Zachary LeemanApr 23rd, 2026, 12:42 pm

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) faced a biting question from a literal child on Thursday about the state of his party.

Jeffries was somewhat surprised at and entertained by a question he received from the daughter of CNN’s Manu Raju during a press conference where members of the press brought their children to celebrate Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day, more popularly known as “take your child to work day.”

Raju and his wife, Archana Mehta, have twins, Sanjay and Sonya, who were born in 2015.

“Why do voters view Democrats so poorly?” young Sonya asked, eliciting some laughter from the room.

“Did your dad give you that question?” Jeffries asked, earning some laughter himself. “It’s a great question in that — I’m gonna have words with you after this, Manu.”

Jeffries then got serious and offered a lengthy answer, saying Americans are “understandably frustrated” at both political parties and political institutions because they’re struggling to live “paycheck to paycheck” in the current economy.

He said:

Listen, I think that we exist in an era right now where the American people are understandably frustrated with institutions because far too many people in this country are struggling to live paycheck to paycheck. They can’t thrive and can barely survive. And so there’s a frustration with Congress, there’s frustration with institutional political parties, whether that’s Democrats or Republicans, certainly a frustration with the courts, with organized religion, with the media, frustration with institutions of higher education, and of course frustration with the current president of the United States of America. There’s a great frustration that applies to every organized institution in this country, and Democrats are not immune from that. And we do have a responsibility to continue to convince the American people that, as a party, we’re actually focused on making their life better.

Watch above via CSPAN.

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