POLITICO Playbook Podcast: The Bloc Presses Jeffries for a Bold Agenda

POLITICO's Playbook Podcast on Nov. 9, 2026, examined whether the Congressional Progressive Caucus' largest incoming class in a generation will back Hakeem Jeffries for speaker, then turned to President Trump's "60 Minutes" admission that his deportation policy may have been "too tough" and to the Crooked Con 2028 straw poll led by Sen. Jon Ossoff.

Nov 09, 2026 - 16:15

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POLITICO’s Playbook Podcast opened the week on Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, with an episode titled “The Bloc wants a bold agenda. Can Jeffries deliver?” The roughly 26-minute episode, posted at 5 a.m. Eastern according to its Apple Podcasts listing, centers on the Congressional Progressive Caucus’ incoming class and whether those members will back House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries for speaker after Democrats won control of Congress in the Nov. 3 midterm elections.

The show then turns to President Donald Trump’s acknowledgment that his deportation crackdown may have gone too far, and to a 2028 straw poll taken at Crooked Con in Washington. According to that morning’s Playbook newsletter, Dasha Burns and Will Steakin discussed where progressives stand on Jeffries and ran through the highlights of Trump’s “60 Minutes” interview, while POLITICO’s Irie Sentner shared his conversations with 2028 hopefuls at the convention.

The Bloc and the speaker question

The newsletter, written by Steakin, Burns and Adam Wren, reported that congressional Democrats welcomed “their biggest — and rowdiest — class in a generation” to Democratic National Committee headquarters on Sunday. Playbook said it had exclusive access to the caucus’ new-member orientation and spoke with more than a dozen incoming members, several of whom withheld their support for Jeffries. It described the newcomers known as the Bloc as rising progressive stars “who spent DSA Summer knocking off Democratic incumbents.”

“The agenda that I’ve seen so far presented is not going to cut it,” Rep.-elect Melat Kiros of Colorado told Playbook. According to the report, as quoted by The Western Journal, Kiros added that without a bold agenda, “we’re going to need somebody who’s actually going to be willing to fight for one like that.” Rep.-elect Claire Valdez of New York described herself as “so far uncommitted,” fellow New Yorker Darializa Avila Chevalier said, “I haven’t come to a decision yet,” and Rep.-elect Adam Hamawy of New Jersey said he still had “that option open.”

Valdez, Avila Chevalier and Hamawy said constituents had been calling to urge them not to support Jeffries and that they were set to speak with him soon, the report said. Priorities cited by the newcomers included Medicare for All, public housing, the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Caucus chair Rep. Greg Casar of Texas pointed to the conversations then-Leader Nancy Pelosi held with every caucus after the 2018 election. “I will have those same conversations with Leader Jeffries, and I expect that we will both deliver the votes, but also deliver the proactive, populist, powerful agenda that people are calling us about,” he said, according to the report. Rep.-elect Brad Lander of New York called for “strategic, disciplined unity.”

A bigger caucus inside a bigger majority

The Guardian reported that the caucus said on Sunday it will welcome more than 25 new members, expanding its ranks to more than 105 lawmakers, up from 100 in the last Congress. “Progressive ideas won that election,” Casar said outside the Capitol, “and we need to deliver on those promises.” Asked whether the caucus would back Jeffries, he did not commit. “Every single member here is going to have their individual vote,” he said. The Guardian reported that none of the incoming members endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America had committed to supporting Jeffries.

The centrist wing is also growing. The Guardian reported that the New Democrat Coalition, already the largest House Democratic caucus with 114 members, is expected to add about 39 members, 30 of them from flipped seats. The Lever reported on Nov. 5 that Democrats were projected to hold a 42-seat House majority and that Casar had endorsed Jeffries’ bid for speaker in September.

Trump’s immigration remarks

The episode’s second segment dealt with Trump’s interview on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” which aired Sunday and, according to NBC News, was recorded Friday. Asked by correspondent Ross Douthat whether his deportation policy went too far, Trump said, “I think it might be too tough, yeah,” according to the CBS News transcript. He said the policy “both helped and hurt,” adding, “I get hurt because we also took people that had good jobs, that created one violation, or breaking of the law, and that was that they came into the country illegally.”

Trump said he would like to work with the incoming Democratic majority on immigration, proposing that people who have been in the country “for ten and 15 years” be able to “work a deal.” NBC News reported that he said yes when asked whether a deal could include legal status for undocumented workers, and that he said some people “on the sort of pretty far right” who “would like everybody taken out” work in his administration. The Guardian noted that the remarks followed Trump’s elevation of Stephen Miller, the architect of his immigration crackdown, to chief of staff.

Crooked Con’s straw poll

The final segment covered Crooked Con, a progressive convention organized by Crooked Media. Citing Crooked Media’s event newsletter, IBTimes UK reported that 990 attendees voted in an informal straw poll on the 2028 Democratic nomination, with results released Saturday, Nov. 7. Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia, re-elected days earlier, led with 38.4%, followed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York at 16.6% and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg at 13.9%, results also reported by the Washington Examiner.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro each received about 4%, and former Vice President Kamala Harris received 0.6%, tying for 16th, IBTimes UK reported. Ossoff said during an October debate, “I have zero interest in running for president.”