WASHINGTON — U.S. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries rallied a key group for his party Thursday, telling the American Federation of Teachers’ national convention that, if successful in November’s midterm elections, a Democratic majority in the House would pursue several progressive policies.
The New York congressman addressed affordability, voting rights and what he called “the most corrupt administration in American history” while drawing personal connections to the conventiongoers. He said he was grateful for the work of public employees and the unions that represent them, having been raised by two union members in a modest-income household.
“Organized labor has always been there for me, and organized labor is there for the American people,” Jeffries said as the crowd, gathered in a large room at the Walter. E. Washington Convention Center, erupted into applause.
The AFT is a 1.8 million-member union representing educators, healthcare workers and public employees from across the country. The organization hosts a national convention every two years.
The union is a major benefactor to Democrats. Its political action committee contributed more than $1.9 million to Democratic candidates and $2.1 million to the House Majority PAC, which works with House Democratic leadership, in the 2024 election cycle, according to the campaign finance tracker Open Secrets.
Jeffries urged the union’s members to help Democrats win enough House races in November to return the party to the majority next year. Jeffries would very likely become House speaker if that happens.
“Are we going to take our country back?” Jeffries asked the crowd to open his address. “Are you ready to help us take back control of the United States House of Representatives in November?”
Campaign promises
Jeffries said House Democrats would push back against “MAGA extremists” and block efforts to undermine popular programs such as Social Security and Medicare. And they will continue working to drive down the cost of childcare, healthcare and other household expenses, he added.
In addition to promising better living conditions for Americans, Jeffries said Democratic leaders would fight to “clean up corruption” within President Donald Trump’s administration.
He also said they would work to end the war with Iran and rein in Immigration and Customs Enforcement initiatives, because the agency “is completely and totally out of control.”
ICE officers have fatally shot immigrants this month in two separate incidents in Maine and Texas.
Spotlight on education
Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Georgia Democrat, also spoke at the convention about the significant effect that public education had on him growing up.
It was thanks to the support of his parents and public school teachers, as well as the help of Pell grants and student loans, that he was able to become a U.S. senator, he said.
Now, what “keeps (him) up at night” is the fact that many children today don’t have access to the same opportunities, which he said would shrink the pool of future leaders in science, law and education.
“We have to invest in our children because we don’t know where the cure for cancer’s going to come from,” he said.
He called for an increase in teachers’ pay, among other policies.
State of the union
AFT President Randi Weingarten also delivered her keynote address Thursday, touching on themes ranging from income inequality to the increasing power of big tech.
“Our union stands at the intersection of the ways that regular people gain and exercise power in our democracy—through public education, unions and voting,” she said. “This election will decide whether we are a country governed by the people or ruled by the powerful, a country of opportunity or oligarchy, a country whose people live in freedom or in fear.”
On Wednesday, Republicans from the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce took a first step toward dismantling the Department of Education, approving a package of 10 bills that would permanently reallocate some of the department’s duties to other federal bodies.
“The House and Senate have less responsibility for public schooling than statehouses across the country,” Weingarten told reporters after her speech. “Yet the people who run the House (Education and) Workforce Committee spend more time fighting teachers and fighting unions and fighting against a better life for all of us … than actually helping kids have opportunity in a capitalist system.”
