Selected by his fellow Democrats in November 2022 to be the party’s standard-bearer as House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries is the first Black person to hold the top leadership position in either chamber of Congress. 

Jeffries has faced criticism from Democrats for not taking a more forceful approach to opposing President Donad Trump’s agenda.

Who is he? 

After graduating from Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy, Jeffries earned a law degree from New York University. That led him to the firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkin, Wharton and Garrison, where he served as litigation counsel for Viacom and CBS when the company was sued for a “wardrobe malfunction” during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show. 

After losing his challenges to an incumbent in 2000 and 2002, Jeffries won an open Assembly seat in 2006. In Albany, Jeffries paired with Eric Adams, then a state senator, to sponsor the “stop and frisk” bill that banned police from collecting names and addresses of people stopped for street searches but not arrested. The bill was eventually signed into law in 2010. 

Elected to the House of Representatives in 2013, Jeffries rapidly became a prominent figure in the Congressional Black Caucus and chaired the House Democratic Caucus. He made criminal justice reform and gun violence prevention two of his key issues.

In 2022, he was elected House Democratic leader, unlocking significant financial support.

Follow the money

• Jeffries has run for federal office seven times since 2012, raising more than $38 million. His biggest contributors have been pro-Israel political action committees, in particular the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. AIPAC has raised more than $900,000 for him. Pro-Israel America PAC and NorPAC have bundled over $300,000 combined. 
• Other major financial contributors include employees of Paul Weiss, the law firm where Jeffries worked before entering politics. They have given more than $300,000. And employees of Apollo Global Management, one of the world’s largest private equity firms, have contributed almost $200,000.
• Paul Weiss has been in the news lately for striking an agreement with the Trump administration after the president took aim at a number of law firms that employ Democrats and others who took part in investigations of Trump. Paul Weiss was targeted in an executive order on March 14; as per the terms of the agreement, the firm will provide $40 million of pro bono work for the administration. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said in a post on social media that “it is an absolute outrage that, in order to curry favor with Trump and continue making their billions, giant law firms like Paul Weiss have abrogated their responsibilities.”
• In the 2024 election cycle, Jeffries’ district was home to the second most expensive House race with over $22 million. He spent just over $20 million, making it the fourth most expensive reelection of the cycle. However, Jeffries faced only token opposition and was able to redirect much of that money to other Democratic candidates — a common practice among congressional leaders. 
• Jeffries has his own Leadership PAC, Jobs, Education and Family First, which started raising money in 2016. After raising only $12,000 for federal candidates that cycle, Jeffries’ PAC is now one of the largest in American politics. In the 2024 election, he was able to gather over $1.1 million, becoming the third largest Democratic leadership PAC and the eighth largest overall 
• Despite Jeffries’ long history of supporting Israel and the American Jewish community, his PAC contributed to the campaigns of AIPAC’s critics, such as Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Mich.) and Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), during the 2022 election cycle,. 
• Jeffries is also closely associated with the House Majority PAC, a Carey committee that combines aspects of PACs and super PACs. House Majority PAC has large donors such as corporate leaders Michael Bloomberg and Fred Eychaner and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker. 
• In 2021, alongside Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) and Terri Sewell (D-Ala.), Jeffries founded the Team Blue PAC, with the focus of defending Democratic incumbents from more left-wing primary challengers, which sparked tensions between Jeffries and progressive groups. The PAC contributed $69,000 to candidates in the 2022 election cycle and $2,000 in 2024. 

Why does it matter?

Jeffries is one of the most important figures in Democratic politics. He directs House Democrats’ policy and strategy agenda, and he’s one of the party’s biggest fundraisers. But as the leader of the minority party in a chamber where the majority can pass legislation without seeking cross-party support, he has limited impact on policy-marking at this time.

His ties to the House Majority PAC, one of the biggest hybrid PACs in Congress, means he will have significant say in which candidates earn financial backing in the 2026 elections. As Democratic voters weigh whether to seek changes in the midterms, his decisions on which candidates earn endorsements and contributions could reshape the face of the party. Since Paul Weiss settled with the Trump administration, the House minority leader has not spoken up on what Bernie Sanders has defined as a lack of responsibility. Also, his strong ties with PACs representing the interests of Israel and the Israeli community in the U.S. made him a staunch supporter of Israel’s war on Hamas.

On Nov. 9, 2023, a month after war broke out, he said “of course not” when reporters asked him about a cease-fire. On Feb. 5, 2025, he released a statement saying that the “commitment to Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish and Democratic state and eternal homeland for the Jewish people is ironclad. At the same time, America must support those Palestinians who legitimately desire a life filled with self-determination and peace in Gaza and the West Bank. A just and lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinian people is the objective, and that should inevitably lead to a two-state solution.”

This post was originally published on Original Journalism from OpenSecrets News.