Jeffries launches bid to become first Black speaker of the House

A day after Democrats were projected to win back the House majority, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries formally launched his bid to become speaker, asking colleagues in a letter Wednesday to back a candidacy that would make him the first Black American to hold the post in the chamber's 237-year history.

The letter, posted to his office's website, tells newly elected and returning Democrats that "the days of the House functioning like a wholly owned subsidiary of the Trump Administration are over" and asks them to support him as the 120th Congress organizes. Jeffries has led House Democrats since 2023, when he succeeded Nancy Pelosi and became the first Black lawmaker to lead a major party in either chamber of Congress. His bid for speaker, reported Wednesday by Fox News and confirmed in separate coverage by ABC News, comes with no declared opponent inside his own caucus.

The numbers

A Wednesday tally reported by Fox News put Democrats on track for at least 237 seats to Republicans' 139, with 59 races still too close to call; Jeffries told reporters he expects his party to end up with at least 255 seats. Those figures are preliminary and will shift as outstanding races are decided and certified.

Two separate votes stand between Jeffries and the gavel. He first needs a simple majority of the House Democratic Caucus to be the party's nominee, a threshold no rival is currently contesting. He would then need 218 votes on the House floor, a tally that will not happen until the new Congress convenes in January. Underscoring how far off that is, the official membership count kept by the Clerk of the House still listed the outgoing 119th Congress as of Wednesday: 218 Republicans, 214 Democrats, one independent and two vacancies, since lawmakers elected Tuesday do not take their seats until the new term begins.

Background: from Pelosi's successor to speaker-in-waiting

Jeffries, a Brooklyn Democrat, took over the top House Democratic post after the 2022 midterms and has spent two terms as minority leader opposing the Trump administration's legislative agenda. In his Wednesday letter, posted among his office's official "Dear Colleague" announcements, he organized his pitch around three themes he called "Affordability," "Accountability" and "American Values," and listed a 100-day agenda that includes reversing Medicaid cuts, restoring food-assistance funding, extending expired Affordable Care Act tax credits, rolling back tariffs and ending American involvement in the Iran conflict. He also called for banning members of Congress from trading individual stocks.

"I write to humbly request your support in connection with my candidacy to serve as the next Speaker," Jeffries wrote.

The letter follows months of public uncertainty inside the caucus. Through the spring and summer, dozens of Democratic candidates and some sitting members were noncommittal about backing Jeffries for speaker if the party won the House, with some progressive and front-line Democrats withholding public support amid periodic reports of internal friction. By Wednesday, no Democrat had stepped forward to challenge him, and multiple aides described his position as secure, a reversal from the uncertainty of earlier in the year.

Jeffries's own agenda letter leans on the same language he used on the campaign trail this fall, when he argued that Republican tariffs and the administration's handling of the conflict with Iran had raised costs for American families rather than lowering them, a line he repeated to reporters Wednesday alongside his deputy leadership team.

Who is affected

Below Jeffries, the rest of the Democratic leadership table is also expected to be sorted out in the coming weeks: Minority Whip Katherine Clark and Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar have each signaled they intend to seek the top two posts beneath Jeffries once the caucus organizes for the majority. On the Republican side, the loss of the majority leaves outgoing Speaker Mike Johnson's own future unclear. Johnson, whose current term and biography are posted on the Office of the Speaker's website, said in the weeks before the election that he was uncertain what his "next chapter" would be if Republicans lost the House. Attention inside the House GOP has shifted to a likely contest for minority leader between Majority Leader Steve Scalise, whose office is at scalise.house.gov, and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, who maintains his own office site at jordan.house.gov; neither had formally declared a bid as of Wednesday, though both are widely described as preparing to run.

Rank-and-file members on both sides are also affected by the arithmetic. A Democratic majority in the 230s to 250s range, if it holds up as outstanding races are finally called and certified, would give Jeffries more room to manage internal disagreements, including from a small bloc of further-left members who have periodically clashed with leadership, than the three- and five-seat margins Johnson managed as speaker over the past two Congresses.

What's next

House Democrats have not publicly settled on a date for their internal leadership elections; news accounts on Wednesday varied, with some pointing to as early as November 18 and others to mid-December, reflecting how fluid post-election scheduling remains while several races stay uncalled. Whatever date the caucus settles on, that vote only makes Jeffries the nominee; the binding vote for speaker takes place on the floor of the House when the new Congress convenes, which multiple news organizations reported is expected in the first days of January.

Between now and then, Jeffries is expected to use his remaining months as minority leader to press the agenda outlined in his letter, while Republicans sort out their own leadership and brace for divided government for the final two years of the Trump administration. Neither party's House leadership had announced a joint statement on next steps as of Wednesday evening.

The outcome also carries symbolic weight beyond the vote-counting. If the floor vote in January confirms him, Jeffries would be the first Black lawmaker of either party to hold the speaker's gavel, a milestone that both Fox News and ABC News highlighted prominently in their Wednesday coverage of his announcement. The scale of that significance, like the final seat count, will not be settled until the remaining uncalled House races are certified and the new Congress is sworn in.