Mike Johnson taunts Hakeem Jeffries for losing Dems' civil war 'in his own backyard'

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is capitalizing on Democrats' internal civil war as he crisscrosses the country in a bid to keep the House majority for Republicans in November.

During a campaign stop in Virginia Beach on Monday, Johnson name-checked House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., as he described the wave of socialist-linked primary wins in Jeffries' home state.

"It's a fascinating thing to see the Democrat Party, they're in the midst of, now, an open civil war. Truly, they don't know who they stand, what they stand for, or who stands with them. They don't have a leader," Johnson said.

It comes after candidates linked to the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and endorsed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani toppled establishment-backed candidates, including two sitting House Democrats.

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"Hakeem Jeffries is the top leader, the Democrat leader in the House. But he lost his slate of candidates in his own backyard," Johnson said. "Several weeks ago, you saw Mamdani endorsed a slate of radical far-left candidates, DSA-approved and endorsed candidates, and they all won. And one of those races was in the Bronx, in Hakeem Jeffries' own backyard."

The specific race Johnson was referring to saw Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chairman Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., defeated by socialist Darializa Avila Chevalier in New York's 13th Congressional District. The area spans parts of the Bronx and Upper Manhattan.

In the 10th Congressional District, encompassing part of western Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan, former DSA member Brad Lander defeated Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y.

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Both incumbents were endorsed by Jeffries, as is usually the case. Both Chevalier and Lander were backed by Mamdani, himself a DSA member.

Socialist Claire Valdez, also a Mamdani-backed candidate, won a Brooklyn- and Queens-area House seat being vacated by Rep. Nydia Velázquez. Jeffries did not endorse in that race, but it's notable that Velázquez's chosen successor lost.

Jeffries' own district sits entirely in Brooklyn. Despite that, however, neither Chevalier nor Valdez has publicly backed Jeffries to remain House Democrats' leader.

It's a microcosm of the wider fight playing out across the country between the establishment party and a far-left insurgency. The war has proved to be a boon for Republicans who are facing an uphill battle to keep their

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