When pressed on CBS's Face the Nation about his recent use of the phrase “rigged elections,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries struggled to explain himself — and only dug the hole deeper.
Host Margaret Brennan reminded Jeffries that earlier this year he declared, “Democrats, there are no election deniers on our side of the aisle,” which is quite hilarious, because there are still Democrats who think Trump stole the 2016 election and that George W. Bush stole the 2000 election.
But I digress.
In any case, despite his claim that Democrats don’t deny elections, he’s now accusing Republicans of “rigging” the upcoming midterms, and Brennan called him out over it. She asked bluntly how he could justify using the same rhetoric Democrats once condemned from Donald Trump, and asked him whether it undermines voter confidence.
Jeffries insisted there was no contradiction, claiming he was referring to “Donald Trump’s unprecedented effort to gerrymander congressional maps in a partisan fashion all across the country in order to rig the midterm elections.” He argued this was about protecting democracy, not questioning it.
But Brennan quickly pointed out the obvious: Democrats gerrymander, too.
Before she could finish, Jeffries interrupted, saying, “The framers of the Constitution were very clear.” When Brennan pressed again that Democrats are also “going through gerrymandering and redistricting,” Jeffries doubled down, saying, “No, no, no. Democrats are gonna push back aggressively to make sure that we have fair maps across the country, not partisan gerrymandering — which Republicans have initiated in state after state after state.”
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is defending his use of the term “rigged elections” in reference to the upcoming midterm elections, accusing President Trump and Republicans of gerrymandering congressional maps to try to “deny the ability” of voters to decide the House majority.… pic.twitter.com/yGdDlJ8ekj
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) October 26, 2025
This is what Democrats are desperately trying to do, pretend that the redistricting wars going on now are a response to Republican gerrymandering, but the fact is that the worst gerrymandered states are blue states.
In fact, during his appearance on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday, Arnold Schwarzenegger schooled Jake Tapper on this very point when Tapper tried to frame gerrymandering as a uniquely Republican problem. Schwarzenegger pushed back, reminding him of blue states such as Massachusetts—where roughly 40 percent of voters supported Donald Trump, yet not a single Republican represents the state in Congress—and New Mexico, where about 45 percent of voters lean Republican, but there are no GOP House members.
In fact, Democrat states are so heavily gerrymandered already, there’s little room for them to squeeze more seats.
Jeffries absolutely botched an attempt to defend his party’s hypocrisy on gerrymandering. Brennan, to her credit, didn’t let him get away with the typical double-speak. Instead, she threw his own rhetoric back at him, reminding viewers that Democrats spent years melting down over Donald Trump’s use of the term “rigged election” in 2020. Yet now, with several Republican-led states adjusting their congressional maps, Democrats are suddenly the ones crying foul, accusing the GOP of “rigging” the midterms.
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Jeffries’ spin completely collapsed under the weight of reality. Gerrymandering, like it or not, is perfectly legal — and both parties have used it for decades. Trying to paint Democrats as morally superior is laughable when they’ve played the same game every chance they’ve had. In the end, Jeffries didn’t just lose the argument — he reminded everyone why Americans have stopped believing a word Democrats say.
Editor’s Note: The Schumer Shutdown is still ongoing, and polls are now showing Americans are increasingly blaming the Democrats for this mess, but we can’t let them spin their way out of it.
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