Hakeem Jeffries: from rising star to Democratic leader

While a formal vote has yet to happen, Democrats seem poised to elect Hakeem Jeffries as their new leader in the House.

The representative for New York launched his leadership bid last Friday, writing to colleagues and asking for support, saying his aim was to create “a better future for all Americans”. The 52-year-old is “a near certainty” to replace the outgoing House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, wrote Alexander Sammon at Slate, even before she had publicly backed him.

Jeffries has “long been seen as her heir apparent”, said Lauren Feder in the Financial Times, and he now “appears to be on a smooth path” to leadership thanks to Pelosi’s influence within the caucus.

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The former lawyer has served as the caucus chairman, the fifth-highest-ranking leadership role, since 2019. If he does become leader, he will be the first black person in American history to lead a party in Congress.

The rising star

Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Jeffries attended Midwood High School before graduating from Binghamton University with a BA in Political Science. In 1994 he graduated from Georgetown University with a Master of Public Policy degree, before studying and graduating from the New York University School of Law.

Jeffries then worked in corporate law before, after two attempts, entering politics in 2006 when he was elected to the New York State Assembly – a position he held until 2012. He gave up his seat in the assembly to run for Congress and was successfully elected from New York’s 8th congressional district.

In his time in Congress, Jeffries “pushed for policing reform”, said CNN, and has been “instrumental” in getting acts through the house. Jeffries has also been at “the forefront of efforts to fight racial injustice”, said The New York Times, and a “defender of bedrock liberal priorities”.

He was dubbed one of the party’s “rising stars” after his first year in Congress, according to Observer, and just six years after being elected he was voted House Chair, which “put him in Pelosi’s inner circle”, wrote Feder.

‘A Democratic Party stalwart’

Jeffries is “a tireless champion of incumbency” and his “devotion to keeping the already-elected in power” has made him a “Democratic Party stalwart”, said Sammon. He has “broad appeal in his party and displays maturity and focus”, said Jennifer Rubin in The Washington Post, but the key to his leadership will be his “ability to maintain unity”, particularly with the “left-leaning members” with whom he’s had conflict in the past.

The “party moderates have felt vindicated” however since the success of the midterm elections while Jeffries has also been “personally affirmed” by the results, wrote Zak Cheney-Rice in New York Magazine. But if the “biggest changes” to the Democrat policies have been a “leftward shift driven by younger and less white officials”, Jeffries has “not been a meaningful part of it”. His “rapid ascent” in the party, writes Cheney-Rice, is thanks to him “endearing himself to its elders” even as they’ve become “out of touch with their constituents”.

‘Navigating a Republican majority’

Jeffries biggest task as leader will be “navigating a Republican majority” in the house following the midterms, said Li Zhou at Vox. He has already said “he’d be open to working with Republicans when possible” and his party members believe he has the “willingness to confront Republicans and extremism within the party” when he needs to.

Despite the conflict with the progressives within his party, Jeffries remains in a stronger position than the likely new House Speaker, Republican Kevin McCarthy, posited Rubin in The Washington Post. McCarthy “remains hostage to the Christian nationalist base and the MAGA members”, she wrote and he is “widely regarded as a weak leader”.

McCarthy’s leadership and the Republicans’ slim majority may help Jeffries find “unanimity” within his party “in opposition to a MAGA majority lacking a governing agenda”.