The 56-year-old New Yorker won’t officially take that position until January 3, and he’ll need to spend the next several weeks shoring up votes among newly elected progressives and moderates alike.
But inside the party, there is little doubt who will lead a newly resurgent Democratic party into the national spotlight for President Donald Trump’s final two years in the White House.
Jeffries, who was just elected to his eighth term, rose quickly within the Democratic ranks, with key supporters within House leadership and within the powerful Congressional Black Caucus.
The New Yorker has spoken often about the historical significance of his district in the civil rights movement; some of the neighborhoods he currently represents had been previously represented by Shirley Chisholm, who was the first Black woman elected to serve in Congress.
“I stand on the shoulders of people like Shirley Chisolm and so many others as we work to advance the ball for everyday Americans,” Jeffries said when he became leader in 2022, making history then as the first Black American to lead a major political party in either chamber of Congress. He noted that the vote took place on what would have been Chisholm’s 98th birthday.