Who Is Hakeem Jeffries? The Democratic Nominee for House Speaker The New York Times

Table Of Content

• Clyburn calls the leadership change an 'evolution'
• Congressional Black Caucus
• Information about voting
• Kevin McCarthy will retire from Congress at end of year
• The formerly enslaved lawmaker who warned about rewriting Black history
• Mike Johnson and the troubled history of recent Republican speakers
• Half Gives Biden Credit for Economy, But Few See Direct Benefits for Them

She could activate a vote at any time so Johnson should know he is skating on thin ice. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson attends a news conference at the U.S. This rewriting of history propelled the Lost Cause movement, led by Confederate veterans and their families, which promoted reconciliation efforts with the North by portraying the Civil War not as a fight to maintain slavery, but as a noble struggle to preserve the Southern way of life. Johnson also proposed a bill to deal with immigration and secure the U.S. border, which was killed on a procedural vote last weekend. Based on their first impressions of that bill, 35% of those polled are in favor of it and 23% are opposed, with 42% registering no opinion.

Clyburn calls the leadership change an 'evolution'

Clyburn helped power Barack Obama to victory in 2008 and is credited with rescuing Biden’s foundering presidential campaign in 2020 when he offered his endorsement ahead of the state’s primary. He was named to the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol and led the panel’s high-profile third hearing, which focused on Trump’s efforts to pressure his vice-president, Mike Pence, to overturn the results of the 2020 election. For years, Clark and Jeffries worked in partnership, cementing their status as heirs apparent for the moment when Pelosi and her deputies stepped down. She is well-liked among the many caucuses and coalitions within her party and her colleagues have praised her as someone who always keeps in touch, a trait that will serve her well as Democratic whip. But he was soon elected to the New York state assembly, where he served for six years before running for Congress in 2012. He won the Brooklyn and Queens-based seat, parts of which were once represented by Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to Congress.

Congressional Black Caucus

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. As House minority leader, Jeffries played an important role in negotiations on the 2023 bill to extend the debt ceiling and limit federal expenditures to avert a catastrophic U.S. government default in early June. The debt ceiling bill passed the House on May 31 and moved to the Senate, where it passed the next day.

Information about voting

House Minority Leader Weekly Briefing January 18, 2024 - C-SPAN

House Minority Leader Weekly Briefing January 18, 2024.

Posted: Thu, 18 Jan 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]

During the Trump presidency, he built a national profile as a sharp-tongued critic and impeachment prosecutor, while also working with Republicans to pass criminal justice reform legislation. It is highly improbable that any Republicans would defect and vote for Mr. Jeffries, handing the speaker’s gavel to the leader of the opposing party. That would be viewed as political treason by Republican lawmakers and voters alike. The Minority Whip is a member of the minority party who assists the minority leader in coordinating the party caucus in its responses to legislation and other matters.

Kevin McCarthy will retire from Congress at end of year

Under Rule XIII, clause 6, the Rules Committee may not (except in certain specified circumstances) issue a "rule" that prevents the minority leader or a designee from offering a motion to recommit with instructions. Jeffries received thunderous applause from fellow Democrats during a poetic portion of his speech. Through the use of clever alliteration and every letter of the alphabet, the House minority leader appeared to highlight the contrast he saw between his party and Republicans. During the early hours of Saturday after McCarthy won the speakership, Jeffries officially became the first African American in history to lead a major party in Congress.

h Congress Begins

In addition to avoiding a devastating default that would hurt everyday Americans. Retiring Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, said he has known Jeffries since the New Yorker’s first day in Congress. Jeffries, Clark and Aguilar will lead House Democrats with the outgoing leadership team’s blessing and no individual challengers. But members say they collectively face the challenge of having to succeed the historic leadership of Pelosi and her team. Democrats say their new leadership team is reflective of America’s diversity. Hailed as a kingmaker in South Carolina politics, his influence is widely felt.

House Minority Leader Weekly Briefing September 21, 2023 - C-SPAN

House Minority Leader Weekly Briefing September 21, 2023.

Posted: Thu, 21 Sep 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Two colleagues had spoken up to say they would join Greene in such a vote, giving her enough to defeat the speaker if all the chamber's Democrats voted to do the same. That's what the Democrats did when a motion to vacate the chair ousted the last Republican speaker, Kevin McCarthy, last fall. Current opinion of Congress’ performance stands at 14% approve and 79% disapprove. The highest this rating reached since Republicans took control of the House last year was 23% (March 2023).

