Ex-GOP rep: Why congressional Democrats now have the upper hand

The 118th Congress has become known as the least productive Congress in decades, largely due to Republican House members' infighting.

Former Rep. David Jolly (R-FL) argues in a Sunday op-ed published by MSNBC that not only does President Joe Biden ending his reelection bid likely increase Democrats' chance of beating Donald Trump, but "congressional Democrats have now been untethered from one of the great questions that had been facing them in November."

Democratic leaders' "thinly veiled fears were that Biden would not only lose to former President Donald Trump," the former Florida lawmaker writes, "but would potentially deliver historic losses for Democrats in Congress."

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That worry is now gone.

"Consider the Republicans’ chaotic term in the congressional majority," Jolly writes. "They started this 118th Congress unable to elect a speaker of the House. They failed at the basic functions of funding the government, addressing the nation’s debt ceiling and supporting our international alliance opposing Vladimir Putin and Russian aggression."

The political analyst added, "At each of these most critical junctures, it was House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and House Democrats who stepped up and governed, delivering the majority of votes for Congress to function and execute its constitutional responsibilities. The Republican response to these episodes of responsible Democratic leadership was to then topple their own House speaker and plunge the House into renewed leadership chaos before finally arriving at the hard-right Speaker Mike Johnson."

Jolly notes, "Democrats, by contrast, are anxious to offer their vision to the American people — protect Social Security and Medicare, defend reproductive freedom, and fight growing economic inequality made worse by Republican tax and tariff proposals. Democrats want to share their vision for lowering prescription drug costs, securing access to health care and education for more Americans and continuing investments in infrastructure and technology. And on foreign policy, Democrats accept responsibility for defending our interests abroad just as strongly as they defend them here at home."

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As "House Democrats are poised to regain control of Congress," the ex-congressman emphasizes, they are clearly "on message," while "Republicans are out of touch, and the American people are paying attention."

Jolly's full op-ed is available here.