A duo of House Democrats who humiliated House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) earlier this month has struck again.
In another blow to Jeffries’ leadership, Reps. Jared Golden (D-Maine) and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.) joined their GOP colleagues on a rules vote clearing the way for Republicans to advance a number of bills before lawmakers head home for the midterms.
House Democrats are fuming after a pair of centrist members once again defied their party leaders by voting to help advance a key White House priority — the second time in recent weeks. https://t.co/piv6wjy2kD pic.twitter.com/yzvD22iP1P
— CNN (@CNN) September 15, 2026
The inability to enforce discipline over renegade members of his caucus is another black eye for “Dollar Store” Obama, who has had his sights set on becoming the first black House Speaker in the nation’s history if Democrats regain control in November.
The defections are a big win for President Donald J. Trump, who has championed a Russian sanctions bill that the two Ukraine-first Democrats cited as a reason for stabbing their own leader in the back.
“I’m proud to represent one of the largest Ukrainian communities in America-people who have lost fathers, mothers, sons and daughters in the fight to defeat fascism,” Gluesenkamp Perez wrote on X. “I’ll always stand with my community’s values, and am grateful for the 86 senators who voted to send this bill to the house. My vote today gets us one step closer to enacting these sanctions into law and I look forward to voting tomorrow to cut off the flow of Russian oil money fueling this war.”
“Congressman Golden has been a consistent supporter of America’s allies in Ukraine. He didn’t want to see the Russia sanctions bill die in a rule vote after passing with overwhelming bipartisan support in the Senate,” a Golden spox told Fox News Digital.
Democrats were once again left fuming by the rebels’ betrayal.
“It’s unfortunate, it doesn’t advance the work of the American people,” Rep. Jonathan Jackson (D-Ill.) said. “That’s two individuals that are out of step with the American people that are within our party, and so hopefully there’s a wave of new people that are coming in that can overwhelm that margin.”
Jeffries was already dealing with questions about his leadership after two incumbents whom he endorsed lost their primaries to radicals backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and The New York Times reported on his secretive sit-down with President Donald J. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
It is practically unheard of for members of the minority party to defect over votes that allow the majority to pass their rules, and it almost certainly wouldn’t have happened under the leadership of Jeffries’ predecessor Nancy Pelosi, who exercised iron-fisted discipline over her caucus.
The New York City Democrat who was left holding the bag again had talked tough about punishing the two after they screwed him the first time but, in his typical feckless fashion, never followed it up with decisive action. A pattern for the trash-talking Jeffries that may well come back to bite him when the next leadership vote takes place.
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