Jeffries faces tricky balancing act on Democratic defectors

descriptions off, selected

captions settings, opens captions settings dialog

captions off, selected

This is a modal window.

Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.

End of dialog window.

The Hill's Headlines (PM) - September 2, 2026

The Hill's Headlines (PM) - September 2, 2026

This week’s stunning defection by two centrist Democrats has posed a dilemma for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) — now caught between liberals calling for scalps and others in the party urging restraint ahead of the midterms.

From the left, Jeffries is facing pressure to punish fellow Democratic Reps. Jared Golden (Maine) and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Wash.), who both blindsided the caucus on Tuesday by supporting a Republican rule that salvaged much of the GOP’s September agenda. Some want them stripped of key committee assignments.

But another camp of Democrats is warning that such drastic disciplinary action would be ineffective, at best, and backfire, at worst. Not only is Golden retiring at the end of this term, making any punishment fleeting, but Gluesenkamp Perez is among the most vulnerable Democratic incumbents. Punishing her ahead of November could lend ammunition to her GOP challenger at the eleventh hour in a campaign cycle when every battleground seat could tip the scales of power in the next Congress.

“There’s the problem: One is leaving, and one is in a very vulnerable spot,” said one Democratic lawmaker. “There are some constraints.”

The lawmaker invoked the case of former-Rep. Phil Gramm (Texas) as a cautionary tale. Gramm entered the House as a Democrat in the late 1970s. But several years later — after Democrats kicked him off the House Budget Committee — he resigned his seat, switched parties........

© The Hill