Hakeem Jeffries on course to become the first Black House speaker, but questions remain inside his own party

After the Democrats' decisive victory in Tuesday's midterm elections in the United States, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York is on the verge of becoming the first Black speaker of the US House of Representatives. The congressman is 56 years old.

For Jeffries, it would be the culmination of almost two decades in politics. As speaker, he would play a central role in the Democrats' efforts to rein in President Donald Trump in the final two years of his presidency.

But as Jeffries celebrated the 'blue tsunami' that swept Democrats back into power the day after the election, some within the party were not convinced that the congressman, known for his cautious approach to politics and longstanding support for Israel, was the right man for the moment.

An online petition on Change.org calling on lawmakers to choose another speaker had collected more than 980,000 signatures by Saturday morning.

Several newly elected progressive lawmakers have not said whether they will support him.

The petition reads: 'We believe the Speaker should represent the Democratic voters, not just the Democratic establishment.' It continues: 'This is not a foregone conclusion,' urging others to run for the job.

Jeffries, who has spent years cultivating relationships within the Democratic caucus, now finds himself at the centre of a bigger fight within the party, as its growing progressive wing pushes for a more confrontational approach to Trump and a break with some of the ideas that have defined the Democrats for decades.

Jeffries grew up in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, in the 1970s and 1980s, as the neighbourhood was grappling with the crack cocaine epidemic.

In 2019 he told NYU Law: 'There was a lot of dysfunction and pain that surrounded the communities that I was raised in, but also a lot of love and compassion from family and friends, and community folks.'

The son of two social workers, Jeffries eventually became a lawyer. He has said his decision to pursue a career in law was shaped by the 1992 riots that erupted in Los Angeles after four white police officers were acquitted in the beating of Rodney King, a Black man.

In his words, the episode 'crystallized the fact that we still had a long way to go to eradicate social and racial injustice.'

Jeffries went on to work as a corporate lawyer before entering politics, losing two runs for the New York State Assembly before winning a seat in 2006 and being elected to Congress six years later.

In Washington, he helped broker a bipartisan criminal justice reform law signed by Trump in 2018. Two years later, during Trump's first impeachment trial, he argued that Trump should be removed from office as one of seven House impeachment managers who presented the case to the US Senate.

Rising quickly through the Democratic ranks, Jeffries became caucus chair in 2019 before making history three years later, when he was unanimously chosen to succeed former Speaker Nancy Pelosi as the party's House leader, becoming the first Black politician to lead a party in either chamber of Congress.

Jeffries and Pelosi have been compared for their distinct leadership styles. While Pelosi was known for her commanding, top-down approach, Jeffries has built a reputation for quietly and deliberately building consensus among his colleagues.

That approach has frustrated some Democrats, who say Jeffries has been too reluctant to take firm positions and who question whether he is prepared to confront Trump and Republicans in Congress aggressively enough.

Those concerns were on display after Jeffries declared after the election that 'the American people don't want us to get even; they want us to get things done on their behalf.' Among those who pushed back was left-wing political commentator Hasan Piker, who reposted a video of Jeffries's comments, saying: 'No, we definitely ARE looking for justice and accountability.'

Jeffries also faced criticism after reports emerged in August that he had privately met Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, who does not have a formal role in the administration but has been involved in diplomatic efforts in the Middle East and in Russia.

Jeffries defended the meeting, saying Kushner had requested it and that he had used it to discuss the affordability crisis. But critics argued that rather than meeting privately with Kushner, Jeffries should have been preparing to investigate his business dealings.