Should Hakeem Jeffries be the next Speaker of the House?

On this page: A first within reach; How the Speaker is chosen, and where your voice counts; What a Speaker decides; and His votes since 2013, beside the Black Caucus

A first within reach

On Wednesday, November 4, the morning after Democrats won control of the House, Hakeem Jeffries wrote to every House Democrat and asked for their support to become Speaker. If the House chooses him, he will be the first Black Speaker of the House in its history. The Associated Press already calls him the highest ranking Black elected official in America.

Jeffries was born in Brooklyn. He has represented New York's 8th District, in Brooklyn and Queens, since January 2013, on ground Shirley Chisholm once represented, and he has led House Democrats since January 2023. Before Congress he was a lawyer and a member of the New York State Assembly.

Across Black America the question is being argued at kitchen tables, in barbershops and online. Some see power our community has never held. Others ask what his record has delivered, where his money comes from, and how he will use the gavel. This page puts the record in one place: 64 of his votes since 2013 beside the Congressional Black Caucus, where his campaign money comes from, and what he brought home to his district. SourceLine takes no side. You decide, and your answer goes to your own member of Congress.

Follow every step to the vote. From now until the House chooses its Speaker, SourceLine keeps each step on one page, Electing the Speaker of the House: the House Democrats' vote for their candidate, members who say how they will vote, and the vote of the full House. Open it any time to see where things stand and who has said what. Members of Congress can put their own statement on the record there.

How the Speaker is chosen, and where your voice counts

Step one, mid December. The House Democrats elected on November 3 choose their candidate for Speaker in their own leadership election, which Fox News reports is set for mid December.

Speaker Mike Johnson said he will not seek to lead House Republicans in the new Congress, the Associated Press reported on November 4.

Step two, when the new House meets. The full House votes. The Constitution sets noon on January 3 unless Congress picks another day, and January 3, 2027 falls on a Sunday. To win, a candidate needs a majority of the members who vote for someone by name. In January 2023 it took 15 rounds of voting.

Your place in it. Every one of the 435 members votes for Speaker, Republicans included. One of those votes belongs to the member who represents you. Tell that member what you think on the Weigh in page of this story. SourceLine sends each district's count to its member before the Democrats choose their leader and again before the House votes.

What a Speaker decides

The Speaker decides which bills come to a vote and when. With the majority, the Speaker shapes who leads committees, oversees how the House itself is run, and stands second in line for the presidency after the Vice President. That is why the choice reaches every Black family, whoever wins it.

His votes since 2013, beside the Black Caucus

SourceLine picked 64 House votes from February 2013 to April 2026 with one test for every member: what matters most for Black communities, and what a Speaker would control. Every vote, its date and its roll call number come from the House Clerk's official record. On 60 of the 64, Jeffries voted the same way as most Black Caucus members serving at the time.

For. He voted for the John Lewis Voting Rights Act (August 24, 2021), the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act (2020 and 2021), the Emmett Till Antilynching Act that became law (February 28, 2022), the CROWN Act (March 18, 2022), the First Step Act (December 20, 2018), the American Rescue Plan (March 10, 2021), the Inflation Reduction Act (August 12, 2022), a three year extension of Affordable Care Act tax credits (January 8, 2026) and protected status for Haitians (April 16, 2026).

Against. He voted against a $39 billion cut to SNAP (September 19, 2013), the 2017 tax law, the 2017 health bill that would have replaced the Affordable Care Act, the SAVE Act on proof of citizenship to vote (2024 and 2025), and the 2025 budget law (July 3, 2025). He voted no on removing Ilhan Omar from her committee and no on censuring Jamaal Bowman, Al Green and Stacey Plaskett.

On this page: The four votes where he and most of the caucus split; His votes on Israel; Where his campaign money comes from; Pro Israel PAC money; PACs that give to both parties; and What he brought home to Brooklyn and Queens

The four votes where he and most of the caucus split

The Charlie Kirk resolution, September 19, 2025 (H.Res. 719, roll call 282). The resolution honored the life of Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist killed on September 10, 2025. Jeffries voted yes. Of Black Caucus members, 4 voted yes, 43 voted no, 4 voted present and 4 did not vote. The House passed it 310 to 58, with 38 voting present: Republicans 215 to 0, Democrats 95 to 58 with 38 present.

The Antisemitism Awareness Act, May 1, 2024. He voted yes; 21 caucus members voted yes and 25 voted no.

The GENIUS Act on stablecoins, July 17, 2025. He voted yes; 21 caucus members voted yes and 34 voted no.

Objecting to a United Nations resolution on Israeli settlements, January 5, 2017. He voted yes; 9 caucus members voted yes and 13 voted no.

