House Democrats unanimously chose Representative Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.) as their new leader in a closed-door meeting on Wednesday.
Jeffries, 52, will succeed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who at 82 years old has served as the party’s leader in the house for two decades. He will be the first black lawmaker to lead a party in Congress.
Jeffries will be the House minority leader come January, when Republicans retake control of the chamber.
“It’s a solemn responsibility that we are all inheriting,” Jeffries told reporters on Tuesday. “And the best thing that we can do as a result of the seriousness and solemnity of the moment is lean in hard and do the best damn job that we can for the people.”
“We’re still working through the implications of Trumpism and what it has meant, as a very destabilizing force for American democracy,” said Jeffries, who served as a House manager during then-president Donald Trump’s first impeachment.
He said hopes to find “common ground when possible” with Republicans but will “oppose their extremism when we must.”
The vote comes after Pelosi announced plans to step down from her leadership role earlier this month.
“I will not seek re-election to Democratic leadership in the next Congress,” Pelosi said on November 17, in order to allow a “new generation to lead.”
Meanwhile, Representative Katherine Clark of Massachusetts will become the Democratic whip and Representative Pete Aguilar of California will serve as caucus chairman. Clark, 59, and Aguilar, 43, will replace Pelosi’s outgoing team of octogenarian leaders, including Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland and Democratic Whip James Clyburn of South Carolina.
“It an important moment for the caucus — that there’s a new generation of leadership,” Representative Chris Pappas (D., N.H.) said ahead of the vote.
Meanwhile, House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy successfully fended off a leadership challenge from Representative Andy Biggs (R., Ariz.) earlier this month, but may struggle to capture the 218 votes needed to win the speakership.
McCarthy defeated Biggs, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, in a 188-31 secret-ballot vote to become the party’s nominee for speaker. The 31 votes for Biggs could prove difficult for McCarthy in January. Assuming that all Democrats oppose McCarthy for the speakership, he can only afford to lose a few Republican votes in a House with a razor-thin majority.