Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic Party, US House, Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer, Chuck Schumer, Campaign Rhetoric

House Democrats elected Rep. Hakeem Jeffries as their leader Wednesday, making the Brooklyn and Queens lawmaker the first black person to lead either party in the chamber and ushering in a new generation of Dem leadership after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced earlier this month she would step aside after 20 years in charge.

Jeffries, 52, was selected by his colleagues during a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill after they lost control of the chamber in the Nov. 8 midterm elections.

“It’s a solemn responsibility that we are all inheriting. 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,” Jeffries told reporters the night before his election.