Don Leonard isn't a House member yet. He's already rocking Capitol Hill.

Rep.-elect Don Leonard (D-Ohio) hasn't been sworn in yet, but he's making a name for himself on Capitol Hill as one of the most outspoken anti-establishment progressives in the incoming freshman class. Why it matters: That's an unlikely position for a Democrat who represents a rural Ohio district that President Trump carried by 10 percentage points in 2024. Leonard is archetypal of a burgeoning breed of swing-district House Democrats — populist in style, receptive to left-wing policies and unbound by traditional political norms — that will be well-represented in the 120th Congress. "I'm really vibing with my class," he told Axios in a Tuesday interview on Capitol Hill. "These are everyday citizens who heard the same call I heard and stood up." State of play: Leonard, a professor of city planning who defeated Republican Rep. Mike Carey in last Tuesday's midterm elections, was turning heads on Capitol Hill before he even arrived for freshman orientation on Sunday. He told his local CBS affiliate the day after the election he will "be shopping for a new leader" unless House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) changes his pro-Israel positions. He made an even bigger splash on Tuesday with a video he posted to social media saying he met with "senior members" who warned him his life would be a "living hell" and that he would lose reelection if he opposes Jeffries for speaker of the House. The other side: House Democratic Caucus chair Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), asked about Leonard's video at a press conference Tuesday afternoon, told reporters, "I don't know what senior Democrats he's talking about." "I think all of us here can attest to the work, the time, the energy that Hakeem Jeffries put into helping us build this majority," Aguilar said. Aguilar predicted Jeffries will be "overwhelmingly selected" as speaker and that he doesn't "lose any sleep over that." "Members could have ideas and interests and they could have asks along the way, but the outcome is not in ques