Who is Hakeem Jeffries?

He was elected by unanimous voice vote Wednesday in a closed-door meeting of House Democrats. He succeeds House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the first woman to hold that position.

After Democrats did far better than expected in this year’s midterms but narrowly lost the House majority, Pelosi announced that she would step down as the top Democrat. The day after her announcement, Jeffries, who’s served as chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, formally announced his bid for it and was unopposed.

For House Democrats the move signals a generational change from Pelosi, 82, and two other octogenarians who have led conference for most of her tenure. House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) and House Majority Whip Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.), both in their 80s, were replaced by Reps. Katherine M. Clark (D-Mass.), 59, and Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), 43, respectively.

In a letter seeking his colleagues’ support, Jeffries wrote this month, “Our top nongovernmental priority, for the sake of the American people, must be retaking the majority in November 2024.”

“It is my hope that we can find common ground where possible with our Republican colleagues to deliver results for the American people,” Jeffries wrote. “At the same time, the opposing party appears to have no plan to accomplish anything meaningful. If the Republican Conference continues to major in demagoguery and minor in disinformation, their bankruptcy of ideas must be aggressively exposed on an ongoing basis.”

Pelosi earlier gave her blessing to the new trio, saying she is “confident that these new leaders will capably lead our Caucus and the Congress.”

“Yesterday, I said on the Floor that the time has come for a new generation to lead our magnificent House Democratic Caucus,” Pelosi said, offering a “salute” to the three candidates by name, and said she was doing so “with pride, gratitude and confidence in their abilities.”

Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.) will leave his post as House majority whip but become an assistant leader, a position that will now be fourth in the leadership structure.

Jeffries has been described by colleagues as thoughtful, disciplined and aligned with both the Democratic Party leadership and many liberal causes championed by the party’s activist base.

In an interview with the Atlantic last year, Jeffries described where he fit into in today’s political landscape, saying, “I’m a Black progressive Democrat concerned with addressing racial and social and economic injustice with the fierce urgency of now.” He added, “There will never be a moment where I bend the knee to hard-left democratic socialism.”

Jeffries, a graduate of the State University of New York at Binghamton, Georgetown and New York University Law School, was first elected to the New York State Assembly in 2006, after unsuccessfully challenging a Democratic incumbent favored by the Brooklyn Democratic machine, Roger Green. After Jeffries lost the challenge in 2001 to Green, Democratic lawmakers promptly redrew the assembly district to exclude Jeffries’s home at the time.

The blatant move to stifle a young, striving political talent became the subject of a documentary in 2010 about gerrymandering. In that film, Jeffries was the reform-minded politician challenging the establishment.

Jeffries was elected to Congress in 2012 after longtime Rep. Ed Towns abruptly announced that he would not seek reelection. Jeffries was widely expected to win after Towns’s departure but suddenly faced a primary challenge from Charles Barron, a Black Panther and longtime officeholder in New York. The fear that Brooklyn could send Barron to Congress prompted a national effort by establishment Democrats to support Jeffries, which proved successful.

Once in Congress, Jeffries represented not only a mix of liberal and establishment politics, but also youthful Brooklyn swagger.

He once paid tribute to the slain rapper from his district, Christopher Wallace, better known as the Notorious B.I.G. Jeffries called Wallace “the classic embodiment of the American Dream.”

He invoked several of the rapper’s stage names in 2017, adding: “Biggie Smalls, Frank White, the king of New York. He died 20 years ago today in a tragedy that occurred in Los Angeles. But his words live on forever.”

Then Jeffries rapped lyrics from one of the rapper’s most celebrated songs, “Juicy”: “It was all a dream/ I used to read Word Up magazine/ Salt-N-Pepa and Heavy D up in the limousine/ Hangin’ pictures on my wall/ Every Saturday Rap Attack, Mr. Magic, Marley Marl.”

In 2015, Jeffries considered running for mayor of New York City, as the Democratic mayor at the time, Bill de Blasio, failed to deliver on his campaign promise of wholesale changes to the city’s widely criticized policing tactics.

In 2020, Jeffries served as an impeachment manager in President Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial, a reflection of Pelosi’s trust in him.

Jeffries also helped sharpen Democrats’ message as he frequently hit the campaign trail and was available for interviews with reporters.

In 2020, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) called for Joe Biden to suspend his presidential campaign during the Senate trial of Trump. When a reporter asked Jeffries about McCarthy’s comment, Jeffries, the New York Times wrote, simply replied, “Who?”

If elected Democratic leader, Jeffries will find himself tangling with McCarthy, who is seeking the speakership in next year’s Republican-controlled House.