Why Not Hakeem?
My thoughts on why he's a bad choice and another fundraising ask
Y’all see Hakeem this past Sunday disavowing one of the most popular policies that the Democratic Party has? The man that everybody reckons is gonna be the Speaker of the House if Dems take it back in November is on the other side of 90% of Democratic voters? Jeffries is all for sending more weapons to Israel, which by the way, provides universal healthcare to its citizens.
This new crop of candidates can and must do their best to stop him from becoming speaker or staying as leader. We’re trying to give them some of the ammo that they need to take that stand. Our polling, campaign advertising, social media, and press are all working to give space to be bold.
A Fight Worth Having is trying to raise $100,000 before the end of the month so that we can do more provide more support to these newly elected progressives. We’d love your help. You can see our progress here.
In 2026, Democrats have the wind at their backs, while Republicans have it in their faces. Which Democratic Party emerges in January of 2027 will determine if we keep those advantages. Will it be the transformative party of FDR, or whatever this do-nothing version is that Hakeem Jeffries represents?
I got an amazing response to last week’s email on Tuesday asking for support, and wanted to answer some of the great questions that came in, to explain exactly what we’ve been doing.
Since April, A Fight Worth Having has been working to bring desperately needed new Democratic leadership to Congress. Leaders strong enough to embrace solutions that work to not repair damage, but make our lives more liveable. We aren’t just talking about Medicare for All, but a government that builds the capacity to deliver healthcare as a right. Public ownership of AI. An end to forever wars, and human rights for Palestinians.
We do that by leaning in to the huge momentum for change we’re seeing in Democratic primary after primary, state after state. We’ve done a series of polls — in New York, Arizona, and Missouri — highlighting progressive challengers by showing their path to victory whenever possible.
In each poll, we asked voters if they want more of the same from Democrats in Washington — or should they replace failed leaders like Hakeem Jeffries? Our findings have helped change the conversation — in the press, where our findings on Jeffries were featured by The New Republic, and on social media, where we racked up hundreds of thousands of views and were praised for the high quality of our polling.
Polling isn’t our only campaign activity. In the congressional primary for California 11, we sent out direct mail and put the genocide in Gaza in front of tens of thousand of voters, making sure candidates supported by AIPAC would be held accountable.
And thanks to our team, I’ve been able to push back against corporate Democrats before big TV audiences across the political spectrum, from NewsMax and Fox on the right to The Young Turks on the left — and most recently, Jake Tapper’s Sunday morning roundtable on CNN.
Outsiders have made fantastic gains this year. We have more primaries and the November election to go, and we need to ride our momentum.
If you will support us, we’ll go back into the field and do more polling that shows establishment Democrats and the media how important it is to change leadership instead of repeating past failures. Because we’re lean and mean, we can get benchmark polls, mailers, and ads done for a fraction of what corporate consultants cost. (If those corporate pollsters were even willing to test the kind of messages that we do — they aren’t.) Every penny you donate will be spent efficiently.
The full goal is $2.2 million, which carries this operation past the midterm and into the next presidential cycle. But that’s the long game, and there’s no long game if we don’t get through November.
Please bear with me on this one. If we get the boost we need, I promise I’ll go back to sending you essays and polling instead of these asks.
Thank you. This thing runs on a few thousand people who decide it ought to exist.
Corbin Trent
A Fight Worth Having
Lenoir City, Tennessee
P.S. If you’re in a position to consider $5,000 or more, I built a page that shows you the entire operation, the budget line by line, the plan, where the money goes, and how to give by wire or ACH. It’s at afightworthhaving.com/donors-new, or just reply to this email and we’ll find twenty minutes to talk.
We need change. We need a democrat equivalent of Trump - someone who can take over the party and get rid of all this baggage. Jeffries, Schumer, etc. need to go or they need to get onboard. WE DO NOT WANT TO RETURN TO POLITICS AS USUAL! Trump found money for every vanity project, for lower taxes, for aid to whatever he wanted to help, for an enormous increase in military, for DHS, for anything and everything he wanted. We give billions to countries that provide free healthcare and college, but we can’t afford to give these things to our own people. Enough already. We need democrats who can fight, who can show the insanity of what we have been doing, who will shout from the mountaintops. The politicians and the wealthy have brainwashed the masses for far too long. We must get money out of politics and bring ethics back! Out with the old guard!
No mystery. You weren't polling the voters. You were polling some featherless bipeds that inhabit the country. The voters are Bibi, Sam, Dario, Jeff and Larry. You didn't poll them.