Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on MS NOW’s PoliticsNation, where he reiterated that nearly 100 days until the midterm elections, Democrats are united in our commitment to lowering the high cost of living, fixing our broken healthcare system and holding crooks accountable.

REV. AL SHARPTON: Joining me now, the Congressman from Brooklyn, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Thanks very much for being with us this weekend. I want to start with the news unfolding today in Maine, where Democrats have chosen Troy Jackson to run against Senator Susan Collins in November. My first question is, are you satisfied that Democrats are now in a better position to win the seat in Maine and possibly retake the Senate in the fall?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, good afternoon, Rev. Great to be with you. First of all, I’m very confident that we have extraordinary candidates on the House side and we’re on our way to taking back control of the House of Representatives. And what we see on the Senate side, and I think Maine today will complete that picture, is a strong set of candidates to make the Senate competitive, which no one thought was the case just about a year ago. The Maine Democrats seem to have rallied behind Troy Jackson, and I expect that they’ll be unified moving forward and put up a very good fight against Susan Collins, who clearly—it’s time for her to go.

REV. AL SHARPTON: Now, Democrats chose to hold Graham Platner accountable, and they have switched their candidates in Maine in the middle of a must-win race for the party. But take a listen to your House colleague, Speaker Mike Johnson, when asked about how he intends to handle allegations against two Members of his party on Tuesday.

RECORDING OF SPEAKER JOHNSON: The key word there is allegation. We have a process here—the House Ethics Committee works on those things. If allegations are made, they work through a process. So I’m not in the business of commenting on investigations as they are in process. And we’ll see how it shakes out. That’s how this always works. And, by the way, it’s done for Rs and Ds on both sides of the aisle.

REV. AL SHARPTON: Now, we should note both Representatives Miller and Mills deny the accusations against them, but isn’t it the case that the two parties hold their Members to a very different ethical standard?

LEADER JEFFRIES: I think, as Democrats, we’re going to continue to try to uphold an American standard of decency and fairness and ensuring, of course, that people get their due process in an administrative or legal or congressional process, while at the same time trying to uplift American values. And what Republicans are trying to do, of course, is just take a partisan approach to everything, and that’s just the reality. We’ve seen it over the last 18 months. And at the end of the day, Republicans are just all consumed with power, and not power to actually make life more affordable for the American people in the midst of a crisis where life is too expensive, they’re continuing to just lean into lifting up the wealthy, the well-off, and the well-connected.

REV. AL SHARPTON: Let’s switch gears to the House. As we mentioned, we’re closing in on 100 days until the election, and Democrats are honing their message and laying out their priorities. You’ve said the first bill of a new Democratic session would be focused on affordability. This week, Democrats in the House passed another resolution to halt U.S. military action in Iran, gaining four Republican votes in the process. You’ve called the Trump administration’s strategy with Iran, quote, ‘Operation Epic Failure,’ end of quote. Are voters responding to what you’re doing and saying, and are you confident your party can regain power in Congress this fall?

LEADER JEFFRIES: We’re definitely confident that we’re on the right side of the American people in terms of our commitment to drive down the high cost of living, to make sure that we actually deliver affordable healthcare for every single American and that we hold the crooks accountable in the midst of a level of corruption, the likes of which have never been seen in America’s 250-year history. Our agenda, of course, begins aggressively with addressing the affordability crisis. And we’re committed to lowering the cost of groceries, the cost of gas, the cost of housing, the cost of everyday goods, the things that are making life untenable for far too many Americans. We believe when you work hard and play by the rules in this country, you should be able to live a middle-class life, an affordable life, live the good life. That’s not the case right now. Far too many Americans are drowning in this failed Trump economy, and it’s time to move the country in a different direction.

