(Washington) Democrat-elect Hakeem Jeffries was nominated Wednesday by his colleagues to succeed Nancy Pelosi and lead his party in the US House of Representatives.
He was the first black man to hold such a position in the United States Congress.
The 52-year-old elected official, who has held responsible positions on the Democratic staff since 2019, expressed his “tremendous pride” at being appointed to the position after a closed-door vote.
The election of Hakeem Jeffries marks a significant generational shift in the American Congress: the New York elected official is thirty years younger than House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“This new generation of leaders reflects the dynamism and diversity of our great nation,” she praised.
Nancy Pelosi announced in mid-November that she would relinquish her position as the Democratic leader of the House of Representatives for the foreseeable future. She continues to sit in the lower house as an ordinary woman elected from California.
As the leader of the Democrats, Hakeem Jeffries will navigate his party’s majority-less House in January. Republicans won control of that chamber in November’s midterm elections.
Although their majority is slimmer than expected, Republicans retain significant vetting power, which they have promised to use for President Biden’s handling of the pandemic or a host of investigations into the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Joe Biden’s camp, however, managed to control the Senate. Having now lost Congress for two full years, a Democratic president’s party can no longer vote on major projects. But neither is the other side.
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