Brooklyn In The House: Hakeem Jeffries Launches Dem Leadership Bid

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT, BROOKLYN — A lifelong Brooklynite officially launched a bid take over Nancy Pelosi’s congressional leadership role.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries announced in a Friday letter that he’d seek to become the House’s next Democratic leader. His candidacy was widely expected, as his is potential to win a post-Thanksgiving leadership vote.

“Today, I write to humbly ask for your support for the position of House Democratic Leader as we once again prepare to meet the moment,” he wrote to House Democrats.

If Jeffries wins, that will mean two Brooklyn residents — him and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer — would be the top Democrats in both houses of Congress.

Pelosi, 82, when she announced she’d step aside this week, alluded to an upcoming potential generational shift in congressional leadership.

"For me, the hour has come for a new generation to lead the Democratic caucus that I so deeply respect,” she said.

Jeffries, 52, represents a wide swath of Brooklyn for the Eighth District that includes Bed-Stuy and his Prospect Heights home.

He originally hails from Crown Heights and rose through the congressional ranks to become a prominent Democratic leader.

During former President Donald Trump’s first impeachment, Jeffries’ profile shot even higher when he served as a manager for the House trial.

As Pelosi stepped down, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Whip Jim Clyburn signaled they’d clear the way for a new leaders for the top three spots.

Jeffries, Katherine Clark of Massachusetts and Pete Aguilar of California are expected to round out the new Democratic leadership spots.

After the 2022 midterms, Republicans are projected to take control of the House. But if Democrats regain control in the future, Jeffries would be poised to make history as the nation’s first Black speaker of the House.

Jeffries, in his letter, alluded to the turmoil of the Trump years.

“From the longest government shutdown in history, to the impeachment of a lawless president, a once-in-a-century pandemic, resulting economic crisis, reckoning with systemic racism, a violent insurrection, inauguration of a new President, second impeachment and finally a historically productive congressional term, my time as Chair of the dynamic House Democratic Caucus has been eventful,” he wrote.

Jeffries wrote that, as leader, he’d work to regain the House majority, increase security for both representatives and the public as political violence rises, and “empower” the diverse Democratic caucus.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.