Hakeem Jeffries, First Black Lawmaker to Lead a Party in Congress

The 2022 Midterm Elections has been a series of historical results, from first lesbian governors Maura Healey and Tina Kotek to first gay immigrant in the House of Representatives Robert Garcia. Now, Hakeem Jeffries makes history as the first Black lawmaker to lead a party in Congress. He is also the first House Democrat Leader born after the end of World War II.

As successor of Nancy Pelosi, he thanked the former representative for her work in the seat he now fills. He told Congress in what has been playfully dubbed “The Alphabet Speech:”

“House Democrats will always put American values over autocracy, benevolence over bigotry, the Constitution over the cult, democracy over demagogues, economic opportunity over extremism, freedom over fascism, governing over gaslighting, hopefulness over hatred, inclusion over isolation, justice over judicial overreach, knowledge over kangaroo courts, liberty over limitation, maturity over Mar-a-Lago, normalcy over negativity, opportunity over obstruction, people over politics, quality of life issues over Q-Anon, reason over racism, substance over slander, triumph over tyranny, understanding over ugliness, voting rights over voter suppression, working families over the well-connected, xenial over xenophobia, ‘yes, we can’ over ‘you can do it,’ and zealous representation over zero-sum confrontation.”

Jeffries ran for the Minority Leader position unopposed, and through 15 rounds of voting, consistently earned 212 votes, while Republicans split votes and, after days of negotiations, finally elected California Republican Kevin McCarthy to Majority Leader. During this time, Jeffries stated that he was not at that time willing to help republicans elect a speaker. “We are looking for a willing partner to solve problems for the American people, not save the republicans from their dysfunction.”

In his time in Congress, Jeffries has sponsored bills preventing the excessive use of force after the murder of Eric Garner by police officers, decriminalizing cannabis, and a bill clearly labeled “Stop Stalling Access to Affordable Medications.”

Being Minority Leader can’t be easy in the best of circumstances, let alone in such a contentious Congress. Every attempt at change is an uphill battle, but with the clear support of House democrats behind him, Jeffries stands to continue making history as one of the highest-ranking Black politicians in America’s history.