The day after President Trump delivered his State of the Union address to Congress, where he highlighted the country’s achievements to the enthusiastic applause of Republicans and the frustrated scowls of Democrats, lawmakers from the Democratic Party gathered in Leesburg, Virginia, for their annual three-day policy conference.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) was keen to take a victory lap, asserting that the president’s performance had been “disgraceful” and confidently predicting that Democrats would waltz to victory in the upcoming November midterms.
“House Democrats are on the verge of a takeover. The break’s over for these MAGA extremists,” Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said at the leadership press conference kicking off the retreat. “It’s over because people know that Donald Trump and House Republicans have failed the American people.”
Mind you, Democrats under Jeffries have zero policy alternatives to what President Trump is implementing. They have zero ideas to make our country better and more prosperous. They have nothing in the way of a serious foreign policy that would keep us safe. And if they somehow return to the White House, our borders will be flung wide open again.
But … Jeffries will Jeffries.
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He continued, “We believe that the best is yet to come in this country, but it won’t be delivered by Donald Trump and Republican sycophants in the House and in the Senate. It will come when Democrats take back control of the House, laying a foundation to end this national nightmare in the United States of America and continue our country’s march toward a more perfect union.”
See? Nothing there. Platitudes. Empty rhetoric. No policy ideas. Just Trump hate.
Jeffries takes aim at Trump’s “so-called State of the Union,” calling it a “disgraceful performance”
Jeffries says it will be a sprint to Nov. 3, arguing Rs have failed at governing
“House Democrats are on the verge of a takeover. The break’s over for these MAGA extremists.” pic.twitter.com/UeK5t4Ott5
— Max Cohen (@maxpcohen) February 25, 2026
Minority Leader Jeffries may want to take a step back as he discovers that a voting bloc, traditionally a vital constituency for Democrats, is giving President Trump and his policies a second look. A recent study released on Thursday reveals that black voters, who were mobilized against Trump in 2020, are beginning to soften their stances. This shift could spell significant trouble for Democrats as they head into the midterm races.
The year-long study of black voters was conducted by a coalition of progressive organizations known as the Black Opposition Project, which includes groups like Way to Win and the SEIU. According to lead researcher Terrance Woodbury, the findings are clear: “Black people are pissed off.”
That may not mean good news for Democrats, Woodbury warned, saying, “But them being pissed off won’t result in mobilizing action now and potentially on Election Day, unless we connect the dots to what the federal government is doing and how it is hurting them personally.”
Woodbury said the share of Black people who took concrete action to resist Trump — including voting, protesting or signing a petition — had dropped from 2020, from 34% to 28%. That drop was concentrated among younger Black men, he said, an alarming trend for a group that showed a small but significant shift toward Trump in 2024.
According to the research, 41% of this group (defined as Black men under 50) thought Trump’s policies had hurt them. That’s a much lower share than other groups of Black voters, including men over 50, 68% of whom said the president had negatively affected them.
Nearly one-in-five young Black voters, or 17%, said Trump’s policies had helped them, more than double any other group surveyed.
And let’s be honest: If the ‘media’ in this country weren’t gaslighting black voters 24/7/365 about Trump’s policies, the percentages would be higher. If anyone in the country has benefited most from higher wages, a more secure border, and cheaper energy and loans, it’s minorities.
The key point to focus on here—and a silver lining for Republicans—is the margins. Although overall support from black voters for the president and the GOP remains relatively low, they only need to sway a small portion of that voting bloc to make a substantial impact at the polls. The potential shift in support back toward the right poses serious challenges for Democrats.
Ultimately, the party that manages to best persuade voters that they have the right solutions for affordability will come out on top. The Democrats’ choice of Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger, who is leading efforts to impose heavy taxes on Virginians, to deliver their State of the Union rebuttal suggests a troubling lack of awareness on the left.
Whether Republicans will be savvy enough to seize this opportunity remains an open question.
