{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://jeffries.house.gov/2026/09/26/leader-jeffries-on-cnn-the-american-people-are-disgusted-with-the-performance-of-donald-trump-and-republicans/", "LEADER JEFFRIES ON CNN: \u201cTHE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE DISGUSTED WITH THE PERFORMANCE OF DONALD TRUMP AND REPUBLICANS\u201d", "2026-09-26", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "House", "NY", "Hakeem S. Jeffries", "J000294", "jeffries.house.gov", "jeffries", "https://jeffries.house.gov/category/press-release/page/", "scraper", "Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on CNN This Morning Weekend, where he made clear that House Democrats are relentlessly focused on fighting for an affordable America.\n\nMANU RAJU: House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who wants to be the next Speaker of the House, he is joining me live now to talk about the midterm elections 38 days away. Mr. Jeffries, good morning to you and thanks for being here. As you know, Cook Political Report is now predicting that Democrats will take the House in November. You\u2019ve actually been saying that for months, making that prediction. So right now, what are you exactly predicting? Are you\u2014do you anticipate a Democratic wave or a narrow victory?\n\nLEADER JEFFRIES: We\u2019re going to work as hard as we can to get to 218, and then win as many seats on top of that as possible because we\u2019re focused on fighting for an affordable America. Life is way too expensive, Manu, here in the United States of America. There are too many people, millions of folks, working hard, playing by the rules, can\u2019t thrive and can barely survive. The Republican economic policies have been a disaster. They promised to lower costs on day one, costs haven\u2019t gone down, they\u2019ve gone up. Democrats are determined to do something about that.\n\nMANU RAJU: Mr. Leader, are you worried about the amount of GOP spending that is coming in late from Trump\u2019s outside organization and GOP outside groups? They\u2019re really bombarding the airwaves and they\u2019re dwarfing Democrats by nearly $200 million in House and Senate races. How concerned are you about that?\n\nLEADER JEFFRIES: We always understood that MAGA Republicans were going to try to unload as much of their special interest money as possible. This is part of the problem with why Republicans have failed. They\u2019re not interested in promoting the public interest. They haven\u2019t done a damn thing to make life more affordable for the American people. Instead, they spend all their time raising money from their MAGA big donors, who they rewarded with a massive tax break in the One Big Ugly Bill, while at the same time ripping Medicaid, healthcare and nutritional assistance away from the American people. We\u2019re going to stay focused, continue to communicate our message. We know the most important issues in this election are not going to be about MAGA money. It\u2019s going to be about the economy, the high cost of living and combating inflation, which Donald Trump and Republican economic policies have dramatically worsened in this country.\n\nMANU RAJU: Mr. Leader, let\u2019s talk about the generic ballot. The CNN poll from this week has Democrats with an eight-point advantage when voters are asked which party should control Congress. But in 2018, that\u2019s when Democrats had picked up 41 seats, at this time, Democrats had a 12-point advantage in the generic ballot. Now, given how bad the environment is for Republicans, why aren\u2019t Democrats holding an even bigger advantage now?\n\nLEADER JEFFRIES: The plus-eight advantage is incredibly strong, and we\u2019re going to continue to run through the finish line. And remember, Manu, in 2018 we needed to flip 24 seats. We were at 194, we needed to get to 218. Right now we\u2019re at 215. It\u2019s one of the reasons why Republicans are running scared all across the country because we only need to flip a handful of seats to take back control of the majority, and that\u2019s exactly what we\u2019re going to do at minimum.\n\nMANU RAJU: But does the fact that your advantage isn\u2019t even higher have anything to do with your own approval ratings, Mr. Leader? In that same poll, the approval of Democratic leaders is abysmal. It stands at 26%. And that is just two points better than GOP leaders. So why are the approval ratings of Democratic leaders still so low?\n\nLEADER JEFFRIES: We\u2019re not running a popularity contest. We\u2019re working hard to run Republicans out of power because they\u2019ve done so much damage to the American people. And the American people clearly deserve better. They clearly deserve a party\u2014House and Senate Democrats\u2014which are going to focus on making life better for the American people, Manu. Those are the stakes at this moment.\n\nMANU RAJU: But do you think the public is not sold yet on Democrats leading Congress?\n\nLEADER JEFFRIES: I think that we\u2019ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Right now, we have to accomplish the mission. And the mission is to make sure that we take back control of the House, which we\u2019ve maintained we were on track to do now for months. In fact, we were very confident about our ability to change direction in January 2025 and began to say so publicly. And we\u2019ve had two goals: push back against the Republican extremism that has been unleashed on the American people and chart a better course forward, so that the American people actually can live a comfortable life, an affordable life and a good life.