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House Democratic Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) held a press conference on Monday, and he had several interesting comments when asked about the upcoming special elections for US House seats that are open in Florida.
Video of Jeffries:
Jeffries said:
I personally contributed to both candidates in Florida and have encouraged others to do so. These are races that should not, under ordinary circumstances, be on anyone’s political radar.
They are safe, Republican seats that Donald Trump won by more than 30 points in both instances, including in Florida six. The American people are not buying what the Republicans are selling. That is why they are on the run. All we hear about, including earlier today, was the notion that Republicans have some massive mandate.
There’s no mandate to enact the largest Medicaid cut in American history. There’s no mandate to try to blow up the public schools in America. There’s no mandate to fire thousands of veterans who serve this country with great heroism, and now they’ve been tossed aside and discarded. And so, chickens are starting to come home to roost.
You’ve seen it in a variety of different special elections at the state and local level over the last several months, and it will be interesting to see what happens in Florida. These districts are so Republican. There would ordinarily be no reason to believe that the races will be close, but what I can say almost guarantee is that the Democratic candidate in both of these Florida special elections will significantly overperform, which will represent another sign that the Republicans are on the run and that Democrats are going to take back control of the House of Representatives next year.
Jeffries was correct on all points. There is no way that anyone should be talking about these special elections. They should be foregone conclusions because these districts in Florida aren’t just Republican. Each district is heavily Republican. The reason Trump picked Republicans holding these House seats for his administration was that these seats were considered beyond safe holds for the GOP.
The idea that Democrats are talking about being competitive in either of them is by itself amazing.
If Jeffries is right, and Democrats overperform in Florida, it is going to change the narrative from a Trump/GOP mandate to a blue wave building and Trump being a lame duck.
Winning would be mindblowing for Democrats, but running close in these dark red districts will be enough to terrify Republicans.
Do you agree with Jeffries? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
This story originally appeared on Politicususa
