Jeffries assures spooked Democrats that they'll win back the House

Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News on May 11, 2026

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Rep. Hakeem Jeffries on Monday guaranteed Democrats would take the House of Representatives in the midterms despite recent court setbacks on redistricting.

Seeking to calm Democratic jitters, the House minority leader claimed the party is certain to flip enough seats to overturn a narrow Republican edge because President Trump is so unpopular with voters.

“Democrats will take control of the House of Representatives in November,” Jeffries (D-New York) wrote.

“There is nothing the extremists can do to gerrymander away the reality of their failed record,” the Brooklyn lawmaker added. “The Republican economy is a disaster for working class Americans.”

In a two-page “Dear Colleague” letter, Jeffries projected confidence about Democratic chances even as the court rulings striking down a Virginia redistricting referendum and gutting the Voting Rights Act could hand Republicans between five and 10 seats nationwide.

“Given the highly unfavorable political environment confronting House Republicans, the extremists will not meaningfully benefit from their scandalous gerrymandering scheme,” he wrote. “Quite the opposite. Democratic enthusiasm and resolve have grown more intense.”

Jeffries, who hopes to become the first Black Speaker if Democrats win, said Rep. Joe Morelle (D-New York) will brief the Democratic caucus on Thursday on plans to push back in court and in the political arena against potential new Republican-friendlier maps in Virginia as well as Florida and other states in the South.

Democratic lawmakers and activists have been reeling since the U.S. Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act, giving Republicans the green light to eliminate seats held by Black Democrats across the Deep South.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had earlier jammed through a new congressional map aimed at flipping four Democratic-held seats in the Sunshine State.

The heaviest blow came last week when the Virginia Supreme Court nixed a referendum approving a new map that was expected to increase Democrats’ edge in the blue-trending state from 6-5 to 10-1.