BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA — Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ closing midterm pitch can be boiled down to a single word: “Affordability.”
“When you work hard and play by the rules, you should be able to live a middle-class life, a comfortable life, an affordable life, live a good life,” Jeffries said at a Sunday speech. “You know what that looks like: a good-paying job, good housing, good health care, a good education for your children, and when it’s all said and done, a good retirement.”
“That’s the American dream,” he said.
The slogan “fighting for an affordable American” was plastered throughout a steelworkers’ union hall in Pennsylvania’s swingy Lehigh Valley where Jeffries kicked off the final 100 days until the midterms. He was joined by Pennsylvania’s popular governor, Josh Shapiro, who will appear on the ballot this November along with 7th District House candidate Bob Brooks, a firefighter union leader.
That Jeffries would double down on an affordability message is not a surprise. Democratic leaders have long heralded affordability and accountability as pillars of their midterm strategy. Senior Democrats have been meeting for months about how to sell an affirmative vision to voters.
Yet Jeffries’ latest commitment to a platform centered on lowering costs gives a clearer preview of how Democrats would govern in the majority and the type of legislation he would attempt to shepherd through his chamber as speaker.
“America cannot afford two more years of a MAGA Republican Congress,” Jeffries said. “As House Democrats, we will build an economy that works for everyday Americans and drive down the high cost of living in every possible area because life is too expensive.”
Speaking to reporters after the speech, Jeffries offered some more specifics about how he would seek to lower costs as speaker. He listed ending the Trump administration’s tariffs, extending Affordable Care Act tax credits, repealing the Republican’s co-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” and ending the war in Iran.
Of course, House Democrats still have to hammer out the policies behind their promises to cut costs. Centrist and progressive caucuses have already pitched their own visions that seek to tackle the same goals via different legislative means. And Jeffries’ boldest ambitions would be curbed if Democrats can’t take back the Senate.
Brooks also shared his own vision to — as he said it in his speech — put “out the dumpster fire that we’re seeing in D.C. right now.” He named banning corporate PAC money, blocking congressional stock trading, raising the minimum wage, passing the union friendly PRO Act, setting term limits for lawmakers, cutting health care costs and ending overseas wars.
The Lehigh Valley venue was located in precisely the type of divided district that Democrats are banking on painting blue this cycle, one that will test both Shapiro and Jeffries’ political clout. Both are directing significant campaign resources to boost Brooks as Democrats try to take back control of the House.
Republican Rep. Ryan MacKenzie won the seat in 2024 by a single percentage point and the stakes of his victory loomed especially large with his predecessor Rep. Susan Wild in the room Sunday.
“It shows exactly how important PA-07 is, right?” Brooks said in an interview after the event. “They chose us out of all the races, and … to have now the support of Leader Jeffries coming in and getting behind me, like it just shows the emphasis on the race itself and what Pennsylvania can do for the national agenda.”
Brooks, Shapiro and Jeffries often framed their criticism of the Trump administration through the lens of rising costs brought on by alleged corruption, the war in Iran and Republicans’ 2025 party-line megabill that cut over $1 trillion in health spending.
But Jeffries also wants to ban stock trading for the president, vice president and Congress, release the Jeffrey Epstein files, “clean up” the Supreme Court and pass a sweeping voting protection bill.
“So the day the American people put Democrats back in charge of Congress, here is our promise to you: We are going to hold the crooks accountable,” Jeffries said. “Anyone who is stealing from the American people, screwing over the American people, or shortchanging the American people is going to be held accountable.”
If Jeffries has his druthers, the next 100 days will be almost all about affordability, how President Donald Trump and House Republicans are upping costs and how he and House Democrats would lower them for health care, groceries, child care, gas, utilities and more.
It might not be so simple, as insurgent left wing candidates attempt to commandeer that message with far less unifying issues for the Democratic party — U.S. support for Israel chief among them. In August, Democrat-on-Democrat infighting is taking place in primary contests involving Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz in Florida, Ed Case in Hawaii, Shri Thanedar in Michigan and John Larson in Connecticut.
But on Sunday, Jeffries wasn’t concerned with litigating intraparty bickering. He was laser focused on championing a message he believes every Democrat can run on and win.
“The Democratic party is not a cult of personality. We’re a coalition of public servants,” Jeffries said. “Our diversity of thought, perspective and life experience, like what Bob brings to the table, is a strength, not a weakness. We are one big tent united by a shared commitment to fighting for an affordable America.”
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