'You're A F***ing Liar!": The DSA Is Out For Blood, Targets Jeffries, Schumer, & Others
A protester heckled House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) in Denver on Friday, as he campaigns to become speaker of the House when the new Democratic majority takes over in January.
The man interrupted Jeffries while he spoke onstage at the What's Next conference, where Democratic leaders, strategists, and newly elected lawmakers gathered to plan how to use the new majorities and how to position the party for 2028.
The protester shouted, "You are a f****** liar!" at Jeffries. He kept yelling for more than a minute while the crowd booed, and the shouting continued until his removal from the building.
🚨 HOLY CRAP! Hakeem Jeffries is getting EATEN ALIVE by protestors right in the middle of his remarks
"You are a f*cking LIAR!"
"You're a f*cking TRAITOR!"
For nearly 2 MINUTES STRAIGHT they were getting hauled out as they went berserk
The clown car is DESTROYING ITSELF 🤣 pic.twitter.com/TXmXNk3lbU— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) November 13, 2026
When the moderator noted that Jeffries had stayed calm during the interruption, Jeffries said, "Remember, ya'll, I grew up in Brooklyn." The discussion resumed once the protester was gone.
This is hardly the first sign of tension between Jeffries and the DSA-wing of the party. At a June victory event for Rep.-elect Valdez (D-NY) after New York's Democratic primaries, Democratic Socialists of America activists celebrated their candidates' wins by chanting "You're next!" as a picture of Jeffries appeared on a screen. The chant targeted the highest-ranking Democrat in the House. Jeffries did not face a primary challenger in 2026. Friction between the party establishment and the DSA has continued since Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress on November 3.
Jeffries succeeded Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) as House Democratic leader in January 2023 and no Democrat has formally challenged Jeffries for speaker. Parts of the party's progressive wing object to his support for Israel and his ties to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), and some incoming lawmakers have not endorsed him.
House Democrats have their internal leadership elections on Nov 18th and Jeffries is by a long way the favorite to win. The Speaker sets the agenda for the House, decides which bills reach the floor, and is a key player in negotiations with the Senate and the White House. Progressives have criticized the party's response to President Donald Trump, and a petition calling for new Democratic leadership has drawn more than 1.1 million signatures. No lawmaker has come forward to challenge him.
The Senate leadership race already has a contender.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) announced Thursday that he will challenge Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for majority leader, with backing from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed (D-MI). Schumer said he has the votes to keep the job.
DSA and its allies have begun lining up 2028 primary challenges against sitting Democrats, according to Newsweek. The group grew its House caucus from two members to eight in the midterms and helped elect El-Sayed to the Senate.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) already has a declared challenger, Ahmed Moor, a 42-year-old Palestinian American writer and dues-paying member of Philadelphia DSA. Moor is campaigning on ending the war in Iran and "free healthcare, free childcare, and affordable housing." Fetterman has not said whether he will seek a second term.
A July Quinnipiac poll found 19% of Pennsylvania Democrats approved of Fetterman's job performance, while 69% disapproved. The Pennsylvania Working Families Party pledged in November 2025 to back a challenger. Allies of Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA), a democratic socialist, want her to enter the race. Lee posted, "2028 can't come fast enough for PA." Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) said he expects "a robust primary challenge" if Fetterman runs.
For Schumer, the central question is whether Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) runs against him. She has said she would make "any of those considerations after the midterms." Schumer, 75, has not said whether he will seek a sixth term. A 2025 Data for Progress survey of likely New York Democratic primary voters showed Ocasio-Cortez leading Schumer 55% to 36%. Polymarket gives her 56% odds of running for president and 31.8% odds of running for Senate.
If Ocasio-Cortez pursues the presidency instead, New York City Council Member Chi Ossé, a DSA member, says he would run against Schumer as the socialist alternative.
Ossé dropped an exploratory challenge to Jeffries in 2025 after Zohran Mamdani urged NYC-DSA not to endorse, and the chapter's electoral working group voted 52% to 46% against backing him. NYC-DSA co-chair Grace Mausser has not ruled out a challenge to Jeffries in 2028 or 2030. "Hakeem Jeffries only cares about keeping the corporate donations rolling in," Mausser said.
Streamer Hasan Piker named Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-MI) a top 2028 primary target. Scholten had refused to endorse El-Sayed and called Piker "a hack who thrives on hate, shock and awe because he lacks substance." Her Grand Rapids district offers more competitive ground than DSA's deep-blue strongholds in New York City.
Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) defeated anti-AIPAC challenger Michael Blake 71.95% to 21.81% in June. NYC-DSA co-chair Gustavo Gordillo said "Ritchie Torres needs to break ties with AIPAC" to avoid a DSA-backed challenge. Torres has called DSA "despicable, detestable, disgraceful, and disgraced."
In 2025, CNN listed Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY) alongside Jeffries, Torres, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), and Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) as members that Mamdani allies wanted to unseat. Nadler has since retired, and Goldman lost his race.
NYC-DSA has not publicly named new House targets since the midterms. The chapter says its membership has doubled to more than 12,000.