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Who is Jeffries and How Does He Take Over as Leader of House Democrats?

Who is Jeffries?

Who is Jeffries?

You can read here about Who is Jeffries. The full name of Jeffries is Hakeem Sekou Jeffries and was born on August 4, 1970 is the current leader of the House Democratic Caucus and the Minority Leader in the United States House of Representatives. Since 2013, Jeffries has represented the 8th congressional district of New York, which is based in the neighborhoods of southern and eastern Brooklyn.

Before his 2012 election to the United States Congress, Jeffries represented the 57th Assembly District of New York for three terms and practiced corporate law. He was elected without opposition to succeed Nancy Pelosi as the leader of the House Democrats in November 2022 and he has served as chair of the Democratic Caucus since 2019. For the position of House Speaker in the United States Congress, the Democratic Caucus backed Jeffries in 2023.

Early Life and Career of Jeffries

Jeffries was born to social worker mother Laneda and state substance abuse counselor father Marland at New York City’s Brooklyn Hospital Center. He is a native of Crown Heights, Brooklyn. In 1988, Jeffries completed his high school education at Midwood. After that, he attended Binghamton University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts with high distinction in political science in 1992.

He joined Kappa Alpha Psi while he was a student at Binghamton. Jeffries received his Master of Public Policy degree from Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy in 1994. After that, he went on to study law at New York University, where he was actively involved in the New York University Law Review. He earned his law degree back in 1997.

Who is Jeffries?

After completing law school, Jeffries worked as a clerk for U.S. District Judge Harold Baer Jr. in the Southern District of New York for a year. He worked as an attorney at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison from 1998 to 2004. In 2004, he accepted a position as an in-house litigator at Viacom and CBS, where he assisted with cases involving the controversial halftime show for Super Bowl XXXVIII.

While working at Paul, Weiss, Jeffries held the positions of president of the Black Attorneys for Progress and director of intergovernmental affairs for the New York State Chapter of the National Association of Minority Contractors.

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Is Jeffries Married?

In the social work field, Jeffries is married to Kennisandra Arciniegas-Jeffries of the 1199 SEIU Benefit Fund. The Brooklyn residents have raised two sons in the neighborhood of Prospect Heights. Jeffreys follows the Baptist faith. Hasan Kwame Jeffries is an associate professor of history at Ohio State University and Jeffries’ younger brother. His book, Bloody Lowndes: Civil Rights and Black Power in Alabama’s Black Belt is a must-read. Leonard Jeffries, a professor at New York’s City College, is Jeffries’ uncle.

How Hakeem Jeffries Takes Over as Leader of House Democrats?

Mr. Jeffries, a lawyer and methodical tactician is the first Black politician to head either party in Congress. On Tuesday, New York Democrat Rep. Hakeem Jeffries was formally elected as the party’s new leader consolidating the party’s support around a liberal lawyer and disciplined political tactician to counter the new Republican majority.

Mr. Jeffries’s rise to power marked a watershed moment in a day otherwise dominated by raucous infighting among Republicans. The first Black man to head a major political party in the House of Representatives. And, at 52 years old, he’s a generational shift for the House Democrats after two decades with Representative Nancy Pelosi.

Given the Republicans’ slim majority in the House, Mr. Jeffries was widely predicted to become minority leader on Tuesday. In the end, he received more votes in the first three rounds of voting for the speaker than the main Republican candidate, California Representative Kevin McCarthy due to the Republican Party’s internal divisions.

Who is Jeffries?

Early on, Democrats tried to use the votes to embarrass Republicans by playing up the differences between Mr. Jeffries and Mr. McCarthy, a close ally of former President Donald J. Trump. Republicans will undoubtedly make their own efforts to demonize Mr. Jeffries in the coming months.

If you’re looking for someone who deals in extremism, he’s not that guy. Representative Pete Aguilar of California, the No. 3 Democrat, said of Mr. Jeffries in his nomination speech that he does not grovel to or make excuses for a twice-impeached, so-called former president. Leaders don’t kowtow to those who want to destroy their own institutions, so he doesn’t.

