When Hakeem Jeffries was rising up in Crown Heights, a working-class neighbourhood in Brooklyn, his congresswoman was Shirley Chisholm, a New York politician who in 1968 turned the primary black girl elected to the US Congress. In 2012, Jeffries was elected to characterize the identical space.
This week — on what would have been Chisholm’s birthday — Jeffries made historical past of his personal when he was unanimously elected as Home Democratic chief. He turns into the primary black individual to guide a political celebration in Congress and the successor to Nancy Pelosi.
Talking on Capitol Hill, Jeffries invoked the reminiscence of his predecessor. “I stand on the shoulders of individuals like Shirley Chisholm and so many others as we work to advance the ball for on a regular basis People,” he stated. “As a result of that’s what Democrats do.”
Pelosi, 82, enthusiastically endorsed him, saying “a brand new day [was] dawning” and it was time “for a brand new technology to guide the Democratic caucus”.
On Capitol Hill, Jeffries, 52, has lengthy been seen as a rising star and expert communicator. However after Democrats narrowly misplaced management of the Home final month, he faces a tricky uphill battle to regain the chamber in 2024, and to maintain his celebration united within the face of Republican opposition.
His colleagues nonetheless say the previous litigator is up for the job. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate majority chief who can also be from Brooklyn, praised Jeffries this week, noting their shared trajectory from modest New York upbringings to the halls of energy.
“Once you’re from Brooklyn, you be taught rapidly traits like persistence and severe mettle,” Schumer stated. “It’s a crowded place and a various place. You discover ways to work with all types of various folks. You discover ways to stand your floor. You be taught to not take issues personally.”
Jeffries was born in 1970, the kid of a social employee and a substance abuse counsellor. He attended state faculties earlier than learning political science on the State College of New York at Binghamton. In his remaining yr, the acquittal of the cops who beat Rodney King and the following riots in Los Angeles impressed him to pursue politics.
Adrian Fenty, the previous mayor of Washington DC who was roommates with Jeffries in graduate faculty, described him as having a “quiet depth”, including: “There wasn’t a lot that he wasn’t the most effective at.”
After regulation faculty, Jeffries joined certainly one of New York’s high regulation corporations earlier than changing into an in-house litigator for Viacom and CBS. Whereas there, he labored on a lawsuit stemming from Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” within the 2004 Tremendous Bowl halftime present. He married Kennisandra Arciniegas-Jeffries, who works for a serious labour union, they usually have two sons.
Following two unsuccessful makes an attempt, he was elected to the New York state legislature in 2006. “He was only a very studious, clever, and nimble legislator, and he actually stood out to be a pure chief,” stated Grace Meng, the New York congresswoman who met Jeffries in Albany. In 2012, he made it to Congress, and 6 years after that, he was chosen to chair the Home Democratic caucus, placing him on the quick observe to management.
Jeffries was thrust into the nationwide highlight in 2020 when Pelosi named him as certainly one of seven impeachment managers who acted as prosecutors in Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial. Throughout this, he notably invoked one other Brooklynite — rapper Infamous B.I.G. “In the event you don’t know, now you realize,” Jeffries responded to a Trump defence legal professional asking, “why are we right here?”
Colleagues commend Jeffries for his “large tent” strategy to uniting an typically fractious celebration, and level out he was unchallenged in his bid for chief as proof of his collegiality. However he isn’t with out his critics. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New York congresswoman, reportedly thought of supporting a progressive main problem towards him. Different left-leaning Democrats paint him as a part of the institution, flagging that lots of his marketing campaign contributions got here from Wall Avenue.
However Terri Sewell, the Democratic congresswoman from Alabama, referred to as Jeffries a “pragmatic progressive” and stated he had a “distinctive” capability to have interaction throughout the ideological spectrum.
“That’s, I believe, his genius,” Sewell stated. “His capability to not solely pay attention however actually invite and supply a secure house for all of us to air our issues or grievances, however on the identical time popping out of it with a coverage that we are able to all get behind.”
With the Democrats within the minority, nonetheless, Jeffries will even must deal with extra obstructionist Republican lawmakers who’ve already vowed to dam their priorities and launch a spate of investigations into the Biden administration.
Allies say Jeffries has a document of reaching throughout the political aisle, pointing to the friendship he solid with former Republican Georgia congressman Doug Collins so as to push by way of jail sentencing reform laws. However he has been icier in his strategy to Kevin McCarthy, the Republican who’s more likely to turn out to be Speaker of the Home.
Nonetheless, high of Jeffries’ new to do checklist is not going to be bipartisanship, however defeating Republicans on the poll field in 2024. “His problem is attending to 218,” stated Gregory Meeks, the Democratic congressman from New York, referring to the variety of Home seats required to clinch the bulk. “His strengths are what is going to assist lead us that approach.”
lauren.fedor@ft.com
