On a day characterized by acrimonious infighting by Republicans, Democratic congressman Hakeem Jeffries who is from a heavily-concentrated Caribbean district in Brooklyn, New York has formally taken over the leadership of the Democrats in the United States House of Representatives.
Congressman Jeffries, a lawyer by training, was elected last December to replace Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, of California, who stepped down as House Speaker but remains in the US Congress.
Jeffries – representative for the 8th Congressional District, encompassing Brooklyn and parts of Queens – on Tuesday received 212 votes each time in the three rounds of voting, for Speaker of the House of Representatives, in the new session of Congress that is now narrowly controlled by Republicans.
His votes each time were more than any Republican, including Kevin McCarthy, who has to date failed to secure the majority of votes to be next Speaker. McCarthy on Tuesday pledged to have more rounds of voting until he is elected Speaker.
Democrats on Tuesday demonstrated sheer unity amid Republican disunity and mutiny, rallying around Jeffries,
“He does not traffic in extremism,” said Congressman Pete Aguilar, of California, the No. 3 Democrat, of Jeffries in a nominating speech on the House floor.
“He does not grovel to or make excuses for a twice-impeached, so-called former president,” added Aguilar, referring to former US President Donald J. Trump. “He does not bend a knee to anyone who would seek to undermine our democracy because, Madam Clerk, that’s not what leaders do.”
Last month, Brooklyn Democratic Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke said she had voted with “a huge sense of pride” for her Brooklyn Congressional colleague to be leader of Congressional Democrats.
Hakeem Jeffries, 52, thus created history, becoming the first Black person to hold the top position in the House of Representatives.
Jeffries ran unopposed as Democratic leader, with Massachusetts Congresswoman Katherine Clark, the former assistant speaker, elected as whip, the lead vote counter for House Democrats.
Aguilar, who was vice chair of the House Democratic Caucus, replaces Jeffries as chairman of the caucus.
Immediately after his election, Jeffries said “I stand on the shoulders of Shirley Chisholm and others,” referring to the late Caribbean American congresswoman, whose parents hailed from Barbados and Guyana.
CMC/
