Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) skated to victory in New York Metropolis on Tuesday, Determination Desk HQ initiatives, simply beating again a symbolic problem from Republican John Delaney in a race that was by no means a contest.
The massive query surrounding Jeffries this cycle was by no means whether or not he’d win a seventh time period, however whether or not the Democrats will flip management of the decrease chamber and put him in place to turn into the primary Black Speaker within the historical past of the nation — a query that is still unanswered Tuesday night as dozens of battleground races throughout the map have but to be referred to as.
Jeffries’s ascent throughout the social gathering has been meteoric since he arrived on Capitol Hill in 2013. Inside six years, he rose to turn into chair of the Home Democratic Caucus, defeating the extra senior Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) in a race that marked a symbolic step within the generational shift among the many social gathering’s high brass.
4 years later, Jeffries jumped into the highest management spot, changing former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who stepped out of energy after twenty years because the chief Home Democrat. It was a monumental shift, and Pelosi — who made historical past by changing into the primary feminine Speaker in U.S. historical past — greased the skids for Jeffries to succeed her, leaping over extra senior Democrats within the course of. In that leap, he made historical past himself, changing into the primary Black lawmaker to guide both social gathering in Congress.
Jeffries’s management fashion has been constant. He’s fast to achieve out to GOP leaders searching for bipartisan compromise throughout a spectrum of points. He’s additionally been a fierce advocate of civil rights and financial justice — one who’s greater than prepared to battle with Republicans when variations emerge.
He’s additionally been amongst Trump’s most vocal critics. Jeffries was one of many seven Democrats chosen by Pelosi to handle Trump’s first impeachment, which charged the forty fifth president of leveraging U.S. army support to stress a overseas chief to analyze political rivals.
Because the assault on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, these criticisms have gotten solely louder. And Jeffries has been scathing in denouncing each Trump and his GOP allies within the Capitol for threatening the nation’s foundational democratic traditions.
If Democrats do flip the Home on Tuesday evening, Jeffries is able to take a lot of the credit score. He’s been a prodigious fundraiser all through the cycle, elevating tens of tens of millions of {dollars} for the social gathering, and a tireless campaigner, stumping in battleground districts from coast to coast.
