The Winner

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) won an eighth term in New York’s 8th Congressional District on Tuesday, Nov. 3, defeating Republican Lewis Mizrahi 78.9% to 19.7%. With about 87% of votes counted, Jeffries led 128,197 to 31,969, a margin of 96,228 votes, according to Associated Press election results. The AP called the race at 9:07 p.m. Eastern Time on election night. ​

Democrats won the House majority the same night, putting Jeffries, who has led House Democrats since 2023, in line to become speaker. He will move from the minority to the majority for the first time as party leader.

The Race

Mizrahi ran on both the Republican and Conservative Party lines. Every party’s June 23 primary in the district was canceled because the nominees ran unopposed, according to Ballotpedia’s race overview. New York City Council Member Chi Ossé (D) had launched a primary challenge to Jeffries but withdrew before the ballot was set.

Before the election, Cook Political Report and Inside Elections rated the race Solid Democratic, and Sabato’s Crystal Ball rated it Safe Democratic.

The district lies in Brooklyn, according to the state’s 2024 congressional district map, which remained in place for this election after the U.S. Supreme Court paused a court-ordered redraw of a neighboring district. It is home to about 759,100 people, with a median household income of about $66,100. About 36.2% of adults hold a bachelor’s degree or higher, and about 20.8% of residents live below the poverty line. The population is about 43.0% Black, 28.9% white, 16.2% Hispanic and 8.3% Asian.

What’s Next

Jeffries’ new term begins Sunday, Jan. 3, when the full House will elect its speaker. If chosen, he would be the first Black speaker, NPR noted in a post-election interview. In that interview, Jeffries said a Democratic Congress could pass war powers resolutions aimed at ending the war in Iran, which he blamed for higher gas and grocery prices. He also said the Judiciary and Oversight committees would investigate alleged wrongdoing by the Trump administration.

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