After spending most of October crisscrossing the country to stump for U.S. House candidates nationwide, Brooklyn Rep. Hakeem Jeffries ended the campaign season back home, with a final blitz across New York’s hotly contested congressional districts.

The goal: flip enough Republican seats to secure a Democratic House majority, making him the next House speaker.

“We're working hard day and night. We're going to run through the finish line,” he told Spectrum News in an exclusive interview Saturday while campaigning in Syracuse, New York.

What You Need To Know

  • After making campaign stops in 20 states since Oct. 1, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries finished the campaign season with a sprint across New York's battleground districts

  • The fate of New York's competitive congressional districts on Long Island, in the Hudson Valley and in the Syracuse region could help decide whether Democrats flip the U.S. House and Jeffries becomes House speaker

  • Jeffries said he is "confident" Democrats will be able to hold on to the New York seats held by Reps. Tom Suozzi and Pat Ryan seats in New York and "pick up a few more"
  • On the trail, Jeffries received a warm reception from Democratic voters, with some expressing excitement about the history he could make as the first Black speaker

Since Oct. 1, Jeffries has made campaign stops in 20 different states. The list of candidates and incumbents he has stumped for includes Amish Shah in Arizona, Gabe Vasquez in New Mexico, Susan Wild in Pennsylvania and George Whitesides in California. 

(Spectrum News graphic)

But the final weekend of the campaign brought the House Democratic leader back to New York, as he sought to give a boost to Democratic candidates like John Mannion in Syracuse and Josh Riley in Ithaca. Both are trying to unseat one-term Republican congressmen. 

The fate of those two seats, along with a few others across the state, could decide whether Jeffries’ party flips the U.S. House.

“We’re only four seats short of taking back the majority, and this could be the seat that could make the difference,” Jeffries told a crowd of Riley supporters gathered at the State Theatre in Ithaca on Friday.

Jeffries told Spectrum News he is confident Democrats can hold on to a pair of battleground districts on Long Island and in the Hudson Valley, currently occupied by Reps. Tom Suozzi and Pat Ryan.

He also expressed optimism Democrats will pick off a few of the seats New York Republicans won during the 2022 midterms, inching his party closer to the majority. 

The push to win in New York is personal. 

Democrats have invested heavily in New York in the aftermath of the 2022 midterms, when Republicans made inroads in the state even as a projected red wave failed to materialize across much of the rest of the country. 

Last year, Jeffries teamed up with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Gov. Kathy Hochul to launch a new coordinated campaign initiative aimed at giving Democrats in the state’s battleground districts a boost.

“We've done everything that we could do in terms of building the ground operation, the coordinated campaign, raising unprecedented amounts of money to make sure that our candidates could communicate our vision for putting people over politics and track record of accomplishment,” he said.

Asked how Tuesday's results should inform evaluations of his political prowess and skill-set, Jeffries, who is now in his second year as House Democratic leader, said, “We'll evaluate what happens after the election in terms of a post-mortem.”

New York’s significance is not lost on Republicans. Speaker Mike Johnson, as part of his effort to deny Jeffries a chance at taking his job, also made campaign stops across the state over the weekend. He and Jeffries missed each other in Syracuse by just a day. 

On the trail, Jeffries received a warm reception from Democratic voters.

“It’s amazing to have national attention on Ithaca, on Tompkins County, and the 19th district in general," Emerson Schryver, who attended the Ithaca rally, said.

Others, like Vanessa Johnson, who attended a Saturday rally for Mannion in Syracuse, expressed excitement about the history Jeffries could make as the first Black speaker. 

“I have a grandson coming up, and I want him to see that everything is possible, that he can do anything that he wants if he puts his mind to it,” she said. 

Jeffries said that if Democrats secure the majority, they will pass legislation to shore up voting rights and rein in prices for consumers - a nod to Kamala Harris’ proposals as part of her presidential bid.

And, come Jan. 6, he said Democrats are prepared to certify the results of the November election. 

“The extreme MAGA Republicans, unfortunately, cannot state clearly and unequivocally that they are willing to certify an election if and when Kamala Harris wins,” he said. “That is another unnecessary shot at our democracy.”

Jeffries said he has been in regular communication with the Harris campaign and believes they are on a “positive trajectory.” 

But, he said, “everything all across the country is very close.”