Hakeem Jeffries endorsed far-left ‘Trump impeachment’ seeker Rep. Shri Thanedar of Michigan. Thanedar lost in Tuesday’s primaries. The DSA-backed socialist won. And the House Minority Leader who is supposed to be organizing Democrats to retake the House just watched his handpicked candidate get wiped out by the very movement he’s been trying to contain.
That’s not just a loss. That’s a message.
Donavan McKinney — a lifelong Detroiter, avowed socialist, and card-carrying member of the Metro Detroit Democratic Socialists of America — defeated two-term incumbent Thanedar 51.9% to 48.1% in Michigan’s 13th Congressional District. Jeffries had endorsed Thanedar explicitly, making this primary one of the more visible tests of whether the Democratic establishment still has the influence to protect its own incumbents from the socialist insurgency. The answer was no.
Thanedar won’t be mourned in many corners. He was, as RedState has previously noted, one of the more obnoxious Democrats in the House — a man who made his brand out of relentlessly demanding the impeachment of Trump administration officials. That particular personality type has a way of wearing out its welcome even within the same party. When you build your entire identity around prosecutorial theater, you tend to attract the kind of activist energy that eventually decides you’re not radical enough.
But Jeffries’ defeat here is the more significant political story. He is the man who is supposed to take the speaker’s gavel if Democrats flip the House in November. He is the man who is supposed to corral the growing socialist wing into something resembling a functional majority. And on Tuesday, the socialist wing showed him exactly how much his endorsement is worth when it competes with DSA energy and Hasan Piker backing a candidate on Twitch.
The answer: not much.
Here’s the strategic problem Jeffries is now staring at. McKinney in Michigan’s 13th is a safe Democratic seat — whatever socialist nonsense he wants to advance will be largely contained to committee positioning and floor votes on bills that die in the Senate. The damage from DSA primary wins in safe seats is manageable in a vacuum.
But the pattern isn’t vacuum-contained. Every DSA primary win emboldens the next challenge. Every Jeffries-backed candidate who loses makes the next DSA challenger bolder. Every socialist who takes a seat in a safe district is one more vote Jeffries has to count when trying to get anything done that doesn’t satisfy the DSA’s agenda.
Nancy Pelosi held her caucus through a combination of fear, discipline, and a willingness to make members’ lives genuinely difficult when they stepped out of line. Jeffries has demonstrated none of those qualities. He has been polite, conciliatory, and accommodating — and the DSA has rewarded that accommodation by taking his seats.
The socialists are winning the Democratic civil war because the establishment keeps showing up to a knife fight with a strongly worded press release.
Tuesday, Michigan confirmed it.
