Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin suggested Thursday that it may be time for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to step aside for new Democratic leadership.
The Democratic Party hasn’t “fully recovered” since being “soundly defeated in 2024,” Slotkin, a Democrat , argued during an appearance on SiriusXM’s “Straight Shooter with Stephen A” – hinting that Schumer (D-NY) and Jeffries (D-NY) are to blame.
“To me, the lesson was simple. Democrats had too many priorities. They tried to make everyone happy and answer every question. When you prioritize everything, no one knows what you actually stand for,” Slotkin told Stephen A. Smith.
In contrast, “Donald Trump came in with one clear message. He said, ‘I’m going to make your life more affordable. I’m going to put more money in your pocket’. … He won because he kept his message simple and focused on the issue Americans cared most about.”
Slotkin lamented that even a year-and-a-half after Trump’s presidential election victory, “every day there’s a debate within the party about the path forward.”
“That’s why I believe we need significant new leadership,” she said. “The old models are no longer working, and that includes the Democratic Party.”
The senator likened her party to a “circular firing squad,” where “everyone is reacting to the crisis, but too few people are talking about what they actually want to accomplish.”
“To me, that’s a fundamental failure of leadership,” she urged.
Smith pressed Slotkin on whether she was calling on Jeffries and Schumer to be replaced.
“I’m saying that if people can’t recognize that the game has fundamentally changed and can’t adapt, then they need to make room for others who can,” she responded.
Reps for Schumer and Jeffries did not immediately respond to The Post’s requests for comment.
