TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries listened from the front row at the old Ohio church as the Sunday congregation heard of scripture’s guidance for calming a gathering storm.
“Wind, hush!” the speaker advised, describing the power to bring about change.
Jeffries nodded along, the words resonating beyond the church’s soaring brick walls, days out from the midterm elections that will determine control of Congress for the remainder of President Donald Trump’s term in the White House.
“We’re on the verge of taking back control of the House,” Jeffries told The Associated Press in an interview afterward.
“When this storm has passed, and it will, those of us who have served in the Congress during this time will be part of bringing about a better chapter in the United States of America,” he said. “That’s the mission. And failure is not an option.”
Jeffries is on track to become House speaker, if Democrats sweep to power and elect him to the job, one of the most powerful positions in the U.S., second in line to the presidency. He has been campaigning across the country in more than 50 cities for House Democrats as they try to oust Republicans and win back majority control.
He would make history as the first Black American to hold the gavel.
A new generation of leadership, a 100-days agenda
The New York City-born Jeffries is a new generation of leadership at the Capitol, known for his deliberative, calm-is-a-choice style of governing. He would be the first Democratic speaker since Nancy Pelosi of California.
Democrats are preparing a 100-days agenda focused on lowering the cost of living and conducting oversight of Trump’s Republican administration, as Jeffries puts it, to “hold the crooks accountable.”
“What we’ve seen is he is quietly effective,” said Rep. Brad Schneider of Illinois, outgoing chairman of their party’s centrist New Democrat Coalition. “Rather than chasing rabbits, what Leader Jeffries has kept the caucus doing is focused on accomplishment, success and a plan for our future.”
First elected in 2012, Jeffries is sandwiched between the Pelosi-era elders who have held great sway in Congress and liberal millennial New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s generation, bridging the two.
A corporate lawyer, he grew up the son of a counselor and a social worker, steeped in Brooklyn’s Cornerstone Baptist Church. He earned a political science degree at the State University of New York at Binghamton and a master’s in public policy at Georgetown and graduated magna cum laude at New York University School of Law.
At 29, he made his first run for office, an insurgent himself, eager to oust a longtime New York state Assembly member. He failed, twice. Eventually he won a statehouse seat. He ran for Congress, mounting a challenge to a 30-year incumbent who stepped aside.
Since then Jeffries has been on a steady rise, representing parts of the district once held by trailblazing Rep. Shirley Chisholm.
“Faith and the community were always a central part of my journey,” he said.
He said that’s the case for many of his generation, “who grew up in the midst, you know, of some challenging times — the crack cocaine epidemic, a lot of community violence. A lot of people’s lives were prematurely lost.”
“It leads to a desire to want to improve the quality of life for hardworking people, who could have fled difficult circumstances but remained in the community, worked hard to turn things around,” he said.
At the Toledo church, the area’s long-serving Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur told the congregation that when she first ran for office, Chisholm was the only member of Congress to campaign for her. Now another from Brooklyn is ready to lead.
“This man wants to do something for the people of this country,” she said.
‘Sky’s the Limit’ as Democrats work to take charge
Jeffries never bought into the theory that voters gave Republicans a mandate in 2024 with control of the White House and Congress, leaving Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana with one of the smallest majorities in modern times.
He set about to win power back for Democrats.
Democrats used the tools available to force votes that GOP leadership tried to avoid — on releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files and halting the Iran war.
They voted against the GOP’s big tax breaks and spending cuts bill, Jeffries delivering an eight-hour speech spotlighting cuts to Medicaid healthcare and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP.
At times, it seemed Jeffries, not Johnson, was in charge — including when Democrats shut down the government because Republicans refused to fund tax credits for the Affordable Care Act that millions of people relied on to buy health insurance.
Jeffries often sprinkles old-school hip hop lyrics into his speeches, and he said the music has been a soundtrack to life, as songs are for any generation.
“‘Sky’s the Limit’ is one of my favorite songs from The Notorious B.I.G.,” he said, “because it really did track a journey from negativity to positivity and overcoming life’s adversity.”
Challenges ahead for the party leader
Jeffries will be tested almost immediately if Democrats take control. The House speaker is elected when the new Congress convenes Jan. 3.
He is facing a new generation of upstarts, including a handful of candidates backed by the Democratic Socialists of America.
Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, the chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said that Democrats are often a “party of nervous lawyers” at a time when voters are demanding change.
“To his credit,” he said about Jeffries, “in these key moments and opportunities where we’ve been able to take action, we’ve surprised people.”
Jeffries is described as a listener, who often jots down what colleagues say in meetings, a bottom-up style of leadership that works to build consensus. He said he has spoken to all the incoming Democrats. “Everybody’s got to chart their own path,” he said.
“On the other side of this election, I think what will unite House Democrats is the fact that we know things are broken in this country,” he said. “We’ve got to do something transformational about the affordability crisis.”
A sense of purpose for the country’s future
After the service, members of the congregation gathered in the church basement for a luncheon honoring the bishop’s anniversary years of service, with steaming trays of chicken, greens, sweet potatoes and desserts.
Church member Lorna McKinstry, 74, a retired police dispatcher, said she was hopeful the country could begin to end its divisions.
“I want us to be a United States of America,” she said.
Jeffries visited over lunch before pushing on to the next stops, driven by a sense of purpose that the country can do better.
Those in Congress “have a responsibility to stop the madness from continuing to hurt everyday Americans,” he said, “and chart a more hopeful path toward making this country the best version of herself.”