Democrat Hakeem Jeffries tells us: we stand with the Ukrainian people, who are defending American values

Los Angeles. There are eleven days to go until the mid-term elections. And whilst Donald Trump is travelling to ‘red states’ – that is, Republican states – to hold rallies, alarmed by the polls, the Democrats are focusing their campaign on the so-called ‘hard seats’, the constituencies that could tip the balance of power in Congress. We are in Orange County, in California’s 24th constituency, for the ‘Take Back the House’ event. It is a constituency with a large Asian majority: this is confirmed not only by the audience present but also by the two parliamentary candidates, both of Vietnamese origin. The Democrat, Derek Tran, won two years ago by a handful of votes (around 600) against the woman who later became Trump’s ambassador to South Korea. To back Tran back then in this battleground constituency, even Bill Clinton had gone out of his way to campaign. This time, a group of MPs tipped to win – “it looks like a congressional delegation”, jokes one of them – have come to his aid in the large hall of the Carpenters’ Union in Buena Park, amidst crackers, pieces of orange cheddar and chocolate biscuits, and they chant: “Yes We Tran”. To hear them talk, it seems as though the very fate of the country lies in the hands of this army veteran – he enlisted at 18 without telling his parents “to serve his country” – the son of “immigrants who fled communism” and opened a shop in Orange County.

Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader in the House, has even arrived from Washington; as everyone here is shouting, if things go well in the mid-term elections on 3 November, “he’ll be the next Speaker!”. “Without Tran,” he says, “we won’t win the House”, and he won’t be able to take the seat once held by Nancy Pelosi. “The status quo is unacceptable,” Jeffries states, outlining his agenda for a Democratic majority: “An end to tariffs, an end to the war in Iran, no more stock market trading if you’re in Congress,” and pledging to reinstate limits on election spending by private individuals and companies. He says nothing about Ukraine, but responds to a question from Il Foglio: “Trump seems to think that our friends, such as Ukraine, are our enemies. And that our enemies, such as Vladimir Putin, are our friends,” explains Jeffries. “Trump is confused. The American people know that it is important for us to continue to stand with the Ukrainian people, supporting their efforts to protect their country and uphold principles such as democracy, freedom and truth. These are American values, and we should always stand by these values, just as Ukraine does against Russia.” We put the same question to Tran, who led the National Security Task Force on these issues in Congress: “Ukraine is our ally. I strongly condemn what Trump is doing with Russia. He is turning his back on one of our allies, doing business with Putin to resolve a problem that he himself created with the war in Iran.”

Foreign policy aside, the watchword is: affordability. The Democrats are basing their November campaign on the prices of petrol, fruit and housing. This government, the possibly future Speaker tells us, “has left behind a graveyard of broken promises”, and, glancing round the room at the giant posters showing carpenters at work with hard hats, saws and hammers, he repeats that he and the other MPs do not work “for Trump, for Elon Musk, for billionaire donors, but for the American people”. In this election cycle too, the Tesla CEO has pumped in millions to boost the Republicans, and anti-billionaire rhetoric has gone mainstream. Congressman Robert Garcia, whom Jeffries would like to appoint as head of the powerful Oversight Committee in the next Congress, brands the Trump family as the most corrupt in history and recalls the recent Saudi money and weddings paid for by oligarchs.

But if the Democrats were to win the House, we ask the potential future Speaker: how do they intend to work with the MAGA camp? Jeffries says they will be able to collaborate with some colleagues from the Republican Party and pass bipartisan legislation to lower the cost of living – and, above all, the cost of housing, which “here in California is a real problem”. “The American MAGA extremists,” he explains, “have let us sink into this economic mess, but in November we’ll give them the sack, along with the Republicans who’ve had their heads in the sand.” He also says that the next government official to be “sent packing” is Pete Hegseth, the burly alcoholic at the helm of the Pentagon. And he promises to bring all the “crooks” in this administration to justice – “if you’ve stolen from Americans, if you’ve cheated, we’ll hold you accountable”. Jeffries is also concerned about how Trump might try to manipulate the election result, “as he has already done”, but says they are ready to fight: “3 November won’t be Election Day; it’ll be Judgement Day.”