Following a closed-door unanimous vote on Wednesday, New York Congressman Hakeem Jeffries will be the ranking Democrat in the House when Nancy Pelosi steps down after two decades at the helm. He will not be the speaker, though, as that position will be held by a Republican.
Tim Graham of the Media Research Center (MRC) says the mainstream media will choose to focus on Jeffries' highlights – his law degree, his centrist politics, and that he has been in the House since 2013.
"I can guess what they won't hear is that he has an uncle who is a racist and antisemite named Leonard Jeffries," Graham continues.
But their presentation of Hakeem Jeffries as a "historic choice" and "a new generation of leadership for the Democrats" just proves to Graham that "the media are a pile of Democrats."
The Associated Press, for example, contrasts the Democrats' unity behind Jeffries to the "upheaval among Republicans, who are struggling to unite around GOP leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as the new House speaker as they prepare to take control when the new Congress convenes in January."
That outlet also predicts the Democratic Party will hold a "certain amount of leverage" as the minority in the lower chamber, thanks in part to the McCarthy's "fragile" leadership among the Republican Party.
Graham also does not expect the media to pin Jeffries as an "election denier," even though he is on record as calling Donald Trump an "illegitimate president." Such a label, he says, seems to be reserved exclusively for Republican Trump supporters.
"It is a sign that the networks are going to try to keep it easy," the MRC spokesman submits.
Jeffries, who served as a House manager during Trump's first impeachment, has promised to push back against Republican "extremism" whenever necessary, so Graham also predicts that all investigations that were portrayed as "necessary" and "just" when run by Democrats will be "crooked" and "manufactured" now that Republicans are in charge.
