Democrat Leader Hakeem Jeffries Doubts ‘Massive Mandate’ for Republicans: ‘It Doesn’t Exist’ Chip Somodevilla/Getty

Minority Democrat Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said that the “mandate” that Republicans have been talking about following President-elect Donald Trump’s victory — and the victory of other Republicans, taking the Senate and maintaining the House majority — “doesn’t exist.”

Jeffries made the remark during a press conference alongside other Democrat leaders on Tuesday, telling reporters that he has been looking for the “massive mandate” his Republican colleagues have been touting, but he has not been able to find it, despite the GOP emerging victorious on Election Day.

“Despite the claims of some of my Republican colleagues who have spent a lot of time over the last two weeks talking about some big, massive mandate, I’m looking for it,” the Democrat said.

“That doesn’t mean that we don’t have to make adjustments to make sure that we can get beyond fighting House Republicans with a national wave on top of us to withdraw,” he said, before casting doubt on the narrative that the GOP has a mandate to implement an agenda moving the country further to the right.

“But the question about this notion of some mandate to make massive far-right extreme policy changes — it doesn’t exist,” he said. “It doesn’t exist.”

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“And so in the new Congress for anything to happen, particularly as it relates to an enlightened spending agreement, or ensuring that America does not default on our debt and crash the economy and hurt everyday Americans for the first time our nation’s history, it’s clear House Republicans cannot do it on their own,” he continued before inviting Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA) to address the reporter’s question about appropriations. She blasted Republicans for focusing on a bill that would prevent transgender people from using the women’s bathroom in the Capitol building.

“That is their focus. So this is not a great start for how we start to turn the focus to the American people. It is where the House Democratic Caucus lives. This is our purpose,” she said, asserting that they represent the “closest connection to the people,” despite the red sweep and Trump even winning the national popular vote.

“The American people say, mind your own business about where people do their business, but what they do want you to talk about is making an economy that works for them, affordable housing, childcare that people can access. These are the issues that we we’ll continue to push. This is the governing role that this caucus has taken on because the GOP has remained mired in their own chaos and division all day,” she continued, as Jeffries returned to the podium and questioned the GOP’s agenda, once again lamenting what he views as “far-right extremism.”

“Are you really focused on solving problems for the American people? Are you really focused on lowering costs, addressing the high cost of living? Are you really focused on housing prices? Apparently not. Are you really focused on grocery prices? Apparently not. Are you focused as Republicans on building a healthy economy? Apparently you are not. And we will not hesitate to call that out every time they lean into their far-right extremism and ignore the things that the American people want us as members of Congress to focus on together,” he added.

Vice Democrat Caucus Chair Ted Lieu (D-CA) ranted about Project 2025.

“Well, you’re watching Project 2025 being implemented,” he claimed.

Jeffries’ denial of a GOP mandate is in direct contradiction to the reality that Republicans are living in following the election.

“The mandate is overwhelming,” Karoline Leavitt, tapped to be Trump’s press secretary, said following the election on Breitbart News Saturday.

“You look at the map of red versus blue. I mean, essentially the entire country went red, except for, of course, the coastal elites in California,” she said.

“So there is a mandate for Donald Trump to go into the White House on day one and to start implementing the policies that he campaigned on,” she said, providing examples that Democrats would likely consider extreme including “mass deportations of illegal immigrants, tax relief for seniors, cutting taxes on Social Security, cutting taxes on tips for service workers, drill baby drill, expediting permits for drilling [and] for fracking.”

Others agree with her sentiments, pointing to a mandate given directly by the American people. Senator-elect Bernie Moreno put it this way: “But now we’ve got a mandate from the American people to actually implement the agenda that we know will make this country better.”

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) agreed.

“The American people gave Republicans a mandate: enact President Trump’s agenda, and that’s what I’m fighting to do,” he said last week.

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