Mr. Jeffries, the son of public servants, quickly rose through the ranks of New York City’s and Washington’s Democratic political establishments after cutting his teeth as a litigator at a white-shoe law firm. He has been the representative for some of Brooklyn’s most historically Black areas since 2013. While working with Republicans to pass criminal justice reform legislation. He gained national prominence during the Trump presidency as a sharp-tongued critic and impeachment prosecutor.

What is the political position of Jeffries?

Jeffries, a more moderate Democrat in the House has stated that he is willing to work with Republicans whenever possible but we will also push back against extremism whenever necessary. Moreover, he hopes to foster positive, productive relationships with the Democratic Party’s more progressive members. Jeffries has been hailed as “a rising star” since he entered federal office. He is the whip of the Congressional Black Caucus and a member of the House Judiciary Committee’s Task Force on Overcriminalization.

For the Congressional Baseball Team, he is a key member of the infield. Jeffries has been a cautious backer of Bruce Ratner’s contentious Atlantic Yards project since 2006. He is opposed to the Keystone XL pipeline and voted against an amendment that would have limited sales of oil transported by the pipeline to the United States. On the subject of Israel’s strength, he said at a rally in July 2014, “Israel should not be made to apologize for its strength.”

Jeffries added that he knew from personal experience that the only thing that neighbors respect in a tough neighborhood is strength. Jeffries grew up in the tough Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. Jeffries criticized the Obama administration in December 2016 for failing to veto Resolution 2334 of the United Nations Security Council which called for an end to Israeli settlement construction in Palestinian territory that was under Israeli occupation.

Who is Jeffries?

Congressional representative to demand an investigation into Eric Garner’s death by the Department of Justice. Jeffries met Gwen Carr, Garner’s mother on a December 2014 news crew’s visit to the Staten Island site where Garner was killed. The Excessive Use of Force Prevention Act of 2015 which would criminalize the use of a chokehold was introduced while he was standing next to Carr in April of 2015.

After reports showed that low-level marijuana arrests which had increased dramatically under Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration’s application of stop-and-frisk were still rising in New York City under Bloomberg’s successor, Bill de Blasio, Jeffries has called on the Commissioner of the New York City Police Department to reform its marijuana arrest policy.

Since the death of Eric Garner in a chokehold, Jeffries has become a vocal critic of Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York Police Department Commissioner William Bratton. He questions whether the decrease in stop-and-frisk is the result of mayoral administration changes or the result of a movement that brought a successful federal lawsuit.

Why Mc Carthy said “I Don’t Care” if Jeffries wins Speakership wins instead of me?

Rep. Matt Gaetz was criticized by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday for reportedly telling his fellow Republicans that he doesn’t care if Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the incoming Democratic leader is elected Speaker of the House. McCarthy told reporters that Gaetz, one of several staunchly conservative members trying to prevent him from becoming Speaker said, “I don’t care if Jeffries were to win the gavel via a plurality of votes”.

These comments followed a contentious meeting of House Republican conference members and came just before the full House would have to meet to elect (or not elect) a new Speaker. Before the vote, McCarthy made comments to reporters in which he specifically called out Gaetz and made it clear that he was not going to back down from a fight.

Who is Jeffries?

McCarthy warned that there are times we’re going to have to argue with our own members when they prioritize their own careers over those of the country. Over the past two months, we’ve had the pleasure of working together. We created rules for the conference as a whole that give an equal voice to all participants.

However, we are not giving preferential treatment to any one member. The Republican leader said, “Last night, I presented the only way to have 218 votes was if I provided certain members with certain positions”. Certain gavels to take over to chair committees to have certain budgets and even to the point where one Matt Gaetz said ‘I don’t care if we got a plurality and we elect Hakeem Jeffries‘ and it hurts the new front-line members not to get reelected. Well, that isn’t about America and I will always fight to prioritize the needs of the American people over the desires of a select few.

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