoon at a press conference with House Democratic leaders.
If elected when the 120th Congress convenes on Jan. 3, 2027, Jeffries would become the 57th speaker of the House and the first black speaker.
In the letter, Jeffries organized the majority’s plans around three areas: affordability, accountability, and what he called American values. He pointed to five working groups the caucus set up earlier this year on housing, health care, groceries and goods, gas and utilities, and caregiving. He said Democrats would seek bipartisan common ground where possible.
On accountability, he said the House would act as a check on the executive branch, go after price gouging, address problems at the Supreme Court, and ban members of Congress from trading stocks.
The Medicaid cuts Democrats want to reverse were part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Trump signed in July 2025. The enhanced ACA tax credits expired at the end of 2025. Jeffries wrote that the House passed a three-year extension of the credits over the objection of Republican leadership.
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), vice chair of the Democratic Caucus, said at the press conference that Democrats will pass bills to reverse the Medicaid cuts, restore the ACA credits, stop the tariffs, and end the Iran war.
Jeffries said Democrats would hold at least 255 seats once all votes are counted and called the result “an American tsunami” instead of a “blue wave.”
Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said 254 races had been called for Democrats as of Wednesday morning, with 35 still too close to call, or outstanding. She said Democrats won at least 21 districts Trump had carried by double digits.
Asked about calls within his caucus to impeach Trump, Jeffries said no House Democrat had raised impeachment with him. He said Democrats are focused on affordability and accountability.
Jeffries also introduced Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) as the next majority leader and said she would be the first woman to hold the post. Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) was introduced as the next whip and Lieu as the next caucus chair.
Trump acknowledged on Wednesday that the war had affected the midterms, as voters dealt with surging gas prices tied to the eight-month-old conflict.
“The Iran thing we had to do, and we continue to do it,” Trump told reporters.
Vice President JD Vance blamed the war for the Republican losses in an online post.
“The reason we lost is the war,” Vance wrote.
Current Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) will not run for House GOP leader in the next Congress, a spokesman told The Epoch Times on Nov. 4.
Zachary Steiber and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
We had a problem loading this article. Please enable javascript or use a different browser. If the issue persists, please visit our help center.