The vote was held behind closed doors on Wednesday. The 52-year-old MP, who has held senior positions in the top of the Democratic party since 2019, was the only candidate.
Jeffries’ election also marks a generational change in the US Congress: the New Yorker is thirty years younger than Nancy Pelosi, the current Speaker of the House.
Pelosi announced in mid-November that she would no longer be the leader of the Democrats in the future House of Representatives because she wants to make way for “a new generation”. She will continue to serve in the House of Commons as a representative for California.
As leader of the Democrats, Hakeem Jeffries will have to make his way from January in a House where his party no longer has a majority. The Republicans seized control of the House in the November midterm elections.
