House

Jeffries: Shontel Brown win in Ohio proves anti-establishment line of attack is ‘lame’

by Dominick Mastrangelo - 08/05/21 7:52 AM ET

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) — Greg Nash

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), a member of the House Democratic leadership, pointed to a win this week by Shontel Brown in a special primary election for an Ohio congressional seat as evidence that voters have no appetite for attacks on establishment Democrats ahead of next year’s midterm elections.

“The extreme left is obsessed with talking trash about mainstream Democrats on Twitter, when the majority of the electorate constitute mainstream Democrats at the polls,” Jeffries told The New York Times. “In the post-Trump era, the anti-establishment line of attack is lame — when President Biden and Democratic legislators are delivering millions of good-paying jobs, the fastest-growing economy in 40 years and a massive child tax cut.”

Brown, a council member and local Democratic Party chair, had received support from establishment Democrats in Washington including Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.).

“I was going to stay right here in South Carolina minding my business until I got called stupid,” Clyburn told Axios this week of his decision to back Brown.

Brown defeated progressive Nina Turner on Tuesday in the special Democratic primary election to replace former Rep. Marcia Fudge (D), whom President Biden tapped for a Cabinet post. Turner, a former spokesperson for Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) presidential campaign, had been backed by leading members of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.

Jeffries said Brown’s win should provide a sobering message to progressives looking to challenge the party’s status quo moving forward.

“Let me put it this way: The majority of Democratic voters recognize that Trumpism and the radical right is the real enemy, not us,” Jeffries said. “Apparently the extreme left hasn’t figured that out.”