Dem Leader Slams Trump Allies in Blistering Slavery-Themed Rant at Press Conference

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) slammed President Donald Trump’s allies on the Supreme Court and across the country over a push he believes is intended to eliminate majority-Black districts.

The president touched off an ever-escalating redistricting war when he demanded that red states redraw their maps to gain advantages in the 2026 midterms — and dared Democrats to do the same.

That war escalated when the Supreme Court issued a 6-3 decision striking down a majority-Black congressional district in Louisiana in a ruling that further weakened protections embedded in the Voting Rights Act.

In rapid fashion, Republican legislatures in states across the South leapt to redistrict under the new ruling. Democrats, meanwhile, suffered a setback when the Virginia Supreme Court ruled their voter-backed redistricting map violated the state constitution.

Leader Jeffries held a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, during which he bristled at CNN correspondent Manu Raju’s question about the Virginia decision, then launched into a response accusing the new effort of a spiritual connection to the Confederacy:

CNN’S MANU RAJU: But Mr. Leader, I mean, you ultimately lost this, and you take personal-

HOUSE MINORITY LEADER HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): Who lost?

CNN’S MANU RAJU: You lost in the…

HOUSE MINORITY LEADER HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): Who lost, did the voters lose?

CNN’S MANU RAJU: Democrats didn’t —

HOUSE MINORITY LEADER HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): Did the voters lose?

CNN’S MANU RAJU: Do you take personal responsibility for investing so much time and resources, tens of millions of dollars, and ultimately fruitless effort?

HOUSE MINORITY LEADER HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): We did the right thing, and this effort is not over. It’s just getting started.

And by the way, come back to me on November 4th, when Democrats have taken back control of the House of Representatives. That’s ultimately going to be what matters. What do the American people, we are gonna win the House of Representatives. I’m telling you that right now, I’ve been telling you from the very beginning.

…

We understand that Republicans… Desperate as they are, because they’ve been a complete and total failure– are going to proceed with diabolical intensity to try to steal the election.

Instead of changing direction, they want to change districts, but they can’t get anywhere close to 24. They can’t even get close to double digits when it’s all said and done.

And so Susan Del Bene said earlier today, we’re gonna win back control of the House. And the big fight will be what happens in between 2026 and 2028.

Because we know this unprecedented assault on Black political representation, the likes of which we have not seen since the Jim Crow era.

The ghost of the Confederacy has afflicted the United States Supreme Court majority and is invading and haunting the nation right now and we take that seriously.

And we know it’s going to continue, which is why Democrats are committed to launching a decisive and overwhelming response in advance of the 2028 election to ensure that it’s the American people who are the ones who get to decide who’s in the majority in the House, who’s the majority of the Senate, and ultimately in 2028, who gets elected as the next president of the United States of America.

Watch above via Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

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