Hakeem Jeffries bounced onto the stage in Washington DC, on Tuesday night with the glow of a freshly-coronated king.
asserted
Jeffries → bounce → king
'America is back,' announced the next Speaker of the House; his fellow Brooklynite, rapper Biggie Smalls, blasting out to the crowd.
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Brooklynite → announce → crowd
Jeffries called the midterms 'a change election,' and said the country had declared: 'Enough of the extremism.
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country → call → extremism
Come January 3, he may find members of his party have other ideas.
uncertain
members → Come → ideas
America has elected a slew of local, state and federal officials more left-wing than ever before.
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America → elect → officials
Jeffries's own caucus now contains at least eight members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) – an increase from two during the previous term.
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caucus → contain → term
Among them is a woman who advocated for 'a world without prisons or police' and demanded the US 'literally, abolish the border.'
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US → advocate → border
His colleague in the Senate – fellow Brooklynite Chuck Schumer, the next Senate Majority Leader – will have to contend with Abdul El-Sayed in his ranks, arguably among the most far-left Senators ever elected.
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colleague → have → Senators
And he almost had a fully-fledged member of the DSA by his side: Angie Nixon narrowly lost her Florida Senate race.
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Nixon → have → race
Siddique, the co-chair of the DSA's national political committee, told the Daily Mail that Tuesday's vote was just the beginning for his party.
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vote → tell → party
He pointed to the triumph of his rainbow-headed comrade Ashley Herrmann, 38, who even flipped a Republican-held state senate seat near Tampa, Florida.
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who → point → Tampa
Hakeem Jeffries bounced onto the stage in Washington DC, on Tuesday night with the glow of a freshly-coronated king
Ashik Siddique, the co-chair of the DSA's national political committee, pictured here with Zohran Mamdani told the Daily Mail that Tuesday's vote was just the beginning for his party
Chuck Schumer, the next Senate Majority Leader, will have to contend with Abdul El-Sayed
'These results are not a flash in the pan,' he said, noting that DSA membership has surged from 6,000 in 2016 to 130,000 today.
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membership → bounce → 130,000
'Democratic Socialists of America are building an enduring organization that can lead an enduring movement.
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that → build → movement
We're now seeing DSA candidates win re-election to second or third terms across the country.
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candidates → see → country
We ran more candidates in this cycle than ever before.
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We → run → cycle
I think there were at least 200 candidates at many levels of government, from local up to Congress.
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I → think → Congress
So we're really leading the conversation and helping to shift public opinion on a wide range of issues.'
Siddique said that the DSA was pushing policies leftwards – noting that on the eve of the election, even Donald Trump was discussing ending military aid to Israel.
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Trump → lead → Israel
'Nobody thought 10 years ago that abolishing ICE was a popular sentiment when we were saying it, but now it has popular support,' he said.
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he → think → support
'When we said 'Free Palestine,' that was not a popular sentiment among Americans 10 years ago, but now it is, and majorities of Americans across parties support a full arms embargo against the state of Israel.
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majorities → say → Israel
DSA candidates largely ran on affordable housing, Medicare for All, childcare for all, moratoriums on AI data centers and abolishing ICE, Siddique said.
'
asserted
Siddique → run → ICE
These are very popular things, and when you look at the range of issues our candidates ran on, it's clear that we've been driving the conversation and the direction of the political left more broadly,' he added.
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he → look → left
But what will happen when his candidates walk into the chamber in January and come face to face with the establishment?
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candidates → happen → establishment
Siddique chuckled.
asserted
Siddique → chuckle → ?
'It can be, for sure,' he said.
asserted
he → say → ?
'But we have experience now with DSA members in office.
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we → have → office
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib have developed a good record of agitating when it matters, standing on principle, even if they're in a small minority voting against certain things, or being lonely votes for positive programs that are not supported by party leadership.
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that → develop → leadership
That bloc is now growing.
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bloc → grow → ?
'
Siddique said that the DSA was pushing policies leftwards - noting that on the eve of the election, even Donald Trump was discussing ending military aid to Israel
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, pictured with Mayor Zohran Mamdani and New York's Governor Kathy Hochul
Leading the charge of the newcomers on January 3 will be 32-year-old New Yorker Darializa Avila Chevalier – DAC, following in the footsteps of AOC.
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Yorker → say → AOC
Avila Chevalier was as recently as 2020 tweeting that 'the pyromania associated with anarchism is very intriguing to me,' calling for open borders and demanding the closure of prisons.
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pyromania → tweet → prisons
She advocated for 'ending policing full stop.
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She → advocate → policing
The old tweets have been deleted, and she declared on the campaign trail, when challenged by her Democrat primary rival: 'My opponent wants to live in the past.
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opponent → delete → past
He is re-litigating social media posts from half a decade ago, and continuing to champion an outdated politics that fails to serve our people.
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that → re → people
I have grown considerably in the years since these tweets, and I am focused on our community and our community's future.'
asserted
I → grow → community
Yet still, when pressed by Vanity Fair's editor-in-chief in an October 30 interview, she wriggled away from the question of whether a murderer should be in prison.
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murderer → press → prison
Chevalier further said Jeffries would only get her support as Speaker if he made 'commitments on moving on' Medicare for All, voting rights, investment in public housing, and ending taxpayer dollars going to fund foreign wars.
asserted
he → say → wars
Schumer may find himself with an arguably tougher task ahead.
uncertain
Schumer → find → task
Abdul El-Sayed, elected in Michigan as the first Muslim member of the US Senate, will come to Washington in January with even more swagger than usual.
'They told us that the establishment was too strong, that DC was going to dictate who won and who lost, that Washington and its special interests didn't want us,' thundered El-Sayed on Tuesday night.
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Sayed → elect → night
'They want an America that is too small for some of us.
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that → want → us
We know that America is big enough for all of us.
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America → know → us
'
And, even before setting foot in Congress, he couldn't resist taunting his Republican rivals.
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he → set → rivals
…and 41 more, not listed.
The Aporia