His votes on Israel

He voted for Iron Dome funding in 2014 and 2021, for the resolution standing with Israel after October 7 (October 25, 2023), and for the $26 billion Israel package (April 20, 2024), with most of the caucus each time. He voted no on the Republican bill that paid for Israel aid by cutting the IRS (November 2, 2023), no on censuring Rashida Tlaib (November 7, 2023), no on forcing paused weapons shipments to Israel (May 16, 2024) and no on sanctioning the International Criminal Court (January 9, 2025). On the December 5, 2023 resolution that called anti Zionism antisemitism, he voted present, as did 26 caucus members.

Where his campaign money comes from

Small gifts lead now. Since he became Democratic Leader, gifts of $200 or less are the largest part of his campaign money: $11.7 million in 2024 and $10.3 million in 2026 through October 14. PACs gave 42 percent of his campaign's money in 2014 and 11 percent in 2024. His campaign raised $22,977,197 in 2024 and $17,893,352 in 2026 through October 14, up from $1,113,687 in 2014 (Federal Election Commission).

Two other committees raise in his name and are counted apart, never added to the campaign. The Jeffries Victory Fund raised $34,010,170 in 2024 and shares it with other Democrats. His leadership PAC, JEFF PAC, raised $3,492,969 in 2024 and gave $2,172,000 to other candidates.

Pro Israel PAC money

From 2014 to 2026, five PACs that describe themselves as pro Israel sent his campaign $1,424,180, counting their own gifts and the gifts from individuals they passed on. Of that, $1,006,851 came through AIPAC's PAC, $921,860 of it in 2024, about 4 percent of his campaign's money that year. AIPAC's PAC also passed $490,650 to his joint fundraising committees, which share money with other Democrats. Sludge, an independent investigative site, reported $149,300 of that in July; SourceLine's count from federal filings matches.

Speaker Mike Johnson, the Republican who holds the gavel now, received $1,110,038 through AIPAC's PAC from 2022 to 2026, almost all of it gifts from individuals the PAC passed on. Jeffries received $1,024,351 through the same PAC in those years. Counting all five PACs, Jeffries received more, $1,399,176, because Johnson's came from AIPAC's PAC alone.

Among 58 Black Caucus members compared the same way for 2022 to 2026, Jeffries ranks fifth. Wesley Bell of Missouri is first at $5.49 million. Eleven members received none. United Democracy Project, the super PAC tied to AIPAC, spent nothing for or against Jeffries. In 2024 it spent $9,865,493 against Jamaal Bowman and $5,242,260 against Cori Bush in their primaries. Both lost.

PACs that give to both parties

Most PACs that gave his campaign the most also give to Republicans. Among his top ten PAC givers in 2026, the bankers, accountants, insurance brokers, title insurers and Honeywell gave more to Republicans than to Democrats or split close to evenly, while the unions gave nearly all to Democrats. A gift does not prove a vote. The record shows both, side by side, for you to weigh.

What he brought home to Brooklyn and Queens

His district holds 759,088 residents, and 43 percent are Black (48.5 percent counting people who also list another race). Among citizens old enough to vote, 44.4 percent are Black (Census Bureau survey estimates, 2020 to 2024).

Projects he secured. In the 2024 budget year he won $18,729,279 for 15 projects in his district, among them $3,566,279 for Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, fire alarm upgrades at Marcy and Tompkins Houses, and an accessible Classon Avenue subway station. In 2026 he won $12,870,000 for 15 more, among them a Central Brooklyn violence prevention program at John Jay College, Project Restore at the Brooklyn District Attorney's office, school athletic fields and the Canarsie campus library. Every project he asked for in those two years was funded, at less than he asked. There were none in 2025, when Congress ran the government on a stopgap.

Laws. Eight of the 133 bills he sponsored became law, among them the Slain Officer Family Support Act (2015), the Malala Yousafzai Scholarship Act (2021) and the Human Trafficking Prevention Act (2022). One of the eight was the 2022 spending package, which carried his bill number.

What supporters and critics say

Supporters. Progressive Caucus chair Greg Casar said, "If we win the majority, I expect that he'll be speaker." Representative Becca Balint said she had not heard of "a single person" planning to challenge him. Colleagues praise his collaborative style, the Associated Press reports.

Critics. His careful style has drawn criticism that he can be too slow to act, the Associated Press reports. Three Democratic nominees who planned to join the Black Caucus, Darializa Avila Chevalier of New York, Chris Rabb of Pennsylvania and Melat Kiros of Colorado, declined to commit to him; Kiros said she "will not vote for any Democrat for a leadership position if they take corporate PAC money," Axios reported in August. In 2021 he helped start Team Blue PAC with moderate Democrats to protect sitting members from primary challengers, which angered some progressive groups.

The record is above. The decision is yours. Answer the question for your district on the Weigh in page, and SourceLine will carry your district's count to your member.

Every member of the House votes for Speaker. Your member's name, party and contact are below, with the Black share of voters where you live.