Hakeem Jeffries Elected Leader of House Democrats The New York Times

Table Of Content

• Members of Congress put pressure on Biden to grant protections for Haitians fleeing to the U.S.
• From New York to Arizona: Inside the head-spinning week of Trump’s legal drama
• Hakeem Jeffries commences historic role as House minority leader with stirring speech
• Granderson: Arizona’s indictment of Trump allies follows a sordid, racist history
• Los Angeles County
• Gun laws

He is an alumnus of Florida A&M University and serves as deputy chair of the National Assn. of Black Journalists’ Political Task Force. An early test of Jeffries’ leadership could come in his appointment of a new chair of House Democrats’ campaign arm, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. He entered House Democratic leadership in 2017 as a co-chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, which works on caucus messaging. Hailing the Democratic caucus as a “beautiful mosaic of the country”, Aguilar acknowledged the significance of being a Latino in a leadership role. The minority party opposes initiatives of the majority party and offers its own proposals as substitutes.

Members of Congress put pressure on Biden to grant protections for Haitians fleeing to the U.S.

He also served as one of the House prosecutors in the first impeachment of Trump. Cicilline, a gay member who chairs the LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus, told reporters Wednesday that the recent shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado reminded him of the importance of representation, echoing what he wrote in his letter to colleagues asking for their support. Clark will become the second woman in congressional history to serve as whip, which will require her to have a grip on where members stand on legislative issues and, when needed, to pressure them to toe the party line. Jeffries is the eldest of two sons born to Laneda (Gomes) Jeffries, a social worker, and Marland Jeffries, a substance-abuse counselor. Hakeem Jeffries attended the State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University), where he received a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1992.

From New York to Arizona: Inside the head-spinning week of Trump’s legal drama

But he showed a prowess for navigating difficult situations and an ability to calm tensions. The Los Angeles city attorney is an elected official whose job is legal counsel for the city and may prosecute misdemeanor criminal offenses within the city. The Los Angeles City Clerk is in charge of record-keeping for the city and elections. The Los Angeles City Controller is the elected auditor and chief accounting officer of the city. Last month, mayoral candidate Karen Bass suggested that rival Rick Caruso purchased the endorsement of Avance Democratic Club, a Latino group.

Hakeem Jeffries commences historic role as House minority leader with stirring speech

An East Coast native, Lin moved to California after graduating from Boston College and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. It’s also common for clubs’ members to work for elected officials, creating long-standing relationships that some candidates believe can unfairly help incumbents seeking endorsements. At the same time, clubs often have long-standing relationships with politicians, because the politicians may regularly speak at club events. The list of the 10 speakers who served in the job longest includes just one Republican (and in the ninth slot at that). That speaker was Joseph G. Cannon of Illinois, notorious as the autocratic "Czar Cannon" during three two-year tours as speaker that ended with his party's historic defeat in 1910.

Granderson: Arizona’s indictment of Trump allies follows a sordid, racist history

He served as counsel in the litigation department of Viacom Inc. and CBS where he represented CBS in a civil lawsuit over Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction in her 2004 Super Bowl halftime show with Justin Timberlake. Jeffries also worked as counsel at Godosky & Gentile, a litigation firm in New York City. Los Angeles has voted for every Democratic Party candidate for president since at least 1964. In the seven presidential elections since George H.W. Bush's re-election bid in 1992, no Republican candidate has received as much as 30% of the vote in Los Angeles. “I am deeply grateful to the wide and overwhelming coalition of leaders in private industry and advocacy groups that are speaking out in support of this crucial piece of legislation.

Hakeem Jeffries

In Congress, Jeffries chaired the House Democratic Caucus from 2019 to 2023. The members of the caucus unanimously elected him to succeed Nancy Pelosi as leader in November 2022. This made him the first African American to lead a party in either chamber of the United States Congress. Nolan D. McCaskill is a former staff writer who covered Congress for the Los Angeles Times. Before joining The Times in September 2021, he spent nearly seven years at Politico, where he covered breaking news, Congress, the Trump White House, the 2020 Democratic presidential primary and race and policy.

Michel's predecessor, Republican John Rhodes of Arizona, was elected Minority Leader in 1973 after 20 years of House service. In 2019 Jeffries became chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, a post that made him the fifth highest-ranking Democrat in the chamber. In that role he presided over races for other party leadership posts and helped set legislative priorities for the House Democrats. Toward the end of 2019 the House of Representatives impeached Republican Pres. Donald Trump over allegations that he had withheld aid to Ukraine in order to pressure the country into opening a corruption investigation into one of his political rivals, Democrat Joe Biden.

House Minority Leader Weekly Briefing March 21, 2024 - C-SPAN

House Minority Leader Weekly Briefing March 21, 2024.

Posted: Thu, 21 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Committee assignments

The party settled on Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, who had not sought the gavel but agreed to take it. The No. 2 Republican at the time did not have the votes, and the No. 3 declined to run. The chairman of the Appropriations Committee was nominated by the party conference but withdrew after a magazine story accused him of marital infidelity.

Gun laws

Jeffries is a former lawyer who represents a diverse district in Brooklyn and Queens once represented by Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman to serve in Congress. He is known on Capitol Hill as a disciplined tactician with a measured style and a penchant for pop culture references. The narrow margin of Republicans’ majority, and McCarthy’s tenuous hold on his caucus, is likely to give Democrats some leverage in negotiations, particularly when it comes to must-pass legislation.

Democrats tell theGrio that they are ready to resist the Republican agenda and will lay the groundwork for their opportunity to reclaim power in the House. On Tuesday, House Democrats granted Pelosi the honorific title of “speaker emerita”. Clyburn, now the highest-ranking Black member of Congress, intends to remain as assistant leader to help with the transition. That election, and votes for other leadership posts, will take place on Thursday. The seamless elevation of a new generation of leaders came in stark contrast to the fractured House Republican conference, which has yet to unite around Kevin McCarthy after the weaker-than-expected midterms win.

Democrats say their new leadership team is reflective of America’s diversity. On Saturday morning, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries officially made history as the first African American to lead a major party in Congress. Though Pelosi will remain in Congress, she promised not to be the “mother-in-law in the kitchen”. Asked if the continued presence of Pelosi, Hoyer and Clyburn might be a burden, Jeffries said the new leaders felt honored to “stand on their shoulders”. In remarks to reporters on Wednesday, Jeffries traced his ascent from the Brooklyn hospital where he was born, the son of a caseworker and a social worker. Moved by what he described as a desire to “advance the ball for everyday Americans”, he first won election to the New York state assembly, where he sat for six years.