Lujan's move opens up Jeffries' path to speaker's chair
With the New Mexico congressman announcing that hes running for Senate, House Democrats are avoiding a knife fight over future leadership battles.
By HEATHER CAYGLE and JOHN BRESNAHAN 04/03/2019 05:07 AM EDT
Ben Ray Luján just gave Hakeem Jeffries a big gift: A clearer path to the speakers chair.
Lujáns decision to jump into the New Mexico Senate race waiving the chance to move up in House leadership removes a potential rival for Jeffries (D-N.Y.), according to more than a dozen Democratic lawmakers and aides.
Luján, Jeffries and Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.) are widely considered the leaders of the next generation of House Democrats. Theyre the ones who will pick up the mantle from Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) when the septuagenarian triumvirate eventually moves on.
But Lujáns decision leaves Jeffries and Bustos, chairwoman of House Democrats campaign arm, on that tier alone. Other members are also in the mix including Massachusetts Rep. Katherine Clark, vice chair of the caucus, and Reps. Cedric Richmond of Louisiana and Pete Aguilar of California, both senior whips under Clyburn. Yet out of all of them, Jeffries may have the inside track on becoming the next top House Democrat.
It does give a clearer path, Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.) said in an interview. Hakeem and Cheri and Katherine and others who might be interested, Ben Ray certainly wouldve been in that mix but now hes running for the Senate.
The decision by Luján to run for Senate could head off what was expected to be a messy battle a knife fight as one Democrat described it for the speakers gavel after nearly two decades under Pelosis reign.
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https://www.politico.com/story/2019/04/03/ben-ray-lujan-hakeem-jeffries-speakers-chair-1250689