Watch live: Jeffries and House Democrats hold press conference on shutdown Day 15
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and his Democratic colleagues will hold a press conference Wednesday as the shutdown enters its third week.
Jeffries has said Democrats will not vote to reopen the government until Republicans engage in good-faith negotiations over restoring Medicaid funding cut earlier this year and extending ObamaCare tax credits set to expire in December.
As both parties appear ready for a long shutdown, they are also looking ahead to the midterm elections just more than a year from now.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Jeffries said California would not be the only state seeking to redraw its congressional map to benefit Democrats, as several GOP states join Texas in considering new maps to benefit Republicans.
“We are not going to let Republicans successfully rig the midterm elections,” Jeffries told reporters in the Capitol. “California is just the first Democratic state to respond. It will not be the last.”
He did not specify which other Democratic states might launch a redistricting effort, but party leaders in Illinois, New York and Maryland have all expressed some degree of interest in doing so.
Watch the live stream of Jeffries and House Democrats at 11:30 a.m. EDT.