A petition calling on House Democrats not to support House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries as the next Speaker has hit 500,000 signatures, according to its creator.
It follows the Democrats’ dramatic midterm election victory that saw the party flip both the Senate and the House of Representatives, which will lead to a new Senate Majority Leader and Speaker of the House.
The petition, which labels Jeffries part of the “Democratic establishment,” suggests Democratic leaders are likely to remain under pressure from their party’s left-wing over both personal and policy choices. It was created by Nicole Whitted, an author and Democratic supporting social media creator with over 210,000 followers on TikTok.
For those who don’t want to give newsweek a click: https://www.change.org/p/house-democrats-choose-a-new-speaker
Currently at 881,098 signatures, including mine now.
Close to a million signatures now!
This is becoming my copy pasta moment. But Hakeem Jeffries…let’s start with his charisma. His charisma is more akin to that of a Home Depot bag of paver sand. You search through the poorly stacked pile selecting the one with the least holes. Yet, despite that effort, it still spills it’s contents all over the cart on the way to the register. Not a good look. But useful if you are doing what he is good at doing. Laying the foundation for your country to get paved over by corporate donors.
If that does not speak for itself, then consider this. As a potential Speaker, Mr. Jeffries would face the immense challenge of uniting a fractured party that has not managed to maintain a large and diverse tent of voters since Debbie Wasserman Schultz declared Bernie a non-starter. Mr. Jeffries is simply not capable of standing firm in the face of political opposition. Don’t take my word for it. Perhaps, instead, the ever present consumer advocate Ralph Nader may sway you:
More introspection may lead you to ask yourself whether you are up to leading the House Democrats in their immense and immediate tasks of policy and program restorations and adopting our Constitution’s mandated Congressional independence from the Presidency for the protection and advancement of the livelihoods, peace and freedoms of the American people. There is no indication that you are so willing and prepared. Unfortunately.
His record in Congress has not demonstrated the kind of bold, decisive leadership that the position of Speaker demands. Instead, he has often been seen as a cautious, moderate voice. Dare I say, a voice coming from a very real human (I swear) with a spine made of NeeDoh.
Let’s be frank. In times of crisis or when tough decisions must be made, the leader of the Democratic Party and Speaker of the House is not merely about personality. I understand that. Such positions require a deep understanding of the legislative process, the ability to negotiate, and the resilience to withstand the political pressures that come with the position. Jeffries has not consistently shown these traits in his career. For any informed observers, this must raise serious questions about his suitability for such a high-stakes role.
Finally, to convey my firm belief that Mr. Jeffries is not the right person for the leadership role come January, I paraphrase the amazing Forest Whitaker in his role as PFC Edward Garlick in “Good Morning Vietnam”
Hakeem Jeffries sucks the sweat off a dead man’s balls. I have no idea what that means, sir, but it seems very negative to me.
He made secretive deals with Jared Kushner
He’s a centrist in the hardest left house we’ve had in decades
He represents the Democratic elite that lost to Trump in 2024, ushering in the most damaging US presidency in living memory
Yeah, they should tabula rasa all of the old guard before moving forward.
As a part the change we need, Democrats need to move beyond the establishment. I signed it.
Jeffries says the agenda is not about “getting even”, what he’s really saying is he won’t allow any real accountability for criminals because they are fellow politicians. He’s clearly not fit for the job.
There is nothing in the rules that says the speaker has to be a member of the house, so I say we push for a speaker who will bring some accountability to the criminals throughout our government and demand that Democrats elect Jack Smith as Speaker of the House.
Let’s have Jon Stewart as Speaker of the House.
Good point! Does the law say that the Speaker has to be a member of the House?
The constitution does not explicitly say that the Speaker must be a member of congress. However, the Speaker always has been one.
800,000 now
Please, if you are in the US, contact your senators and representatives to urge them to choose better leaders than these milquetoast corporate dems.
What if my senators and representatives are milquetoast corporate dems? Seriously though, there’s only a handful of Dem politicians who don’t take AIPAC money. I don’t think we’re going to get progressive leadership any time soon.
I hear you, I really truly do, but we have to keep pressing. This week has clearly proven that voting still matters and the power remains with the people. The only thing those corporate dems fear more than their corporate masters is the thought of having to find another job. Put the pressure on them and hold them to account. We still have the power, we just have to stay united and use it.
He needs to go. Schumer too. They should no longer be allowed to “lead” us back to hell. i.e. trump.
These soft democratic leaders already showed us who they are, and I’m not interested. Get the Pelosi generation tf on out of here. Them and their stupid stock trading and dumb shit kneeling and wishy wishy nonsense.
Get rid of him and get rid of Schumer. Get rid of anyone who supports Israel in their genocide and their apartheid state.
The petition for Jeffries to not be speaker already has more than 5x as many votes as Jeffries had to get elected
The House Speaker should be AOC. Jeffries will hinder the Democrats for 2028.
it’s got 800k (400k today) signs now anf it’s for holding an election which this article doesn’t say
The original concept of change.org was that average folks could petition leaders with the backing of many people. You didn’t earn money from petition-creation efforts.
According to the petition, “Nicole Whitted is a Change Ambassador who receives compensation in connection with this petition.”
I found myself wondering what a “Change Ambassador” was, search said, "Ambassadors receive a flat advance payment plus performance-based compensation—often ranging from $0.30 to $0.50 per signature collected over a specified period.
It seems that as of 2024, change.org has become a way to earn a small fortune. If she gets 50 cents for each signature, and this one hit half a million signatures, then she just made $250,000.
Currently 800k signatures and rising, so more then that.
I really need to get into grifting. It seems very profitable.
The profiteriest.
So this person made somewhere between $150-250k for posting this? How do I become a Change Ambassador?
e: You have to have a social following of >100k. You get an upfront payment based on audience size, then performance-based payouts for each petition on top of that.
I didn’t know this was a thing, gross.
If someone tells you about something, ask you to do something, gives you anything, talks to you, says hello, looks at you, it’s probably because they made a nickle by doing it.
That’s the world we live in now.
But where does that moeny supposedly come from? Ads aren’t likely to generate that much per person signing.
Data harvesters.
I dunno. I could see campaigns being willing to pay a fair bit for a list of email addresses of people who care about a specific topic.
ICE or other three letter organizations would also pay for lists of people who care about certain things.
Thats a pretty good point. That might map out.
It straight up asks you for money after you sign
What does it say the money is for?
Bribing/lobbying?
But how many people give money? Very few. And of course I am sure the site takes a cut. I’m not saying there isn’t some payment. But the number seem off. Maybe it was .3 to .5 for paying signatures. That could work out.
You also may not have realized that you would be on their email list for the rest of your life.
Filters and blocking takes care of 99% of my junk
