Brooklyn Congressman Hakeem Jeffries is wrapping up his first year as the top Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives. 

He had big shoes to fill, and 2023 provided plenty of surprises - some historic - for the new leader to navigate. 

His tenure as minority leader began in dramatic fashion. The Brooklyn native sat through a 15-round speaker election, getting unanimous support each time from his Democratic colleagues, as members of the Republican majority struggled to rally around their choice for the top job. 

It was a preview of a chaotic year ahead - one that would include yet another round of speaker votes in the months to come. 

Minority leader of the 118th Congress

The job of minority leader traditionally is one of the easier roles on Capitol Hill: unify your party against the majority party’s priorities. But 2023 was different. 

“The Democratic minority has effectively had to take the place of the majority on passing a lot of these governing fronts,” said Casey Burgat, director of the legislative affairs program at The George Washington University.

Case in point: Jeffries led Democrats in providing more votes than the GOP to approve basic governing bills, from funding the government to prevent a shutdown to raising the debt ceiling to avert a catastrophic default. 

“Anything productive that has happened in this Congress - which is not much because of the extreme MAGA Republicans - has occurred because House Democrats have led the way,” Jeffries said at a press conference last week. 

Jeffries also managed to keep most of his diverse caucus together on other high profile votes, including ousting now-former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. 

“House Democrats are going to continue to put people over politics,” Jeffries told voters ahead of the vote. 

Recent events in the Middle East have put a new spotlight on fault lines in the Democratic coalition, with some progressives, in particular, openly criticizing Israel’s handling of the war with Hamas. 

So far, Jeffries has publicly sought to downplay division. Whether that dissent in the ranks could eventually boil over and undermine his ability to lead the caucus remains to be seen. 

“Everybody seems to recognize that Israel necessarily has to decisively defeat Hamas. Period, full stop,” he said recently when asked about the criticism some colleagues are offering for Israel.

Taking over for Pelosi

Coming into the job, Jeffries had big shoes to fill. He replaced Speaker Nancy Pelosi - a legendary legislative tactician who had already led House Democrats for a decade before Jeffries even arrived on Capitol Hill. 

Burgat says one area where Jeffries appeared to excel in the last year was as the public face of the operation. 

“He's a dynamic character. He is well suited to be in front of a camera,” Burgat said. “He is able to articulate a message with some inspiration behind it in ways that that former Speaker Pelosi just simply wasn't.”

Throughout the year, Jeffries proved a disciplined messenger, including when going after those across the aisle, routinely blasting them as “extreme MAGA Republicans” in one public appearance after another. 

Looking to 2024

With 2024 around the corner, Jeffries has visited dozens of cities this year to support fellow House Democrats and fundraise. He also gave speeches at state and local party gatherings across the country, with stops that included New Hampshire, Texas, and Minnesota. 

In New York, where the results in a few key House races next year could determine control of the chamber, Jeffries has teamed up with Gov. Kathy Hochul and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand to launch a so-called “coordinated campaign,” aimed at improving cooperation between Democratic candidates running for different offices. 

“Throughout states across the country, there are coordinated campaigns that are highly functional between the state Democratic Party and the local congressional delegation political apparatus. It just has never existed in a meaningful way in New York State,” he told Spectrum News in an interview in June. 

If the House does flip to Democratic control after 2024, Jeffries is poised to become the next speaker. 

Burgat says so far, Jeffries appears to have the broad support within the ranks to be able to transition into that role without the pockets of fierce opposition that led to McCarthy’s downfall.