Following the 2022 mid-term elections, New York Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, 52, has been elected to be the new Minority Leader of the House of Representatives. He will take over from Nancy Pelosi, 82, on January 3, 2023. With the election, Hakeem Jeffries becomes the First Black Leader in the US Congress.
Hakeem Jeffries was unanimously elected without facing any competition and with the support from Nancy Pelosi. Nancy Pelosi has been leading the Democrats caucus in the US House of Representatives for almost 20 years..
Representatives Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, 59, was elected the next Chairman of the Party Caucus and Pete Aguilar of California, 42, the Minority Whip. Pete Aguilar, is hispanic. The new team has set a historic precedent, with being relatively young and not including white men. In fact, Nancy Pelosi, 82, and Steny Hoyer, 83, around 30 years older than the new team.
In early November, following the general mid-term elections in which Democrats lost control of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi announced her decision to step down as leader, to give opportunity to the new generation. She said: "For me, the hour has come for a new generation to lead the Democratic caucus that I so deeply respect, and I'm grateful that so many are ready and willing to shoulder this awesome responsibility.".
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What is Next for Democrats in the US Congress.
The question now is whether, with the new team, the Democrats will engage on a new direction. The team will be judged based on two trends within the Democratic party.
The first trend is the one that was led by Nancy Pelosi. The other, identified with Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is known as "Left Democrats". Hakeem Jeffries, a member of the "Congressional Progressive Caucus." (CPC) has committed to reach all the parties, as a “Black progressive Democrat” but also with the drive to stand up to the activist left as needed.
Referring to the elections, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez described the outcome as a “sea change for American politics that will have profound ramifications.” and said that she would expect Hakeem Jeffries to increase faith in politics and Congress by pursuing “greater independence from large and corporate donors” .
In his acceptance speech, Hakeem Jeffries expressed his commitment to reaching across the aisle whenever possible and to resist white extremism when necessary and told the reporters after the election:
“I was born at Brooklyn Hospital, raised in Crown Heights by my two parents, who were public employees, a case worker and a social worker. In a middle-class, working-class neighborhood in the midst of the crack cocaine epidemic in the ’80s and into the early ’90s."
Hakeem Jeffries also remarked that the House Democrats held together by sharing a commitment to fighting for “young people, seniors, immigrants, veterans, the poor, the sick, the afflicted, the least, the lost and the left behind.” and will “push back against extremism whenever necessary."
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) joins Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) as the new leaders of the Democrats in the US Congress.
@AfroAmerica Network 2022
