Analilia Mejia, the presumptive Democratic nominee in a special U.S. House election in New Jersey, declined to commit to voting for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) in an interview with Axios on Tuesday.
Why it matters: She is one of dozens of Democratic candidates who are non-committal on Jeffries' leadership, which could put the Democratic leader in a difficult spot if the left sweeps party primaries this year.
- "I haven't even had an opportunity to talk to him," Mejia told Axios in a phone interview when asked if she would vote for Jeffries as minority leader or, if Democrats win the House, speaker.
- "I look forward to having a conversation, I look forward to sharing my concerns, I look forward to discussing what I've heard on the doors," she said.
- A spokesperson for Jeffries cited the Democratic leader saying at a Monday press conference, when the race results were still uncertain, "Whoever emerges, we will be prepared to stand by them in the April general election to ensure that a Democrat fills the seat."
Driving the news: Mejia, the co-executive director of the progressive group Center for Popular Democracy, won an upset victory last week in a crowded Democratic primary to replace now-Gov. Mikie Sherrill in Congress.
- Her win came despite raising less than five of her opponents, most notably former Rep. Tom Malinowski, who finished a close second and conceded to Mejia on Tuesday.
- One major factor in the race was a PAC affiliated with the pro-Israel group AIPAC spending $2.3 million against Malinowski over his support for an arms embargo on Israel.
- Mejia was among the most left-leaning candidates in the primary field, having criticized Jeffries last month for "failure to hold his caucus accountable" on a vote to fund the Department of Homeland Security.
What they're saying: Mejia told Axios that the 10 ICE reforms Jeffries and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) proposed last week "felt like a step in the right direction" but that "some of these feel like redundant requests."
- "I worry that when we put them forward as demands, when they are in fact already points that we have already secured as rights ... that we almost normalize the administration's failure to meet the law," she said.
- Asked about Jeffries' leadership more broadly, Mejia told Axios that when Democrats try to meet Trump "in the middle ... you're kind of falling into this trap of accepting egregious behavior because it seems like it's halfway to where they're at, when they're all the way to crazy."
- "I think it would serve us as Democrats ... to realize that we can't meet them in the middle," she added.
What to watch: While Mejia is likely to win the April general election in her Democratic-leaning seat, there is no guarantee she will be in Congress when the House holds its speaker election next January.
- There will be another Democratic primary in June to determine who represents the district from 2027 to 2029, though Mejia has begun consolidating establishment Democratic support that she didn't enjoy before.
- As for Jeffries, his current caucus remains unanimously supportive of him — but it's not clear whether all incoming freshman Democrats next year will feel the same.
