Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on MSNBC’s The Weeknight, where he emphasized that while Republicans remain on vacation, Democrats will continue to work to end the Republican government shutdown and the healthcare crisis devastating everyday Americans across the country.

ALICIA MENENDEZ: Joining us now, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

SYMONE SANDERS-TOWNSEND: Greetings Leader Jeffries. Well first, that means we can get this confirmed. Are Democrats coming back next week in person?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Yes. And our view is that, you know, we’re ready, we’re willing, we’re able to sit down with anyone, anytime, anyplace, you know, either on the Hill or back at the White House to reopen the government to enact a bipartisan spending agreement, but that spending agreement, as we’ve repeatedly said, has to actually make life better for the American people, not worse. And of course, it has to decisively address the Republican healthcare crisis crushing people all across the country. We expect that Mike Johnson and House Republicans will cancel votes for a fifth consecutive week, which is extraordinary. Be on vacation in the middle of a shutdown for five consecutive weeks. They shut the government down, and they don’t want to reopen it because they are unwilling to address the healthcare crisis that they’ve created.

SYMONE SANDERS-TOWNSEND: So you all have polling this week. We talked about some of the public polling from the AP and NORC, and there was a Washington Post poll. But the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee also did some polling that they presented to the Members. I saw the polling myself, sir. And I have to note that in—that polling is battleground state polling. And Republicans had, were only blamed at a slight edge for the shutdown. So I have to wonder, how is that informing your strategy, especially with November 1st coming up? And that is the day where Open Enrollment starts for folks, and they will see the real numbers for their, you know, what the healthcare premiums are going to be going into next year. So does that—how is this affecting your strategy given what you now know from the battlegrounds?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well it’s important to remember, in the context of the battleground states, that these are districts that Donald Trump won on average by 3 to 4 points. These are 50-50 districts that leaned slightly in Donald Trump’s favor in the last election. But now a majority of voters and perhaps most importantly, a significant majority of Independents, are holding Republicans correctly responsible for shutting down the government because of their unwillingness to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits. Now, what we’ve seen from public polling all across the country, of course, is that when asked the question, who’s more responsible for shutting down the government, consistently it’s Trump and House Republicans. The reality is they control the House, the Senate and the presidency. They’ve taken this my-way-or-the-highway approach since the very beginning of Donald Trump coming back into office. And of course it’s understandable that they are bearing the brunt of responsibility and they’ve been unwilling to negotiate. And we continue to say, let’s sit down, let’s find a bipartisan path forward. But we also have to address the healthcare crisis that’s crushing people in rural America, urban America, small town America, the heartland of America and, of course, Black and brown communities.

SYMONE SANDERS-TOWNSEND: Yeah cause the Chairman always talks about how what he’s hearing from Republicans.

MICHAEL STEELE: Yeah. No to that very point. You talk about—they have the control and they have the House, the Senate, the White House and all that. But the counter measure to what you’re describing is what we saw play out today in the Senate, where you had three Senate Democrats vote in favor of the worker pay bill. Senator Ossoff of Georgia, Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Warnock of Georgia. So how do you stay on message when the counter measure to what you’re doing now, which has been effective, you know, the messaging around healthcare, sort of levelling up, what the impact of all of this is having on real people out there. But now Republicans said okay, I see you. I got one more for you. Hard bill after hard bill after hard vote after hard vote. How do Democrats message that and strategically work with that at the same time holding their their ground on the thing that’s got them the numbers that they see regardless, to Symone’s point, maybe slim. But you know what it’s like to get a majority today, right?

LEADER JEFFRIES: That’s right—

MICHAEL STEELE: It’s not easy—

LEADER JEFFRIES: This is a 50-50 country, evenly divided. So the fact that all the public polling continues to be clear where the responsibility falls correctly in terms of how the American people see this. And they also know that we’re standing up for issues that matter to them. The high cost of living in this country is out of control. And Donald Trump promised to lower costs on day one. Costs aren’t going down. They’re going up. Trump tariffs making life more expensive. Grocery costs up. Housing costs up. Electricity bills through the roof. And now you’re talking about tens of millions of people who are about to confront of these dramatically increased premiums, copays and deductibles on November 1st, which is the start of Open Enrollment, because of Republicans’ refusal to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits. Now the Republicans are going to try to advance gotcha vote after gotcha vote after gotcha vote. But I think it’s been extraordinary to see not just House Democrats, but House and Senate Democrats, together standing up, unified, strong on behalf of the American people because we know we’re on the right side of issues that matter. And I expect to see that continuously from Leader Schumer who’s done a great job and Senate Democrats who’ve done a great job.