Mike Johnson and the troubled history of recent Republican speakers

A noted strategist and coalition builder, he ultimately ran unopposed, and on November 30, 2022, the House Democrats selected him to replace Pelosi as the party’s leader in the upcoming Congress. Jeffries officially became the House minority leader on January 3, 2023. Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, the majority leader, had considered trying to remain in leadership and said he had the support to do so, but ultimately decided against it. And Representative Adam B. Schiff of California had considered a challenge to Mr. Jeffries for the post of minority leader, but many Democrats said he lacked the votes. Last week, Mr. Schiff told Mr. Jeffries that he was instead exploring a run for Senate and wished the representative well in the upcoming leadership election, according to a person familiar with the private conversation who disclosed it on the condition of anonymity. Another scholar contends that the minority leader position emerged even before 1883.

Half Gives Biden Credit for Economy, But Few See Direct Benefits for Them

Beginning in 2000, Jeffries ran for office twice, unsuccessfully, before winning a seat in the New York State Assembly in 2006. Supporters and the media called him “The Barack of Brooklyn;” he was young, charismatic, and born on the same day as another Black politician, future President Barack Obama. Following law school, Jeffries clerked for Judge Harold Baer Jr. of the U.S. Jeffries practiced law for several years at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. 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.

Democrats will place their party leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries’ name into nomination, and Republicans will place McCarthy’s name. Republican Rep. Andy Biggs is also expected to garner several votes in the first round. A son of civil servants who cut his teeth as a litigator at a white-shoe law firm and at CBS, Mr. Jeffries rose swiftly through the ranks of Democratic politics in New York and then Washington. Since 2013, he has represented some of the nation’s iconic Black neighborhoods in Brooklyn.

The House is taking a roll call vote to determine how many members are physically present in the chamber, known as a quorum. In his nomination remarks, Aguilar rebuked Republican nominee Rep. Kevin McCarthy's alignment with former President Donald Trump and his lack of clarity on right-wing extremism. Follow the latest political news here or read through the updates below. With Republicans having trouble settling on a speaker, Mr. Jeffries has pitched a coalition government that he describes as an “enlightened arrangement.” But the idea is a long shot. Earlier this week he said “informal conversations” had occurred but did not share details.

"As Speaker of the House, my ultimate responsibility is not to my party, my conference, or even our Congress. My responsibility — our responsibility — is to our country," Speaker McCarthy told the chamber. Early Saturday morning, on January 7, 2023, Representative Kevin McCarthy (CA-20) was elected Speaker of the House. WASHINGTON — The White House seized on remarks by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell that former President Donald Trump resisted accepting any bipartisan compromise to toughen border security laws. Nicholas Longworth, speaker of the House, holds a gun once owned by famous outlaw Jesse James on Jan. 23, 1930. The current state of internal politics among House Republicans is so unsettled that almost anything could happen at almost any time. But as Greene has said, the existence of her motion serves as a warning.

But when he left after the 1924 session, his party was still firmly in control and had just elected President Calvin Coolidge to a full term. The next two Republican speakers would be John Boehner, elevated to the job by the GOP recapture of the House in the "Tea Party" election of 2010. Boehner worked hard to fashion budget deals with both a Democratic President Barack Obama and a Democratic Senate. But his efforts alienated some in his own ranks who in 2015 formed an insurgent group known as the House Freedom Caucus. Increasingly exasperated with his untenable predicament, Boehner simply resigned in October of that year. Those eight years actually made Hastert the longest-serving Republican speaker in history.

Democrats are more likely to say their party is generally successful at getting bills passed – 73% say this about their party but only 21% say the same about the GOP. This is different from Republicans, who tend to have the same view of both parties – 41% say Republicans are generally successful and 40% say Democrats are generally successful at passing legislation when they control the House. “The foreign aid package may be a big policy win, but politically it’s a wash for Speaker Johnson,” said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute.

In 2017, Scalise was critically wounded when a gunman opened fire during a congressional baseball practice. He spent weeks in the hospital and required intensive rehabilitation. A staunch defender of the second amendment, Scalise said the experience only reinforced his support for gun rights. McCarthy, 57, has been plotting his path to the speakership for the better part of a decade. He acknowledged the caucus is "a big family, and an enthusiastic family and sometimes a noisy family." In a veiled reference to the House GOP conference and its allegiance to former President Donald Trump, Jeffries added "I'd much rather be a coalition than a cult." The total number of members present will determine the number of votes needed to become speaker.

Johnson has gained stature and won bipartisan praise for letting the whole House vote on the aid package. He also got strong support in the Senate, where even an outright majority of Republicans voted for the aid on Tuesday. The package was signed into law by President Biden the following day. African Americans comprised more than 40 percent of the legislature and held the offices of lieutenant governor, secretary of state, and secretary of education. As Black influence grew in the majority-Black state, outnumbered White residents resorted to increasingly extreme tactics to regain power.