Speaking at SOMOS, the yearly New York political retreat in Puerto Rico that follows Election Day, New York Attorney General Letitia James set the record straight just after Hakeem Jeffries was re-elected and positioned to become the next Speaker of the House. “For those who live in his district and are so drunk on power to think that they’re going to run against this man, you’ve got to get past this neighborhood and Tish James. We are going hard for our speaker.”
James delivered those lines Saturday at a Brooklyn Democratic leadership event during the conference, drawing a clear line around Jeffries’ Eighth Congressional District, which includes Coney Island, Bedford-Stuyvesant, and nearby parts of Brooklyn, as reported by the New York Post.
James repeated the point to applause: “We are going hard. We are going hard for our speaker.”
Simultaneously, as James was speaking in Puerto Rico, the Democratic Socialists of America and their allies staged a victory lap through Manhattan in New York City. Hundreds marched about a mile from Times Square toward Seventh Avenue and East 14th Street under the banner “March for Our Democracy: The Fight Isn’t Over,” many carrying matching signs and coordinated banners. They claimed credit for the midterm “blue tsunami” that delivered Democratic control of both chambers and declared that traditional leadership was no longer sufficient. They also demanded new leaders in the House and Senate unless establishment Democrats moved further left.
The split was already public. Democrats may have won the gavel, but for the first weekend the party was arguing out in the open over who would hold it.
DSA participants made their demands explicit. Connie Cooper of Connecticut told the New York Post, “We don’t want corporate Dems in there. We’re calling the shots,” while carrying a sign that read “New Majority Leader.” She added, “It’s not enough to just keep the status quo. That’s not what people want.” Others chanted that Jeffries and presumptive Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer must keep ICE out of New York and abandon the status quo, barking, “Jeffries, Schumer let’s be clear ICE is not wanted here.” The group, joined by the NYC DSA chapter, Make the Road New York, the United Federation of Teachers, and PSC-CUNY, framed the midterm gains as a mandate for a sharper leftward turn rather than continuity under the current leadership slate. A rally flyer cited by the Post listed those groups among the sponsors.
James did not name the DSA directly, yet her warning was unmistakably aimed at the same forces. That stance sits in open tension with the DSA’s growing roster of elected officials, including incoming New York Rep. Darializa Avila Chevalier, who is headed to Congress from the 13th District after unseating longtime Rep. Adriano Espaillat in the primary. She is part of a larger DSA class that also includes New York’s Claire Valdez. NPR reported that six DSA-backed candidates won House seats this cycle, growing a caucus that had been just two sitting members, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Rashida Tlaib. The group’s public line remains that figures like Jeffries and Schumer are too moderate for the moment.
While the Manhattan march moved through the streets, James used the same weekend to signal that any effort to unseat Jeffries would meet organized resistance. One side of the party spent Saturday claiming it is now calling the shots. The other drew a boundary around Brooklyn’s most powerful Democrat and said challengers would have to get through Tish James first. Winning both chambers did not settle who speaks for New York Democrats. It only made the fight public.
