Article Summary
U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-New York, was the keynote speaker at the state’s largest annual downstate gathering of Democrats on Wednesday. Jeffries is poised to become U.S. House speaker if Democrats retake the chamber in 2026.
He said President Donald Trump is a threat to American democracy and that Democrats can win back Congress if they stand up for middle class values.
But that will be a challenge for the party, which has its lowest approval rating in history, according to recent polling.
This summary was written by the reporters and editors who worked on the story.
SPRINGFIELD – The man who hopes to be the next speaker of the U.S. House told an audience of Illinois Democrats Wednesday that President Donald Trump is a threat to American democracy and that Democrats can win back control of Congress if they stand up for middle class values.
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-New York, the current House minority leader, was the keynote speaker at the annual breakfast of the Illinois County Chairs’ Association, Illinois Democrats’ largest annual event, which coincides with the party’s day at the Illinois State Fair.
“The first six months of the Trump administration have been a debacle,” Jeffries said after rattling off a list of controversial actions Trump has taken since resuming office in January, from canceling funding for medical research to mass firings of federal workers. “America is better than this. We’re better than this.”
Wednesday’s events served as an unofficial starting point of the 2026 campaign. In federal races, Democrats hope to gain enough seats to win control of the House, which would enable them to block most of Trump’s political agenda for the remainder of his term.
Democrats are currently the dominant party in Illinois, where they hold all state constitutional offices, supermajorities in both chambers of the General Assembly, both U.S. Senate seats and 14 of the state’s 17 seats in the U.S. House.
But they are currently in the opposite position at the federal level, where Republicans hold the White House and slim majorities in both chambers of Congress.
Those majorities, however, have been enough to push through legislation that enacts much of Trump’s domestic policy agenda, which includes deep cuts to federal spending on social programs such as Medicaid, Head Start and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP, along with a package of large tax cuts that mainly benefit upper-income taxpayers.
“They’re stealing food from the mouths of children, veterans and seniors, and all of this is being done so they can enact massive tax breaks for their billionaire donors who don’t need it,” Jeffries said. “This is what House Republicans have done.”
To win control of the House, Democrats need a net gain of at least three seats in the 2026 elections. But making even small gains has become increasingly difficult in recent years as states have drawn congressional district maps in ways intended to heavily favor one part or the other.
Out of the 220 House seats currently held by Republicans, the Cook Political Report rates only eight as “toss ups” while nine are rated as leaning Republican. Meanwhile, 10 Democratic seats are rated as toss ups and 12 others are listed in the leaning category.
In addition, the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature, acting at Trump’s request, is currently attempting to redraw its maps in a way that would give the GOP an advantage in five more congressional seats. But Texas Democrats have so far thwarted that effort by fleeing the state to prevent the Texas House from mustering a quorum, an action that Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has actively supported.
Unfavorable ratings
Democrats also face another obstacle to reclaiming a majority in the House – the party’s own unfavorable rating among American voters.
A Gallup poll in July showed that while Democrats hold a slight lead over Republicans in party affiliation, their favorability rating had fallen to 34%, its lowest point in more than 30 years. And exit polls from the 2024 election showed Trump winning a slight majority among lower-income voters while pulling in support from 45% of those in union households – demographic groups that have traditionally made up a big part of the Democratic Party’s base.
Asked about the party’s unfavorable rating at a separate event in Springfield Tuesday, Jeffries said Trump’s own approval rating has been falling as well.
“Donald Trump is more unpopular at this period of time than any president in American history, and he started out on January 20 more popular than he had ever been in his 10 years on the public scene,” he said. “The one big, ugly bill, which is now law, is deeply unpopular.”
But speaking to the Democratic County Chairs’ Association Wednesday, Jeffries sounded a message that was clearly aimed at winning back working-class voters.
“As Democrats, we believe in rewarding hard work, that when you work hard and play by the rules, you should be able to live a comfortable life,” he said. “Can I break that down for you? Good paying job, good housing, good health care, a good education for your children and a good retirement.”
Republicans will have an opportunity to respond to those criticisms and put forth their own election message Thursday when they celebrate Republican Day at the fair.
By PETER HANCOCK – Capitol News Illinois
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
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