Hakeem Jeffries Is Poised to Become the First Black Speaker of the House

Democrats’ win in the midterm elections puts Rep. Hakeem Jeffries in line to become the first Black speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Reuters reported on Wednesday. Jeffries, 56, has led House Democrats as minority leader since 2022, and NPR notes he is the first Black politician to lead either party in the House or Senate.

As speaker, Jeffries would preside over a Democratic majority that will be sworn in during the first week of January, taking control of the chamber from Republicans after four years. The speaker decides what legislation advances to a vote, and is second in line for the presidency, after Vice President JD Vance.

What happens next

Later this month, newly elected House Democrats will gather behind closed doors to pick their candidate for speaker, Reuters reported. The full House will then vote when the new Congress convenes on January 3, choosing the 57th speaker since 1789. Republicans will put up their own candidate, who will be all but certain to fail, and multiple Democratic aides told Reuters that nobody is seen as posing a serious threat to Jeffries.

In a victory speech late on Tuesday, Jeffries said, “Today begins the great American comeback.” He said, “The American people have spoken and made clear that they’ve had enough of the extremism, enough of the corruption. They want a Congress that’s going to deliver for the American people.” He pledged to pass legislation reversing steep spending cuts to Medicaid, the health care program for poor people and people with disabilities, that were enacted into law on July 4, 2025. His repeated refrain in public appearances, according to Reuters, has been that America is too expensive, and that lowering the cost of living is his caucus’s main focus.

A caucus to hold together

Jeffries faces the task of bridging the gap between his party’s moderates and its more vocal progressives, Reuters reported. He still has work to do in winning over several far-left progressives, including fellow New Yorker and Representative-elect Darializa Avila Chevalier, who would not commit to voting for Jeffries in a September 30 interview with Vanity Fair. She listed policies she said the next speaker must support: voting rights reforms, public housing investments, blocking offensive weapons to Israel, and universal health care. Jeffries has been cool toward proposals for a Medicare for All program, which many moderate Democrats fear would be too costly. With votes still being counted across the country, the size of the Democratic majority was unclear.

Jeffries was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, and has represented parts of the borough in Congress since 2013, according to NPR. He served for six years in the New York State Assembly, where he worked on regulating warrantless stop-and-frisk searches by the New York City Police Department. During the first Trump administration, he led the effort to pass the bipartisan First Step Act, which reduced sentences for some drug crimes. He also served as an impeachment manager during the Senate trial over President Donald Trump’s pressure campaign on Ukraine. Like many elected Democrats, he has so far refused to commit to pursuing impeachment again in Trump’s second term, telling Fox News in April that it was not a top priority.

Reporting based on coverage by Reuters and NPR.