Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) will remain House minority leader as his colleagues voted him in to lead the Democrats into the next legislative season.
The Democrats, who will remain in the minority for the next two years, also voted Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) as Democratic whip, Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) as Caucus chairman and Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) as the vice chairman. Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) was voted in as assistant Democratic leader, The Hill reported.
The leadership in the House remained the same since 2023 after former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Reps. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), stepped down from their leadership roles after close to two decades at the helm.
While their continued leadership was no surprise, Democrats were hopeful to gain the majority in the Nov. 5 election, but that never came to fruition.
However, the Republican surge, fueled by President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign and subsequent victory, has the GOP controlling the White House and both chambers of Congress.
The Democrats will likely be united as they face Trump and his agenda, which includes plans for mass deportations of undocumented immigrants and an expansion of tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, per The Hill.
But since they are in the minority, it will be difficult for the Democrats to override any policy set forth by their GOP counterparts.
Jeffries said in a press conference that he’s ready to work with Republicans “to find bipartisan common ground whenever and wherever possible.”
But he also said that Democrats will “always push back whenever necessary against far-right extremism that will hurt the American people.”
This means resisting any GOP plans to cut funding for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and ObamaCare.
“We will continue to exercise common sense, we will always try to find common ground, but we will also, also vigorously defend the common good,” he said.
