House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said his party is undergoing a “generational change,” as Democrats seek a new identity during President Trump’s second term.
Speaking on SiriusXM’s “Mornings with Zerlina,” Jeffries said the youth movement would play out through primary challenges to entrenched incumbents.
“You’re going to see the next generation of voices present themselves to the Democratic electorate during the primary process, which I expect to be very active,” he said.
Democrats have been dealing with a steady drip of revelations about how President Biden’s inner circle conspired to hide his decline. A younger generation of Democrats are advocating for change in Washington, believing that many of their aging leaders are holding onto power for too long, underscored by the three House Democrats who have died in office this year.
The race to be the next ranking member on the powerful House Oversight Committee could divide Democrats along ideological and generational lines.
Reps. Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.), 76, and Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), 70, launched their bids this week to replace former Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), who died of cancer last week.
Mfume said he’s “prepared to meet that moment; as my lifelong friend, successor, and predecessor Elijah Cummings did when he was Oversight Chair under the first twisted Trump administration.”
Lynch, the acting ranking member on the committee, touted his more than two decades of experience on Oversight, which he said would make him “well-prepared to… fight like hell against every action taken by the Trump Administration.”
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), 47, is already in the race and Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), 44, is said to be eyeing a bid.
The election will take place on June 24.
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Biden made his first public appearance on Friday since announcing he has cancer at a ceremony in Delaware to mark Memorial Day.
The former president did not mention any of the controversies surrounding his presidency in his speech, instead honoring those who serve in the military and calling for a defense of democracy.
“We come together to remember the debt we owe to the American military,” Biden said. “The military is the solid spine of our nation.”
He also noted that Friday marks the 10th anniversary of the death of his son, Beau, who served in Iraq and died from brain cancer.
Republican Sens. Eric Schmitt (Mo.) and John Cornyn (Texas) announced a hearing next month on Biden’s “cognitive decline while in office and the mainstream media’s subsequent coverup.”
“It’s time to expose how a cadre of Biden aides and family members were the de-facto commander-in-chief, while President Biden was sidelined,” Schmitt said. “I look forward to getting the American people the answers they deserve.”
It’s the first hearing of its kind on the matter, which has been all over the news since the release of the book “Original Sin” by journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson.
Biden was asked about the book on Friday after his speech.
“You can see that I’m mentally incompetent and I can’t walk,” Biden said jokingly. “And I can beat the hell out of both of them.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee hearing will take place on June 18.
