Hakeem Jeffries Set to Become First Black Speaker of the House

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York is set to become the first Black person to serve as speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. He will assume the role when the new Congress convenes for a floor vote on Jan. 3. As speaker, Jeffries will rank second in the presidential line of succession, immediately behind the vice president.

Jeffries, a Democrat, helped deliver a decisive victory for House Democrats in the recent midterm elections. He currently serves as House minority leader, a position he has held since 2022. He is the first Black politician to lead either party in the House or the Senate. His selection marks the culmination of nearly 14 years in the chamber, during which he rose from a rank-and-file member to a top party lieutenant under former Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The new speaker has a long history with criminal justice reform. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he represented parts of the borough in Congress starting in 2013. Before entering politics, he worked as a private practice lawyer. He said that helping members of his community through a law school legal clinic sparked his interest in fixing the broken criminal justice system. As a member of the New York State Assembly, he worked to regulate warrantless stop-and-frisk searches by the New York City Police Department.

In Washington, Jeffries led the effort to pass the bipartisan First Step Act during the first Trump administration. The law reduced sentences for some drug crimes. The process required close collaboration with Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law at the time. Jeffries noted that getting things done in Washington often requires a coalition of unusual suspects. He described his partnership with Kushner as one that produced real results, despite later facing criticism from some in his party for meeting privately with the former adviser.

Jeffries has navigated the ideological spectrum within the Democratic Party. He was once a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and sponsored Medicare for All proposals. However, he has often drawn skepticism from the party's left wing. As speaker, he must determine how to integrate or manage a growing group of Democratic Socialist-aligned members in the new legislative process. He told The Atlantic in 2021 that he will not bend the knee to hard-left democratic socialism, noting that his experience as a Black man shapes his view of systemic racism in America.

Jeffries served as an impeachment manager during the Senate trial of President Trump over the Ukraine pressure campaign. In that case, Trump withheld military aid while pushing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to investigate Joe Biden. Jeffries has not committed to pursuing impeachment again in Trump's second term. He told Fox News in April that it was not a top priority for Democrats and told ABC in September that the party had not ruled anything in or out.

The primary focus for the new Congress under Jeffries' leadership is lowering costs for Americans. He stated on Tuesday night that this was a change election and that House Democrats need to deliver dramatic change. He added that things are broken and that the new Congress must put the American people first.