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Washington, Nov. 30 (BNA): Democrats in the US House of Representatives prepared on Wednesday to hand the baton of leadership to the younger generation, marking the end of the Nancy Pelosi era and the widely expected opening to Hakeem Jeffries’ rule.
Jeffries, the 52-year-old New Yorker, is running for the Democratic leader of the House of Representatives for the next two years. Reuters reported that if he is elected as expected during the closed-door vote, he will become the first black person to hold a senior party leadership position in the House or Senate.
When he formally announced his candidacy on November 18, after a decade in the House, Jeffries vowed to preside over a convention that would restore power to committee members, give junior legislators a greater say in crafting legislation, and reward them with high-ranking positions.
“Opportunities for public participation and meaningful policymaking must be distributed regardless of length of service,” Jeffries wrote in a letter to fellow Democrats.
Jeffries had no obvious competitors.
The change of regime for Democrats comes as Republicans are set to take majority control of the House of Representatives on Jan. 3 as a result of midterm elections on Nov. 8.
That majority would be slim, with no more than a handful of seats.
However, Republicans, including their leader Kevin McCarthy who wants to become the next speaker, have told Democrats that they will get to work, launching investigations into administration officials and even President Joe Biden himself and his son, Hunter.
They also say they want deep spending cuts after years of both sides paying little or no attention to a soaring budget deficit and national debt that now exceeds $31.3 trillion. And tough new border security initiatives are also high on the Republican agenda that Democrats will fight for.
While they have made tackling inflation a focus of their 2022 congressional campaigns, Republicans, since narrowly winning the House, have said little on the subject.
Currently, the octogenarians hold the three key leadership positions for Democrats who have been in power for two decades: House Speaker Pelosi, 82, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, 83, and Majority Whip James Clyburn, 82.
They have been under pressure for years to make room for the younger generation.
The moment of that came after the Republicans won a majority, but without the “red wave” of massive victories they had expected—a turn of events that led to the Democrats’ rebound.
Running as part of Team Jeffries are Rep. Kathryn Clark, 59, who is seeking the No. 2 Democratic whip job, and Pete Aguilar, 43, who is vying for Jeffries’ current position as chair of the Democratic Party.
The three, who represent counties in New York, Massachusetts, and California, respectively, bring their own power to different sectors of the Democratic caucus.
Clark has strong ties to House Progressives, an increasingly influential group, while Aguilar is seen as a bridge to more moderate Democrats and is a Hispanic congressman.
Jeffries is a prominent member of the Congressional Black Caucus.
If elected, this leadership team will have the luxury of learning on the job while in the minority, without all the stress that majority status brings.
When Pelosi was asked by reporters if she would be on hand to advise this team, she said “yes” if she was sought.
Speaking to a small group of reporters on Nov. 17 just minutes after she planned to leave the leadership, Pelosi added, “I wouldn’t feel left out if I wasn’t asked because I don’t remember asking anyone” upon my rise to leadership herself.
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