Monday, April 29, 2024

Democrats make Hakeem Jeffries 1st Black party leader in House Los Angeles Times

minority house leader

Securing broad support, Jeffries easily won the race to represent New York’s 8th congressional district, which includes parts of Brooklyn and the neighbouring borough of Queens. After taking office in 2013, he took particular interest in police and criminal justice reform. He introduced legislation calling for a federal ban on the police use of choke holds following the death of an unarmed Black man, Eric Garner, in July 2014. Garner had died after having a choke hold applied to him during his arrest on Staten Island. Jeffries also championed the First Step Act, which was signed into law in 2018.

From Bakersfield to speaker of the House: Kevin McCarthy’s D.C. career in photos

minority house leader

In 1989 Speaker Jim Wright of Texas resigned under pressure following revelations about a book deal the House Ethics Committee saw as circumventing fundraising rules. Longworth's successor, John "Cactus Jack" Garner of Texas, left the office after just over a year to be Franklin Roosevelt's first vice president. The statement from Jeffries and his leadership team Tuesday, which came after House Democrats held a rigorous debate over the matter in a closed-door caucus meeting, is the strongest signal of how the party would react to a move to oust the speaker.

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Nicholas Longworth, speaker of the House, holds a gun once owned by famous outlaw Jesse James on Jan. 23, 1930. Even a glance at the history of Republican speakers since World War II would tell him that. When the House returns from its recess next week, Speaker Mike Johnson is now widely expected to resume his duties without immediately facing a motion to oust him. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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In an interview with The Atlantic, for example, Jeffries said he would never “bend the knee to hard-left democratic socialism”. He was also a vocal supporter of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as she ran in the 2016 Democratic primary against Senator Bernie Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist. Pelosi announced she would step aside as party leader on November 17 along with two other top House Democrats, Maryland’s Steny Hoyer and South Carolina’s Jim Clyburn. Jeffries is the eldest of two sons born to Laneda (Gomes) Jeffries, a social worker, and Marland Jeffries, a substance-abuse counselor.

In contrast, the Minority Leader is the undisputed leader of the minority party. For example, when the Republicans lost their majority in the 2018 elections, McCarthy was elected as Minority Leader and hence replaced Ryan as the highest-ranking House Republican. Wednesday's election means Jeffries will become minority leader when the new Congress convenes on Jan. 3. Republicans will hold a narrow majority in the House for the first time since 2019, while Democrats retained control of the Senate in the midterm elections. Hakeem Jeffries of New York was on course on Friday to be the first Black party leader in Congress, declaring his candidacy for House minority leader after securing key endorsements to succeed Nancy Pelosi, the current speaker who announced her withdrawal from leadership on Thursday.

minority house leader

Mace of the U.S. House of Represen- tatives

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. She could activate a vote at any time so Johnson should know he is skating on thin ice. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) used a motion to vacate against McCarthy in October, ending his run as Speaker after only nine months and bringing the House to a standstill for three weeks until Johnson was elected Speaker.

In a Show of Unity, House Democrats Elect Hakeem Jeffries Minority Leader

The motion is expected to fail after House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and other Democrats pledged to vote to table the motion to boot Johnson from his job. Asked about Democrats’ show of support, Johnson reiterated that he remains focused on carrying out his conference’s legislative agenda. The Bakersfield Republican congressman and former speaker’s career in Washington, D.C., spanned more than a decade and a half. Clark, the House Democrats’ No. 2, told NBC News that she had "more than grave concerns about Mike Johnson being in the speaker's role" come January. According to multiple sources in the private meeting, senior Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., told his colleagues that Democrats shouldn't be "cheap dates" — a phrase that was repeated by Jeffries and others in the room.

The appointment reflected the fact that Jeffries was an effective messenger, especially known for being highly quotable. Delivering part of the House managers’ closing arguments on February 3, he called for Trump’s removal from office, describing him as “a clear and present danger to our national security.” Two days later, however, Trump was acquitted by the Senate in an almost party-line vote. A look at one minority leadership strategy—partisan opposition—may suggest why it might be employed in specific circumstances. The purposes of obstruction are several, such as frustrating the majority party's ability to govern or attracting press and media attention to the alleged ineffectiveness of the majority party.

