Hakeem Jeffries Poised to Become First Black Speaker After Democrats Win the House

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York is on track to become the nation’s first Black speaker of the House after Democrats won majority control of the chamber in Tuesday’s midterm elections, the Associated Press reported.

The AP called the House for Democrats at 1:26 a.m. Eastern time Wednesday, according to Roll Call, hours after Democrats were also projected to win a majority in the Senate. Jeffries still has to be nominated by his caucus and elected by the full House when the new Congress convenes on Jan. 3.

Who will be the new speaker of the House?

If Democrats nominate and elect him as expected, Jeffries would hold the speaker’s gavel, a job second in line to the presidency, the AP reported. It would be the first time a Black lawmaker has held the post.

Axios reported that the size of the Democratic win should make it much easier for Jeffries to secure the gavel. Rep. Greg Stanton (D-Ariz.), a leader of the center-left New Democrat Coalition, told Axios that Jeffries “now has the space to utilize his full talents as speaker” and that the margin “allows him to govern without worrying about being leveraged by anyone.”

Who is the current speaker of the House?

Republican Mike Johnson remains speaker until the new Congress is sworn in. Johnson, who traveled the country for GOP candidates in the final weeks of the campaign, noted Tuesday night that history wasn’t on his party’s side, since the president’s party almost always loses seats in a midterm, Roll Call reported.

How big is the Democratic majority?

The final size is not settled yet, and outlets are using different projections:

• NBC News projected Democrats will win about 255 seats, an estimate it said could still move up or down by a few seats, well beyond the 218 needed for a majority.
• Axios cited a New York Times projection of as many as 256 Democratic seats to 178 for Republicans.

Democrats needed a net gain of just three seats. NBC News said the wave reached many more GOP-held seats than that, most of them in districts President Donald Trump carried in 2024. Roll Call described pickups in rural and Republican-leaning areas, including Western North Carolina, Kentucky’s 6th District and two Iowa seats, plus flips in New Jersey, Colorado, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

What Jeffries said on election night

Jeffries walked into his election night party in Washington to the Notorious B.I.G.’s “Unbelievable,” NBC News reported.

“Today begins the great American comeback,” he told supporters. “The American people have spoken and made clear they’ve had enough of the extremism, enough of the corruption. They want a Congress that’s going to deliver for the American people, and that is exactly what House Democrats will do as soon as we get into office in January.”

What would a Speaker Jeffries focus on?

According to NBC News, Jeffries has said Democrats would focus on four areas:

1. Reversing Trump’s cuts to Medicaid
2. Extending the Affordable Care Act credits
3. Restoring congressional authority over tariffs
4. Stopping Trump’s war with Iran

With the majority, Democrats will also take control of House committees, gaining subpoena power and the ability to run oversight investigations of the administration, NBC News reported. They will be able to pass legislation with a simple majority, though bills would still need to clear the Senate and the president.

Axios noted that while the result is a major win for Democrats overall, the party’s centrist wing is also hailing it as a strategic victory over the left.

What happens next

The new Congress convenes Jan. 3. Before then, House Democrats are expected to pick their nominee for speaker, and the full House will then vote. Several House races are still being counted, so the exact seat totals may shift in the coming days.

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