Jeffries and Brennan Discuss Election Integrity
On Sunday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York had a brief exchange with CBS’s Margaret Brennan regarding President Donald Trump’s potential influence on the midterm elections.
During the “Face the Nation” interview, Brennan challenged Jeffries about his statements claiming the Democratic Party does not have “election deniers.” This was in light of his recent comments implying the possibility of “electoral fraud” in the upcoming elections.
Brennan remarked, “Democrats were stunned when President Trump used those words. How do you justify that now? Doesn’t that undermine your confidence in the voters you need to be present?”
Jeffries responded, “No, I’ve been using that word in relation to Trump’s unprecedented attempts to gerrymander Congressional maps across the country to manipulate the midterm elections and deny Americans the chance to choose who leads the House of Representatives.”
However, Brennan interjected, “You know, the Democrats are also doing gerrymandering and redistricting.”
Jeffries quickly countered, “No, no, no, Democrats are going to fight back aggressively to ensure fair maps across the country, not the partisan gerrymandering that Republicans have initiated state by state.”
The interview concluded shortly after that point.
Previously, Jeffries had faced questions about his support for redistricting in Democrat-dominated states like New York, while simultaneously opposing redistricting efforts in Republican areas during an August CNN interview with Dana Bash.
Bash questioned, “You commend the New York State Legislature for remaking the new Congress. Is it hypocritical to criticize Texas given what you promote in your own state?” She also noted that Jeffries had opposed redrawing New York’s congressional map in 2022.
Jeffries defended his stance: “Importantly, in New York State, the redrawn maps were adopted by Congress on a bipartisan basis. Democrats and Republicans voted for those changes because they were fair. That’s not what’s happening in Texas. In Texas, we see a racial partisan gerrymander orchestrated by Trump as part of the midterm election rigging efforts. And that is something we won’t accept.”