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Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives

“Mike Johnson is officially the Democrat speaker of the House,” she said, using the wrong term for the Democratic party, which Republicans deliberately employ as a pejorative. Johnson retains support from Donald Trump but Greene, an ardent Trump ally who has floated herself to be his running mate, has vowed to press ahead. "We were not under the impression a decision was going to be announced so soon," one Democratic lawmaker said. Other members brought up concerns about Johnson’s record, including his role as an “architect” of a legal theory to overturn the 2020 election results. She then said she would give Democrats and Republicans the chance "to support Democrats' chosen Speaker" without saying when a vote would occur. Ted LieuElected by the Democratic Caucus, the Co-Chairs lead the policy-making arm of the House Democrats.

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. An advocate of social and economic justice, Jeffries notched a top legislative achievement with the bipartisan First Step Act, criminal justice reform legislation signed into law by then-President Trump. He also served as one of the House prosecutors in the first impeachment of Trump. Democrats say their new leadership team is reflective of America’s diversity. “When we get an opportunity as diverse leaders to serve in positions of consequence, the most meaningful thing that we can do in that space is do an incredibly good job,” Mr. Jeffries said.

Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., who is 82 and has served in party leadership, said Tuesday night the shift taking place with the current slate of leaders stepping aside to make way for a new generation has been in the works for several years. As House minority leader, Jeffries will become the first Black person to lead a major political party in Congress. He is among a new slate of leaders elected Wednesday to lead House Democrats in the next session of Congress, including Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Mass., as Jeffries' No. 2, and Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., as the third-ranking leader. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., ran unopposed for the position of House Democratic leader. He replaces Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who announced she would not run for the top leadership post after Democrats lost control of the House in the midterms. Prior to the GOP's 40-year sentence as the minority party, several of its speakers had risen to the top rung largely on their personal popularity among their colleagues.

Both his state assembly district and congressional district are anchored in Brooklyn. Prior to that, the last Republican speaker had been Nicholas Longworth of Ohio, who died in 1931. Technically, he died as speaker, but his party lost its majority before the next Congress convened and elected a Democrat to the job.

"Young people, seniors, immigrants, veterans. The poor, the sick, the afflicted, the least, the lost and the left behind. House Democrats fight for the people." Theodore Wells, Jeffries’ former mentor at the Manhattan law firm Paul Weiss, told the Post, Jeffries was “someone who works easily within both the Black and white communities” and represents “a natural evolution in the background of African American politicians. Joe Neguse of Colorado, another rising Black Democrat who was a House manager in the second Trump impeachment, was also seeking a leadership slot but faced being blocked by Clyburn. He was reported to be seeking to become assistant leader but for the top spot he endorsed Jeffries, 30 years his junior. Democrats will cede control of the House in January, after midterm elections in which Republicans performed less well than expected but still took the lower chamber. Deeply reported insights into legislation, politics and policy from Sacramento, Washington and beyond.

In his November letter, Jeffries called winning back the House majority “our top non-governmental priority”. Jeffries thanked Pelosi in his speech on Wednesday, calling her an “extraordinary Speaker for the ages who has delivered so much for so many over such a significant period of time”. Jeffries also offered some insight on his relationship with GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy, the Republican nominee for the speakership.

Jeffries is set to lead a Democratic party that will lose its majority in the House of Representatives for the first time since 2018. In a speech following the vote on Wednesday, Jeffries said the party would reach across the aisle to work with Republicans. 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.

Reps. Tony Cárdenas (D-Pacoima) and Ami Bera (D-Elk Grove) were running for the post, but the caucus supported a rule change Wednesday to make the position appointed rather than elected. 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. 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. The Brooklyn native delivered a stirring floor speech on behalf of House Democrats before handing the gavel to McCarthy symbolizing the peaceful transfer of power.

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