SYMONE SANDERS-TOWNSEND: Can we talk about redistricting with you? There is, I mean, I’m just going to read this most recent report in the Washington Post, ‘to counter Trump, Virginia Democrats plan to redraw congressional map. Lawmakers could take the first steps, calling the Virginia General Assembly into special session as soon as Thursday, less than two weeks before the state holds elections, which includes its gubernatorial race and races for all 100 seats of the state’s House of delegates.’ There was additional reporting noting that they are planning for a session this upcoming Monday, I do believe. It’s our understanding you’ve been very engaged and involved, specifically, not necessarily with what Virginia is doing. But that you all are supportive of the effort. But Illinois, obviously California, potentially in Ohio. Are you going to be able to counter what Republicans are doing? They’re going to get about 19 seats if their efforts are successful. Will you be able to net enough seats to be competitive?

MICHAEL STEELE: Get to 21.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Yes, well, with respect to the Supreme Court, that’s one aspect of it. And, you know, certainly we believe that Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act should remain in place and it’s constitutional. That’s going to come down, you know, to Chief Justice Roberts and Kavanaugh who, by the way, just two years ago in the Alabama case affirmed Section 2. And so, you know, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. I don’t think there’s any justification to eradicate the Voting Rights Act. And I don’t believe it will be eradicated at the end of the day. You know, separate and apart from that, we’ve seen Republicans engage in this aggressive gerrymandering ordered by Donald Trump so they can rig the midterm elections. And we’ve been clear from the beginning, we will not allow Republicans to artificially maintain the majority and cheat their way back to holding the gavels. Texas acted. We’ve sued Texas. We expect a decision in the next few weeks. And there’s a good chance that, actually, what Texas has done will be found to violate both the Voting Rights Act and the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. And then that will kick up to the Supreme Court. In California, I was just there this weekend, campaigned on Saturday and Sunday with respect to Prop 50 to stop Trump from stealing the election. Prop 50 is going to be successful, and that will wipe out whatever it is that Texas Republicans and Donald Trump thought they were doing in the Lone Star State. And then, of course, from there we go state by state by state. In Ohio, where we have a chance to take any gerrymandered map that they enact to a referendum and have that invalidated. And just like we’re going to be successful in California, we’ll do that in Ohio. We can do the same thing in Missouri. And we’re collecting signatures right now in Missouri to invalidate that gerrymandered map where they tried to wipe away the district in Kansas City represented wonderfully by Reverend Congressman Emanuel Cleaver. We will be successful in Missouri I believe in invalidating what they’ve done in Missouri. Then, of course, they’ve got North Carolina. This, that or the other state, a handful that they’ll try to go in. And I think Democratic governors have also been clear in Illinois, in Maryland in particular, saying we will respond forcefully and appropriately. And that’s the Democratic position all across the country.

MICHAEL STEELE: So I appreciate that like nobody’s business. But as someone who understands how the art of redistricting works, having sued over the maps of a Democratic governor in the state of Maryland and won. And having looked across the country at state after state and strategized how we work the maps, I think it’s important for those Democratic governors to not wait for Republicans. I really don’t. Symone told you, 19 seats. That’s the plan. And if they can get 20, they will. If they can get 22, they will. So this idea we’re going to wait and see, Leader, I think sort of ties your hands. The political moment for you right now, I think, as a party is to lean into that fight and say, okay, you want to play. All right. How many seats? How many seats? Let’s do this.

LEADER JEFFRIES: We are leaning in. I can assure you. And you’re seeing action unfold in different parts of the country—

MICHAEL STEELE: Okay—

LEADER JEFFRIES: And that will continue to happen. And you’ve seen action this week. And you’ll continue to see action over the next few days into next week and beyond. Now, a lot of our effort certainly has been concentrated in California because that’s a must-win. We had to go out and —thanks to Speaker Pelosi, Gavin Newsom, they’ve done a tremendous job, Zoe Lofgren, Pete Aguilar, the California delegation has been phenomenal— but we had to go out and raise $100 million collectively and then, you know, travel up and down the state to actually make sure that voters are coming out. And what’s been amazing about California, based on what came out of this most recent weekend, turnout is higher in certain parts of the state for this of-year referendum than it was in the 2024 presidential election. So we got to go win California, like Prop 50 is the foundation. But you are definitively going to see aggressive, appropriate, immediate action coming from other states across the country.

ALICIA MENENDEZ: Recently a January 6er threatened your life. You said as of 24 hours ago you had not heard from Speaker Johnson on it. Have you heard from him since?

LEADER JEFFRIES: I have not heard from Speaker Johnson, from the White House, from any Republican—

ALICIA MENENDEZ: Not a single Republican.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Not a single Republican and that speaks for itself.

ALICIA MENENDEZ: The threat is in and of itself alarming as an American who cares about democracy. And what you just said is devastating as someone who cares about those institutions. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, thank you so much.

Full interview can be watched here.

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