First Black House Majority Leader in U.S. History... Jeffries Elected

50s and 6-term Lawmakers... Leadership Generation Change to 40s-50s

Photo by APF News Agency

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] Hakim Jeffries has been elected as the new House Majority Leader to lead the U.S. Democratic Party in the House of Representatives. He made history as the first Black House leader in the history of the U.S. Congress, encompassing both the Senate and the House. Jeffries will succeed Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who led the Democratic House for 20 years, and will lead the Democratic House starting January next year.

On the 30th (local time), the New York Times (NYT) and others reported that the U.S. Democrats unanimously elected Representative Jeffries as the new House Majority Leader to lead the House Democrats, succeeding Speaker Pelosi, on the morning of the same day.

Jeffries, a native of Brooklyn, New York, and representing New York's 8th district, was first elected as a federal House representative in the 2012 election after serving as a New York State Assembly member, and has been re-elected six times consecutively through this midterm election.

Jeffries praised the current leadership's achievements and expressed his aspirations, stating, "More must be done to combat inflation, protect democracy, secure reproductive freedom, welcome new Americans, respect equal protection under the law, and improve public safety."

Alongside Jeffries, Katherine Clark (Massachusetts) and Pete Aguilar (California) were elected to the Democratic House leadership as Majority Whip and Assistant Democratic Leader, respectively.

Clark will become the second-ranking Democrat in the House next year, replacing Steny Hoyer (Maryland), and Aguilar will take the third-ranking position, replacing James Clyburn (South Carolina).

At 52 years old, Jeffries is thirty years younger than Speaker Pelosi (82), marking a generational change in the Democratic House leadership.

After the new leadership was elected, Speaker Pelosi said, "A new era is dawning," and expressed confidence that "the new leadership will competently lead our House."

Having led the Democrats in the House for the past 20 years, Speaker Pelosi announced on the 17th that she would not run in the next leadership election and would step back from frontline politics after the Democrats lost their majority in the House in the midterm elections held on the 8th of last month.

Jeffries, who will lead the Democrats in the 118th Congress starting January 3 next year, will bear the political burden of being the majority leader of the ruling party but facing the opposition Republican Party, which holds the majority of seats after the Democrats became the minority.

The next Speaker of the House is expected to be Representative Kevin McCarthy, the current House Republican Majority Leader.

In the Senate, the Democrats have secured 50 out of 100 seats, and considering the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris, the ex officio Senate President, the Democrats have already secured the majority regardless of the runoff election for the Georgia federal Senate seat on the 6th of next month.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.