The Democrat Party has a socialism problem, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) just made it worse.
Last week's New York City congressional primaries delivered a troubling result for anyone who thought the Democrat Party had hit peak radicalism: it hasn't. Far-left candidates Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez, backed by Democratic socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and linked to the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), knocked out two Democrat incumbents. Far-left Democrat Brad Lander also won his primary.
At the watch party for the socialist winners, the crowd made its intentions clear. When Jeffries appeared on a TV screen, supporters broke into chants of "You're next!"
It’s clear the socialists are gunning for his seat, which means no one in the party is safe from this hostile takeover. Not even leadership. And what did Jeffries do? He congratulated them.
I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw this post on X Saturday.
Congratulations to our newest members of the NYC congressional delegation.
— Hakeem Jeffries (@hakeemjeffries) June 27, 2026
From public servants to union organizers to community activists, the path is different but the work is the same.
We must decisively address the affordability crisis and crush far-right extremism! pic.twitter.com/f4XC6dpX7q
Seriously? The crowd at that watch party had just threatened to oust him on live television. Now he’s bending the knee to them, posting a glowing congratulation that frames "far-right extremism" as the threat to confront while saying nothing about the DSA affiliations, the far-left policy positions, or the fact that the winners' supporters just signaled they're coming for his job. He even treated these primary wins as equivalent to general election victories, which, in New York City, they essentially are.
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I guess we shouldn’t be too surprised. When CNBC host Joe Kernen asked Jeffries on camera about the "You're next!" chant and about the rise of socialist candidates in his party, he did what Democrats always do: he pivoted immediately to President Donald Trump.
CNBC Host Joe Kernen CALLS OUT Hakeem Jeffries after he refused to condemn socialist NY Democrat nominee Darializa Avila Chevalier for calling to abolish police, prisons and borders
— Ben Petersen (@bennpetersen) June 25, 2026
KERNEN: “I know it takes time from the interview… but it doesn’t really answer the question… It… pic.twitter.com/8PZgVuByzj
No pushback. No acknowledgment of the problem. Just the standard deflection.
This is a tell. Either Jeffries genuinely doesn't see the socialist takeover of his party as a threat worth confronting, or he's too afraid to say so. I’m not even sure which is worse.
I've written before that this tension between the socialist wing and the rest of the party has serious implications for the midterms and 2028. Socialism may sell in deep blue cities, but it doesn't play in the suburban districts Democrats need to win a majority. Every DSA-backed candidate who locks up a safe seat in New York City drags the national party brand further left and hands Republicans a hammer to use in competitive races everywhere else. And establishment Democrats are either unwilling to stop it or too afraid to.
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