\n\nMANU RAJU: I want to drill down to one critical district that you know very well: New York\u2019s 17th congressional district. That\u2019s where the incumbent Republican Mike Lawler\u2014one of the top Democratic targets in the country\u2014he\u2019s one of three Republicans who sit in districts that Kamala Harris won last cycle. You need to flip that seat. And just last week, a member of your Caucus, Jared Golden, Democrat of Maine, issued an endorsement of Lawler. Are you okay with that?\n\nLEADER JEFFRIES: I issued a statement making clear that I thought the endorsement effort by Mike Lawler was a desperate attempt to head off what\u2019s coming on November 3, which is that Cait Conley, a decorated combat veteran, a patriotic hero, is about to flip that seat. In fact, I was with Cait last evening. I\u2019ll be spending some time with her in the district at some point soon. We\u2019re all in to make sure that she wins. Mike Lawler is an unmitigated fraud. He voted to cut Medicaid of his own constituents. He\u2019s consistently voted to rubber-stamp Donald Trump\u2019s reckless and costly war of choice in Iran, which has skyrocketed gas prices\u2014\n\nMANU RAJU: What about the fact that you have a member of your Caucus endorsing him?\n\nLEADER JEFFRIES: You have to talk to Jared Golden about that. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, House Democrats, leadership, the members of the New York congressional delegation across the ideological spectrum\u2014we all stand behind Cait Conley. And mark my words, she\u2019s going to win.\n\nMANU RAJU: Okay, I want to ask you about something many people saw last night when watching the Northwestern-Indiana college football game. There\u2019s a taxpayer-funded ad from the White House. Watch this.\n\nRECORDING OF AD: And nothing was going to stop him from fighting so hard for the country he loves.\n\nMANU RAJU: Mr. Leader, the administration says that these are public service announcements with the goal of educating Americans and to ensure they are unapologetically patriotic. Any issue with that?\n\nLEADER JEFFRIES: These aren\u2019t public service announcements. These are ads designed to elevate Donald Trump because he has record-low approval ratings across the board. Certainly, the American people are disgusted with the performance of Donald Trump and Republicans in the House, who are nothing more than reckless rubber stamps for his extreme agenda. And this is another example of how taxpayer dollars are being misused by the Trump cartel to try to elevate themselves or enrich themselves, their family members, their friends and their donors, as opposed to actually doing what Democrats will be focused on, which is spending taxpayer dollars to make life more affordable for hardworking American taxpayers.\n\nMANU RAJU: Trump is also saying that he wants this election to be about him. He said, \u2018Vote like I\u2019m on the ballot.\u2019 He is suggesting he could be in a few dozen battleground districts as well. Do you want Trump on the campaign trail?\n\nLEADER JEFFRIES: Yes. And the reality is, Donald Trump is effectively on the ballot. His failed economic policies are on the ballot. The Trump Tariffs, which have increased costs on everyday Americans by thousands of dollars per year, on the ballot. His One Big Ugly Bill that ripped Medicaid away from about 14 million Americans\u2014that\u2019s on the ballot. The Epstein cover-up is on the ballot. The failure of this administration to actually keep its promise not to start wars in the Middle East, but to stop them, is on the ballot because they turned around and did the exact opposite with the reckless war of choice in Iran. So certainly, Republican policies are on the ballot. The Democratic vision to make life more affordable for the American people, that\u2019s on the ballot as well.\n\nMANU RAJU: I do want to ask you about the Wall Street Journal. It\u2019s reporting that President Trump has told aides he expects to resume bombing Iran after the midterm election. So if you become Speaker, will you vow to end the Iran war?\n\nLEADER JEFFRIES: Absolutely. In fact, we\u2019ve made that clear. We\u2019ve now successfully on the House Floor passed three different War Powers Resolutions to end this reckless and costly war of choice in Iran. That\u2019s in the best interest of the American people\u2014\n\nMANU RAJU: You would cut off all funding?\n\nLEADER JEFFRIES: Listen, we\u2019ll deal with the appropriations process when we deal with the appropriations process. Right now, the mechanism that is in front of us will be to aggressively move War Powers Resolutions until we end this war in the best interest of the American people.\n\nMANU RAJU: Alright, we\u2019re going to have to leave it there. Leader Hakeem Jeffries, thank you so much for joining me this morning. Really appreciate it.\n\nLEADER JEFFRIES: Thank you, Manu.\n\nFull interview can be watched here.\n\n###", 1, "2026-09-27T10:23:37Z", "2026-09-27T10:25:08Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://jeffries.house.gov/2026/09/26/leader-jeffries-on-cnn-the-american-people-are-disgusted-with-the-performance-of-donald-trump-and-republicans/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8166232146322727, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}