On the Rise of Hakeem Jeffries
U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries has spent a decade in Congress building relationships among his fellow Democrats, playing an inside game that has placed him at the cusp of succeeding Speaker Nancy Pelosi as leader of the House Democrats.
But Jeffries, 52 years old, actually started his political career as an insurgent.
After Pelosi announced last week that she wouldn’t seek another term in conference leadership, Jeffries announced his candidacy for minority leader, saying he would give priority to empowering members, improving security and winning back the majority. He is currently running unopposed.
Natalie Andrews and I wrote this profile of Jeffries for The Wall Street Journal, tracing his path from corporate lawyer to the upper echelons of Congress and explaining how the traits he showed early on helped carry him to his current perch.
Jeffries launched his first campaign in 2000 against longtime incumbent Roger Green to represent his central Brooklyn home in the state Assembly. He failed twice before prevailing on his third try in 2006.
“Everyone told him he was crazy,” recalled State Sen. Diane Savino, a former union leader who went on to serve with Jeffries in the legislature. But even while he was swimming against the tide, “it was clear that he was going somewhere.”
Savino and other people who remember those early campaigns said he has long shown an impressive work ethic and grasp of public policy. He demonstrated a passion for liberal causes such as increasing access to affordable housing and criminal-justice overhaul, including reining in New York City’s stop-and-frisk program. But he shied away from flame-throwing, those who know him said, building a reputation as an even-keeled legislator who built key relationships across the political spectrum.
His rise would also signal a generational change in the Democratic leadership — Pelosi and her top lieutenants are over 80 — and he would make history as the first Black person to lead a major party in Congress.
“This is another step where the public will understand that we have got to dismantle each and every aspect of racism, and to see an African-American leader now lead the Congress is remarkable,” said Rep. Barbara Lee, a California Democrat and member of the Congressional Black Caucus.
He worked across the aisle on a federal sentencing reform bill signed by President Trump. He also gained public attention as one of the managers in Trump’s first impeachment trial, quoting rapper Biggie Smalls on the floor of the U.S. Senate.
“He’s what we call a code switcher,” former Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr told the New York Times. “He can hang out with hip-hop artists, he can be in the hood in Brooklyn or the Bronx, but he can also be inside the Oval Office and negotiate with POTUS.”
Jeffries served three terms in Albany before winning an open House seat in 2012. His Assembly colleagues remembered his skills at debating and a sense that he was ambitious enough to keep climbing.
“Hakeem had that ‘it’ factor,” Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, a Bronx Democrat who served with Jeffries in the chamber, told the Associated Press. “He stands out in the room."
Political consultant Bob Liff noted that if Mr. Jeffries one day becomes speaker of the House, both chambers of Congress could be controlled by politicians from Brooklyn, since U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also hails from the borough.
“Now all we need is a president from Brooklyn so it’s clear who runs the universe,” Liff said.
THE QUESTION: Two New Yorkers have served as House speaker. Can you name either of them? (I couldn’t until I looked it up …)
Know the answer? Drop me a line at jimmy.vielkind@gmail.com. Or just write with thoughts, feedback or to say hi.
THE LAST ANSWER: Eliot Spitzer was elected governor by the widest margin in New York history when he defeated John Faso in 2006.