Hakeem Jeffries
Hakeem Jeffries is the Democratic U.S. Representative for New York's 8th District and House Minority Leader.
“The Democratic Party at its best, the country at its best, believes in a strong floor and no ceiling. In other words, you work hard, you play by the rules in this country, you should be able to live an affordable life, a comfortable life, at minimum, a middle-class life. There should be no ceiling, in fact, to the success that you're able to achieve. But at the same period of time, there should be a strong floor.”
Squawk Pod · June 2026
Context
Said on CNBC's Squawk Box, in an interview recorded in the days after New York City's June 2026 Democratic primaries, in which two incumbent House Democrats lost to candidates further to the left. The hosts had pressed Jeffries on what the results say about the party.
Transcript
…the general election, clearly, that came out of the results in New York. And Michael Lasher, you know, won a competitive for Way Race to serve the Upper West Side and the Upper East Side. He, of course, is someone who's close to Jerry Nadler and worked for Michael Bloomberg along with Kathy Hochle.
…She recalled. For abolishing police, prisons, and borders. She called Joe Biden, she called Joe Biden a rapist and a war criminal and said that the U.S. is occupied Native American land and called the country a F-ing disgrace and also favors seizing private property. What do you make of that?
…That's not acceptable in the wealthiest country in the history of the world. We think we have a broken health care system that we need to fix, and we certainly have to clean up corruption. The smash and grab program that Donald Trump has been running, the largest pay-to-play scheme in the history of the country, is completely and totally unacceptable. Let me also make clear, I think that the Democratic Party at its best, the country at its best, believes in a strong floor and no ceiling. In other words, you work hard, you play by the rules in this country, you should be able to live an affordable life, a comfortable life, at minimum, a middle-class life. There should be no ceiling, in fact, to the success that you're able to achieve. But at the same period of time, there should be a strong floor. That's what the best of America has always been. And that's Social Security, that's Medicare, that's Medicaid, that's the Affordable Care Act, that's veterans' benefits, that's nutritional assistance, the very thing that Republicans are trying to destroy right now. I remember last time you were on, and you said almost the same thing that you just said, and we all nod. And I know it takes time…
some Republicans were gloating about what happened because it makes, you know, this could be detrimental to your efforts to do what you just said, to make, you know, to an elected Democrat in 2028. To elect one in 2028, this might not be the greatest thing that people are witnessing. That normal…
Yeah, I think that people are going to be concerned about the failure of Republicans to actually do the things they promised to do on the economy, the fact that ICE is out of control, the fact that there's a reckless and costly war of choice, and that no vision has been articulated to actually make…
in multiple roles that he's had as his civil servant for the city and the state now. My question to you is slightly different. I want to just talk about Iran for a second. You mentioned oil prices, and I think it's actually surprised people, at least some of them, depending on what political side…
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