Petition to replace Jeffries hits 500k signatures
Archived — this story has rotated out of today’s deck. It is kept here in full.
The gist
A Change.org petition urging House Democrats to reject Hakeem Jeffries as speaker passed 500,000 signatures, its creator says.
The push shows left-wing pressure on party leadership after Democrats flipped both chambers.
Background
Hakeem Jeffries is the House Minority Leader (D-NY) and the candidate to become the next Speaker of the House after Democrats flipped both the Senate and the House in the midterm elections. Nicole Whitted, an author and Democratic-supporting social media creator with over 210,000 TikTok followers, started the Change.org petition in September, titled "House Democrats: CHOOSE A NEW SPEAKER." It gained momentum after the election, drawing support from Hollywood actor Mark Ruffalo and several newly elected progressive Democrats who have voiced concern about Jeffries becoming speaker.
How it unfolded
- Sep 2026Nicole Whitted creates the Change.org petition "House Democrats: CHOOSE A NEW SPEAKER," arguing Jeffries is "simply not the right choice."
- Nov 3, 2026Democrats win the midterm elections, flipping both the Senate and the House, which will lead to a new Senate Majority Leader and Speaker of the House.
- Nov 4, 2026Jeffries formally announces he is running for speaker in a letter to colleagues. Whitted posts a video saying the petition is at "almost 20,000 signatures."
- Nov 5, 2026The petition hits 500,000 signatures, according to its creator. Newsweek contacts Jeffries for comment outside regular office hours.
Key terms
- speaker
- The presiding officer of the US House of Representatives, who leads the chamber and its majority party.
- House Democrats
- The Democratic members of the United States House of Representatives, organized as a party caucus.
- midterm elections
- US general elections held near the midpoint of a president's four-year term, when all House seats and about a third of Senate seats are contested.
Source: Wikipedia
Who’s saying what
- Petition
- Creator Nicole Whitted says her opposition is about "real leadership that aligns with today's Democratic voter, real accountability," and cites Jeffries' corporate and pro-Israel lobbying ties and his meeting with Jared Kushner.
- Support
- New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani says he continues to support Congressman Jeffries and his bid to become the leader.
- Party
- Representative-elect William Lawrence says he hopes to have an alternative to Jeffries to vote for, while Representative-elect Melat Kiros says she won't back any Democrat for leadership who takes corporate PAC money.
- Jeffries
- Jeffries said on MS NOW's "Morning Joe" that "the American people don't want us to get even; they want us to get things done on their behalf."
Still unverified
The 500,000-signature figure is according to the petition's creator; Whitted also said she had "not received confirmation that another House Democrat intends to contest the position."