Actor and left-wing activist Mark Ruffalo has thrown his support behind a petition urging House Democrats to choose someone other than Hakeem Jeffries as speaker when the party takes control of the House in January, The Post Millennial reported.
Jeffries has been widely expected to claim the gavel following the Democratic Partys victory in the midterms. The petition, which had garnered more than a million signatures as of Sunday afternoon, argues that Democrats deserve a choice and calls for a competitive election for the speakership.
Hakeem Jeffries is simply not the right choice, the petition states. We believe the Speaker should represent the Democratic voters, not just the Democratic establishment, it continues.
The petition calls for scrutiny of Jeffries public record, policy positions, campaign donors and leadership, and it encourages other Democratic lawmakers to put themselves forward. We are calling on every member of the incoming 120th Congress to vote against Hakeem Jeffries for Speaker in January 2027 and choose a different candidate, the petition declares.
Ruffalo promoted the effort to his followers on social media. Sign this petition if you want a new speaker of the house, he wrote.
The petition was created by Democratic social media creator Nicole Whitted, who has criticized Jeffries as part of the Democratic establishment. In a TikTok video promoting it, Whitted bluntly declared, using an expletive, that Jeffries should not be speaker. She pointed to an August meeting between Jeffries and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trumps son-in-law, as well as Democratic Representative Haley Stevens support of Jeffries.
Stevens angered many in her party after she endorsed Republican Mike Rogers in the Michigan Senate race. Speaking to Newsweek, Whitted said Jeffries has longstanding political and financial ties to corporate interests and influential pro-Israel lobbying organizations.
She added that those relationships raise serious questions for me and many of those who have signed this petition about transparency, political influence, and whose interests Democratic leadership is ultimately serving. The petition page also discloses that Whitted is a Change Ambassador who receives compensation in connection with the petition, according to Newsweek.
Leftists have slammed Jeffries in the past for his ties to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, even dubbing him AIPAC Shakur. In a Wednesday statement, AIPAC said more than 234 candidates supported by its members had won, and it congratulated Jeffries and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer on the resounding victories for their caucuses.
House Democrats will first hold an internal contest to pick their preferred candidate before the full House votes when it reconvenes in January. Whitted told Newsweek she had not received confirmation that another House Democrat intends to contest the position.
Login