It was January 2020, and the eyes of the whole world were on the US House of Representatives to follow the impeachment process of then-President Donald Trump. That’s when a deputy climbed the tribune and paid an unlikely tribute.
Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat elected from a Brooklyn, New York, borough, took to the podium and listed the charges against the Republican. He ended by saying, “We’re here because President Trump corruptly abused his power and tried to cover it up,” he said. “And if you don’t know, now you do.”
The speech drew attention not only for its severity, but for the choice of the last phrase, one of the most famous verses by the Notorious BIG, considered one of the greatest rappers of all time, murdered in 1997 in the midst of a conflict between gangs on the East Coast and West of the country.
Jeffries, who gained space in the political arena during the process against Trump, is the candidate to replace Nancy Pelosi in command of the House Democrats, in an election that should take place this week.
The deputy, who has held the post since 2003, announced this month, after the party lost its majority in the House in the mid-term elections, that she would not seek the post again. It is the most prestigious position in the party division – it is what guarantees, for example, that Pelosi is now mayor.
If elected, Jeffries would be the first black congressman to lead a party in the US Legislature and would represent a profound generational shift in aging American politics. Pelosi, 82, comes out and the 52-year-old deputy enters – who had already paid homage to the same rapper in 2017, when he went up to the podium with a poster of Notorious BIG to commemorate the 20th anniversary of his murder.
The issue goes beyond Pelosi. House Democrats No. 2 and No. 3 are also octogenarians, and those tipped to fill those positions in the party are Katherine Clark, 59, and Pete Aguilar, 43.
Linked to causes of the black movement, Jeffries should be more centrist, in the style of his predecessor, and will mark the continuity of the so-called “mainstream democrats” in charge. His choice as one of the “managers” of Trump’s first impeachment, in 2020 – one of seven Democratic lawmakers who acted as a kind of prosecutors in the case – was read as a sign of Pelosi’s confidence in him.
If his election is confirmed, the deputy will start next year as leader of the minority, since the command of the House will become the Republican Party, which has not disguised the intentions of giving a headache to the legend of President Joe Biden .
In announcing his candidacy, Jeffries said, on the one hand, that he is “hopeful of finding common ground with fellow Republicans.” On the other hand, he said that if the rival party “continues to focus on demagoguery and misinformation, its bankruptcy of ideas must be exposed aggressively and continuously” and that the priority of his administration will be to resume, in 2024, the majority lost.
Born in the same Brooklyn as Notorious BIG, Jeffries is a lawyer by training and tried to get into politics a few times before being elected state representative in New York in 2006. It was in 2012 that he reached the federal Chamber for the first time. In 2018, he was elected leader of the Democratic Caucus, a forum for the party’s deputies. Among its projects and flags are proposals in favor of black populations, against police abuse and in defense of guaranteeing access to vote for minorities.
In a letter to colleagues, he called for unity in the party, already anticipating that he must face significant dissent in the left wing of the party – despite the flags of racial equality, Jeffries is more conservative in other aspects, as shown by his recent history in the House.
He did not sign, for example, a resolution by Congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, star of that wing, demanding the creation of the “Green New Deal”, a package to contain the climate crisis with targets for reducing pollutant emissions. He has also spoken out in favor of proposals that penalize companies and citizens who support boycott movements against the State of Israel.
All of this has already generated tensions with more progressive parliamentarians, and he has never shied away from commenting on them in public. “The ultra-left is obsessed with bullshitting ‘mainstream Democrats’ on Twitter, while the majority of the electorate votes for ‘mainstream Democrats’ at the ballot box,” he claimed in 2021.
Also last year, for The Atlantic magazine, it was even tougher. “There is a difference between progressive democrats and the socialist democratic ultra-left,” he said. “I am a progressive black Democrat concerned with addressing racial, social and economic injustice with fierce urgency. That has been my career. There will never be a time when I will kneel to the ultra-left socialist Democrats.”
AOC has not yet supported Jeffries’ candidacy and, in an interview with the New York Times, said that there are “things to heal”. Although she represents a less expressive portion of the party structure, the congresswoman leads the youngest and loudest wing, with which Jeffries will have to learn to dialogue if he wants to be successful and, who knows, become the first black president of the House of Representatives.
With a wealth of experience honed over 4+ years in journalism, I bring a seasoned voice to the world of news. Currently, I work as a freelance writer and editor, always seeking new opportunities to tell compelling stories in the field of world news.