REV. AL SHARPTON: Fox News polling out this week shows nearly 40% of voters want dramatic change right now, and Democrats are favored over Republicans on nearly every issue, including the economy and foreign policy. Republicans hold only slight edges on national security and crime, yet with their poll numbers plunging, Trump and Republicans have been focused on rigging the electorate in their favor. Tomorrow we’re going to be talking to your colleague Congressman Cleo Fields, who announced he will not be seeking re-election this week, after his majority-Black Louisiana district was eliminated in the wake of the Supreme Court Callais decision. You’ve been very clear that you view what happened to Representative Fields a form of voter suppression. A gut check question now: how deeply will this country be impacted in November by what Republicans and the courts have done to Black representation, and how are Democrats working to overcome it?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Congressman Cleo Fields will be deeply missed. We’re going to work closely over the next six or so months so he can finish out his term strong. He’s a tremendous champion for the people of Louisiana, and it’s a shame that his seat has been carved up as a result of the unprecedented attack on the Voting Rights Act by the Supreme Court, and then the Jim Crow-like tactics that have been unleashed in states like Louisiana as well as Tennessee and Alabama, signed off on by the United States Supreme Court, which is why we believe dramatic change is necessary in a whole host of areas—that’s dramatic campaign finance reform, dramatic electoral reform, including, of course, passage of the John Robert Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act so we can end the era of voter suppression in the United States of America once and for all. And certainly we need dramatic Supreme Court reform because this right-wing Supreme Court extremist majority is totally out of control and they need to be reigned in.

REV. AL SHARPTON: Now, President Trump and his allies continue to push for the so-called SAVE Act that includes many of the President’s vote supressing—suppression priorities and, like, voter ID. This week, House Republicans tucked elements of the SAVE Act into a budget reconciliation bill that passed along party lines, that Senate Majority Leader John Thune has said will not pass the Senate in its current form. Are you concerned Republicans could still find a way to push through parts of the SAVE Act before the midterms, and what are the Democrats doing to counter this?

LEADER JEFFRIES: We’re going to continue to stand strong against the voter suppression efforts of the Republican Party led by Donald Trump. Clearly, they have no agenda that they feel comfortable in selling to the American people because they’ve broken all their promises, including promising not to start forever wars in the Middle East, but to stop them. And then Donald Trump and Republicans turned around—they’ve gotten us involved in this reckless and costly war of choice in Iran. That, of course, has skyrocketed gas prices through the roof and are hurting everyday Americans day after day after day. And so, from our standpoint, we know that Republicans are going to try to rig the midterm elections. They’re doing it in real time. We’ve got to stop them from jamming this voter suppression bill down the throats of the American people. Democrats have been strong in the House and in the Senate in holding the line. We have to continue to do that. At the same period of time, we’re putting together the largest voter protection effort in the history of the country, working, of course, with Senate Democrats, House Democrats, the Democratic Governors Association, the Attorneys General Association on the Democratic side, the Democratic Secretaries of State, as well as civil society, which includes the faith community, civil rights groups, democracy protection groups, civil liberties groups, good government groups as well as organized labor. And together I’m confident we’re going to ensure that there’s a free and fair election in November.

REV. AL SHARPTON: Last question. I’m out of time, but I must ask you. Your Caucus is heading into an August recess with momentum toward the election but plenty of uncertainty. We don’t know what Trump and Republicans will do, how far they will go to try and undermine our democracy as they cling to power. We don’t know how tensions will play out between progressives and centrists inside the Democratic Party. So what’s your message to Members and to the candidates out there as we enter this critical stretch, the final 100 days?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Important for all of us to continue to keep the main thing the main thing. And that’s our commitment to fighting for an affordable America. Wherever one falls on the Democratic spectrum, we know that everyone is unified behind that fight. We want to lower the high cost of living for the American people. We want to make sure that there’s affordable healthcare for every single American. And we’re all committed to holding the crooks accountable and dealing with the rampant corruption that is undermining the Congress’ ability and our government’s ability to actually deliver for hardworking American taxpayers. Let’s keep the main thing the main thing. Let’s run through the finish line over the next 100 days or so. And then together, we can end this national nightmare, take back control of the Congress and continue our country’s march toward a more perfect union.

REV. AL SHARPTON: Well, thank you for being with us as we start the 100-day countdown to the election, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

Full interview can be watched here.

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