Congress' most unlikely ceasefire is falling apart
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Photo illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Photo: Alex Wong and Kent Nishimura/Getty Images
House Speaker Mike Johnson and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries used to go out of their way to laud their positive working relationship. But those days are done, and the smack talk has gotten personal.
Why it matters: Their relationship may only further deteriorate this year as Congress tries to keep the gears of government churning during a bruising midterm election.
- With Jeffries (D-N.Y.) facing pressure from his grassroots to go full #Resistance and President Trump keeping Johnson (R-La.) on a tight leash, neither side has much incentive to de-escalate.
- The acrimonious dynamic has already resulted in the longest government shutdown in U.S. history and an unprecedented national wave of partisan mid-cycle redistricting initiatives.
State of play: The National Republican Congressional Committee began referring to Jeffries as the "so-called 'leader'" in an email last spring, seizing on stories about Democrats questioning his leadership.
- The NRCC continued to hammer the theme throughout 2025, with press releases declaring "So-Called 'Leader' Jeffries Draws Primary Challenger from the Mamdani Wing" and "Hakeem Jeffries is a hostage. Not a leader."
- The latter release was based on an Axios story about dozens of Democratic congressional candidates refusing to commit to supporting Jeffries as leader or speaker.
- Despite some grassroots frustration with his leadership, Jeffries has maintained virtually unanimous support from his House Democratic colleagues.
The latest: Democrats saw the opportunity to meet fire with fire when the New York Times reported in October that Trump has privately joked about his power over Johnson by quipping, "I'm the speaker and the president."
- The move came amid a lengthy government shutdown in which Johnson and Jeffries both refused to budge from their positions on extending Affordable Care Act tax credits.
- The following month, Jeffries pounced on the story during a press conference, calling Johnson the "deputy speaker" and saying he has "zero control ... over the House Republican conference."
- The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has run with the nickname, frequently referring to Johnson as the "deputy speaker" in its press releases and emails since November.
Flashback: The mutual admiration between Jeffries and Johnson was real back in 2024, as Axios reported at the time.
- Jeffries spoke glowingly at fundraisers about Johnson, and the two worked through multiple bipartisan deals on must-pass legislation.
- But Trump's return to power has demolished that dynamic.
What they're saying: "It's important to the DCCC that we deal in facts," DCCC spokesperson Justin Chermol said of the group's new insult for Johnson.
- "The fact of the matter is, by fully submitting to Donald Trump, Mike Johnson is in fact, the Deputy Speaker, and letting a wildly unpopular president steer his vulnerable members straight into an epic collapse this year," Chermol said.
The other side: "The Democrat Party is leaderless, and their so-called 'Leader' Hakeem Jeffries has zero control over a caucus that openly defies him and treats him like he has the backbone of a wet paper straw," said NRCC spokesperson Mike Marinella.
- "The liberal losers at the DCCC are too lazy and too incompetent to craft a message that works, so they default to whining in a desperate attempt to distract from their pathetic excuse of a boss."
- Trump publicly praised Johnson in May, calling Johnson a "real unifier" at a Capitol Hill press conference and saying he did a "fantastic job" pushing the One Big, Beautiful Bill, which passed later that month.
