U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) and his brother, Ohio State University associate professor Hasan Jeffries, reviewed the state of American democracy and planned for the future at a public forum to promote Hakeem Jeffries’ new book in the OSU Ohio Union Sunday.
The book, which was released on Nov. 12, is titled “The ABCs of Democracy.” It is an all-ages illustrated book based on a speech Hakeem Jeffries gave in Jan. 2023. Hasan Jeffries is also a published author, having written several books on the Civil Rights movement.
Jeffries’ OSU appearance comes less than three weeks after the 2024 general election which saw his party lose the presidency and the U.S. Senate while remaining in the minority in the U.S. House.
Hasan Jeffries said he felt “hopefulness” going into the Nov. 5 elections. He hoped America could put some of its hatred behind it by electing Vice President Kamala Harris.
But when the results came in, Jeffries saw a country that, for now, had rejected his brother’s party.
“And I, for one, was among those who was like, ‘Oh my God,’ right? Like I felt that. I felt the weight of that. And I’m just gonna be honest, just kind of coming out of it now, realizing you gotta fight. You know, we’re not gonna give up,” Jeffries said.
House Democrats have one mission in two parts over the next two years, according to Hakeem Jeffries. One, to stop Project 2025, a Trump transition plan created by conservative think-tank The Heritage Foundation, and two, implement Project 2026, a Democratic bid to retake the U.S. House.
“We’ll be a lean, mean fighting machine to defend American values. And that’s how we’re going to approach this thing,” Jeffries said.
Specifically, Jeffries said the Democrats plan to develop their own “message delivery system” that will reach every American and combat disinformation, and they’ll reach across the aisle to work with Republicans.
“We will find bipartisan common ground with our Republican colleagues in the incoming administration on any issue, whenever and wherever possible, in order to solve problems for hardworking American taxpayers to deliver real results to get things done, particularly as it relates to lowering the dramatically high cost of living for everyday Americans,” Jeffries said.
The brothers’ conversation was light on specific policy talk, but Jeffries did drop a hint about a Democratic priority if or when the party retakes power: the life tenure of U.S. Supreme Court justices.
“As soon as we get an opportunity, we are going to do something about (it),” Jeffries said.
Another topic dividing Americans—the upcoming OSU vs. Michigan football game—came up during the brothers’ conversation. Hasan Jeffries, himself an employee of OSU, asked his brother for his prediction for the big game.
“We gotta beat that team up north, and we will beat that team up north, and then it’s on to the college football playoffs,” Hakeem Jeffries said.
“That’s a good politician there, right?” Hasan Jeffries joked to the crowd.
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