At right, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., listens as President Donald Trump speaks during an address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington March 4, 2025. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
"The showtime nature of Congress is what they’re responding to."
In the past week, Clark received a primary challenge from Jonathan Paz, a candidate of Bolivian descent who argues that Democratic leadership has grown ineffective.
"I’m challenging one of the most powerful Democrats in the House because we need new leadership. Let’s call it what it is. Our Democratic leaders are failing us. They’re not stopping Trump. They’re not making life more affordable. They’re not building a party for the working class," Paz said in a campaign video.
Paz said his father was deported when he was 14 years old.
Clark's challenge follows a similar one to Jeffries, the No. 1 Democrat in the House. Chi Ossé, a progressive-leaning New York City councilmember, decided to run against Jeffries, citing dissatisfaction with Jeffries' resistance to the administration.
"More exceptional ‘leadership’ from our supposed ‘leader,’" Ossé said in a post on X, reacting to news that Jeffries and other Democrats would not pursue impeachment charges against Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., speaks during a press conference in Washington Dec. 13, 2023. (Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Congressional Integrity Project)
"Democrats are very capable of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory with, you know, ‘Let’s primary our entire leadership as we’re trying to take the House,’" Moskowitz said.
Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., who has called on his party to make strides toward the political center, said he thinks those individuals should be evaluated on an individual basis and not extrapolated out to represent all Democrat voters.
"I think it’s politics. Different people have different motivations. Some people want to run because of their lifelong ambitions. Some people aren’t happy with the way things are. Some people want to try to change the world," Suozzi said.
"I don’t know about these individual cases."
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Rep. Tom Suozzi speaks at a news conference with other members of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus in Washington Feb. 24, 2025. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Latimer believes challengers are also wrong about the relative ineffectiveness of Democratic leadership. He believes that the party has managed to secure victories that have flown under the radar — even in the shadow of a Republican governing trifecta.
"Now you have polling data that shows that Americans understand that the shutdown was a fight over healthcare, that healthcare benefits have to be saved," Latimer said, referring to the government’s recent shutdown over Obamacare federal subsidies that seemingly left Democrats largely empty-handed.
"That’s smart. But it’s not necessarily what someone wants to [see] because it doesn’t have the showy nature of it."
Instead of appeasing the more highlight-focused portions of the party, Latimer urged his fellow Democrats to instead focus on a more strategically advantageous use of their time.
"The voter's in the middle," Latimer said.
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"If you want to win the House, you’ve got to win people over who haven’t been committed to you. You’ve got to convince them that your strategies are right. I think that’s what leadership is doing."
Leo Briceno is a politics reporter for the congressional team at Fox News Digital. He was previously a reporter with World Magazine.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/moderate-democrats-push-back-progressives-move-oust-jeffries-clark-over-trump-strategy