Hakeem Jeffries

At an Aug. 11 press event in Morristown, a journalist began her questioning of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries by referring to him as “Speaker Jeffries.”

Recognizing her slip, the reporter apologized and tried again, beginning her query this time with “Leader Jeffries.”

“I was OK the first time,’’ the New York Democrat said, sparking laughter inside Calvary Baptist Church, where Jeffries journeyed Tuesday to meet privately with immigrant families whose lives have been upended by President Donald Trump’s deportation crackdown.

The Brooklyn power broker's quip tapped into the political undercurrent of the event, where Jeffries was joined by North Jersey U.S. Rep Analilia Mejia, who is running for her first full term in office in November. Rep. Rob Menendez, D-Hudson, also appeared, along with local officials, as they denounced conditions at Delaney Hall, Immigration and Customs Enforcement's detention center in Newark.

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Jeffries, the top Democrat in the House of Representatives, is expected to seek the speaker’s post if his party wins back control of the chamber in the Nov. 3 midterm election. But his victory is far from certain. The Democratic caucus is riven between more moderate, establishment Democrats and restive progressives, who view Jeffries as too cautious and too tied to powerful interests like AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

One of those progressives was the de facto host of Tuesday’s event. Mejia, a Glen Ridge Democrat, is a former political adviser to Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and a vocal critic of Israel. Mejia refused to endorse Jeffries for the top post during her campaign this spring, when she won a special election to serve the 11th Congressional District for the remainder of the term vacated by Mikie Sherrill after her election as governor.

Despite her warm praise for Jeffries in Morristown — after his commitment to make closing Delaney Hall the “highest priority” of a new Democratic majority — Mejia remained noncommittal about her preference for speaker as she pursues a full two-year term against Republican Joe Hathaway.

“My main focus continues to be how do … I lead for or represent the people of New Jersey's 11th?’’ she said to reporters after the Calvary Baptist event. “What I'm looking for is the kind of leadership that's going to fight for our communities. I know that question is going to come at the beginning of the year, and I'll cross that bridge" when the time comes, she said.

For his part, Jeffries denied that he was seeking to lock up Mejia’s support as part of his trip to Morristown.

“It has nothing to do with it at all. We're focused on Nov. 3, not Jan. 3," he said referring to the date when newly elected House members will select party leaders.

It’s difficult at this stage to gauge Jeffries' chances. It depends on who has been doing the gauging.

In March, the left-leaning New Republic magazine found that 80 Democratic candidates had effectively made it known that their support for Jeffries was not a lock. A survey conducted by Gallup in December also found that just 37% of Americans approved of Jeffries, including 64% of Democrats and 35% of independents.

“I think that we should have a discussion about how we are going to lead the party, how we are going to make sure to meet people’s needs,” Mejia told a Washington, DC, news show earlier this year.

A more recent probe by the Capitol Hill insider site Punchbowl News found support solidifying for Jeffries after he led high-profile battles over redistricting and against ICE funding, which led to the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security.

But Jeffries and the Democrats now face another challenge: the recent success of Democratic Socialists of America-linked candidates in Democratic primaries in New York, Colorado and Pennsylvania. These left-wing politicians espousing Medicare for All, stringent environmental regulations, vows to rein in the “billionaire class” and staunch opposition to U.S. support for Israel have President Donald Trump rebranding Democrats as “communists.”

Then there is Abdul El-Sayed, a former Detroit public health official who narrowly won the Aug. 4 Michigan primary for the U.S. Senate with a progressive campaign message. El-Sayed has said he is not a democratic socialist, but that hasn’t stopped Trump from branding him as a leftist who hates America.

Some fear that Trump’s scare tactics will actually work on swing voters in toss-up races. Menendez is not one of them. At the Morristown event, he argued that Trump’s hysterical branding will fail to distract voters from their deep-seated concerns over the economy, the botched war in Iran and an immigration crusade that has gone too far.

“I believe at the end of the day, people are much more concerned about this administration and their economic well-being,’’ Menendez said. And he believes that there is enough policy overlap to allow space in the party’s Big Tent for the democratic socialists.

“At the end of the day, I think there's at least seven out of 10 issues that we're in agreement on — reining in this administration, driving an affordability agenda,’’ he said. “So my view is let's talk about those things that we're aligned on and get work done for the American people.”

Menendez is confident that Jeffries will help lead the charge if the Democrats win back the House — he intends to support him for speaker if that happens. But Tuesday’s host needs convincing.