Rep.-Elect Don Leonard Says Fellow Dems Threatened Him Over Hakeem Jeffries Vote

Résumé détaillé

Incoming Rep. Don Leonard says top House Democrats have threatened to “make [his] life a living hell” and cost him re-election if he continues attaching conditions to his support…

A newly elected House member who flipped a district seat blue in Ohio said he was threatened by senior Democrats if he didn’t support Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) for House speaker.

Jeffries, now the minority leader, is the likely choice to succeed Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) after a blue midterm wave delivered the House and Senate to the Democrats.

But Rep.-elect Don Leonard (D-Ohio) didn’t appear to be feeling the collegial vibe this week during orientation on Capitol Hill.

Leonard said fellow lawmakers “told me in no uncertain terms that the decision as to whether or not I support Jeffries ... would basically mean both making my life a living hell for the next two years here in Washington as well as being sure to lose my election in two years.”

“It’s part of the stuff you see in the movies,” he continued in a clip shared by HuffPost alum Ryan Grim of Drop Site News. “It’s a whole other thing when, you know, when it’s in person by people who actually care about you and are cheering for you but expect you to wear the team jersey and be a good team player.”

Leonard said his conditions to back Jeffries included “ending U.S. support for the war in Iran and the country, Israel, that led us into it.”

On Wednesday, the freshman lawmaker tried to walk back some of the drama in an interview with TMZ.

“It was so much less cinematic. It was actually a dinner with senior elected officials, and I let them know where my position was on the speaker, and they were offering very friendly advice with very stark consequences,” Leonard said.

The interviewer noted that President Donald Trump has been criticized for similar behavior.

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