This week: It's a barnstorm blitz as Jeffries eyes speaker's gavel

Niels Lesniewski, CQ-Roll Call on Oct 26, 2026

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WASHINGTON — House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries knows Democrats need to finish the work, but just over a week before the midterm elections he sounds like a man preparing to be the next speaker.

Jeffries, D-N.Y., already has a to-do list for the new Congress, including measures aimed at stopping the Iran war and reviving lapsed health care provisions.

“We have to work hard to reverse the Medicaid cuts. We have to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits, we have to stop the Trump tariffs that have increased costs on everyday Americans by thousands of dollars per year, and we’ve got to end this reckless and costly war of choice,” Jeffries said. “These are big-ticket issues that unite Democrats across the ideological spectrum, and all of them relate to making life more affordable.”

Jeffries is in Texas to start this week, with an event scheduled in Houston on Monday. He was in San Antonio Sunday with Johnny Garcia, the Democratic nominee for the reconfigured 35th District.

That is one of the seats that Texas Republicans saw as a pickup opportunity when they conducted off-cycle redistricting to try to get as many as five new GOP-held seats. The race between Garcia and Republican Carlos De La Cruz is rated Lean Republican by Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales, and it’s the kind of race that could show the breadth of any Democratic wave. The Inside Elections calculations show a 6.7% GOP baseline.

In a CNN interview during his campaign swing in California last week, Jeffries said it appeared that Republicans could net just one or two seats across the broad from the wave of off-cycle redistricting, referencing the competitive environment in Florida, North Carolina and Texas.

“There’s no circumstance where Republicans are gaining five seats in Texas, and no circumstance where they’re netting four seats in Florida. Here in California, we’re going to net five seats. We’re going to win an additional seat in Utah, and you’ve got Don Davis fighting hard to hold on, and he’s going to win re-election,” Jeffries said.

Davis, a North Carolina Democrat, is in a race rated as a Toss-up by Inside Elections, facing a challenge from Republican Laurie Buckhout.

Jeffries was in his home state of New York earlier in the weekend, headlining a Saturday event in Peekskill with Cait Conley, the Democratic nominee for the 17th District seat currently held by Republican Rep. Mike Lawler.

Congressional leaders from both parties, along with President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, will be all over the country seeking to rally supporters for the final get-out-the vote push between now and Election Day on Nov. 3.

Trump held events this weekend in Georgia and Michigan, both of which have key Senate contests, and he’s scheduled to hold events in Mississippi, Texas, Ohio and Florida this week.

In traditionally deep-red Mississippi, incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith faces a reelection challenge from Democrat Scott Colom, a Black district attorney whose 2023 nomination to be a federal judge was blocked by Hyde-Smith.

Trump blasts Murkowski

Aside from the rallies, Trump spent part of his weekend criticizing a senator who could be key to maintaining the Republican Party’s control of the Senate, and she’s not even on the ballot.

“Lisa Murkowski is a DISGRACE to Alaska and our Country. You just don’t get any worse! I hope the Great People of Alaska understand what is happening,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, criticizing the Republican incumbent who is next up for reelection in 2028.

Not only would Murkowski’s vote be critical to Republicans in a closely divided Senate, she be next in line to lead Republicans on the Senate Appropriations Committee if current Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, loses reelection.

Murkowski most recently drew the president’s ire for opposing the Justice Department’s move to sue Alaska over the presence on the ballot of a man named Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., when the president’s preferred candidate is incumbent GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan.

“Alaskans don’t need any help voting for their preferred candidates, and the State of Alaska has already handled this by clearly distinguishing the candidates on this year’s ballot. The Department of Justice should never have filed this lawsuit,” Murkowski posted on social media.

The Alaska Senate race, which is primarily a contest between the incumbent Sullivan and Democratic former Rep. Mary Peltola, is rated a Toss-up by Inside Elections.

Trump, for his part, has taken credit for the Justice Department getting involved. He told reporters Sunday that the candidacy of the second Sullivan was “just outright cheating.”

“At least let him use the name Sen. Dan Sullivan, as opposed to incumbent, because a lot of people don’t know what the incumbent means,” Trump said.