House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is running for speaker, he announced in a letter to colleagues Wednesday.
Democrats have long considered the New Yorker — who has served two terms as minority leader — the heir apparent to longtime leader Nancy Pelosi. If he wins the Jan. 3 floor vote, he would become the House’s first Black speaker.
“Against all odds, House Democrats were consistently successful in the minority,” Jeffries wrote in the letter. “We must now deliver the dramatic change the American people are demanding in the majority.”
Jeffries is well-positioned to lead House Democrats next term. Although an incoming crop of hard-left members has not committed to backing him for speaker, no alternative candidate has emerged, and the size of the Democratic majority appears likely to make a small group of holdouts irrelevant.
In his role leading the caucus, Jeffries has built a reputation as a measured, deliberative leader with strong allies in the Congressional Black Caucus and centrist New Democrat Coalition. His left flank has signaled that they will push him on key priorities like Medicare for All and Israel aid.
In the letter, Jeffries touted his efforts to oppose President Donald Trump’s policies and personnel and working to overcome the “Republican gerrymandering scheme” by helping to organize counterefforts in California and elsewhere.
Jeffries emphasized on the campaign trail that he wants to tackle cost-lowering policies that could win broad support in the caucus. In particular, he previewed early votes on ending the Trump administration’s tariffs, clawing back Republican-led Medicaid cuts and restoring expired Affordable Care Act tax credits.
He also vowed an aggressive oversight agenda that includes probes into Trump, his family, his administration and his corporate allies.
Chris Marquette contributed to this report.
