Hakeem Jeffries appears as the new face of Democrats in the House

Ms. Lee, 72, later stated that she had "absolutely" seen ageism and sexism at work.

"It's something that women, especially women of color and African-Americans, have to fight every day," she said, adding, "We still have a lot of glass ceilings to break."

In response, Jeffries called the race a "friendly contest of ideas." Inside the auditorium where the elections were taking place, one of his supporters, the representative of California, Juan C. Vargas, compared him to another dark Democrat in the United States. unusual name. a gift for oratory: the former President Barack Obama.

"When I arrived at Congress, my wife asked me if there was anyone in Congress who reminded me of Barack Obama, and I said," Yes, there is this guy Hakeem Jeffries from Brooklyn, I think he's the next guy, "Mr. Vargas said, according to a person in the room.

Mr. Jeffries, son of a state social worker and a social worker from New York City, holds a Master's degree in Public Policy from the University from Georgetown and a law degree from the University of New York. including for CBS, before entering politics. He won his first race in 2006, getting a seat in the New York State Assembly after two unsuccessful attempts. In 2012, he was elected to Congress.

Mr. Jeffries has long been on political radar in New York; in 2015, he was nominated as a possible candidate for mayor, although he made it clear at the time that he preferred to stay in the House.

Here in Washington, he is known to be a fierce critic of President Trump; after racial violence erupted last year in Charlottesville, Virginia, he accused Mr. Trump of playing a "political footing" with David Duke, former leader of the Ku Klux Klan, and had declared to CNN: "It's time for him to stop behaving like a racist racist tramp and start acting like the president of the United States of America. "

But though he is progressive, he is also pragmatic and considered a man capable of overcoming the deep divisions that erupted in the Democratic caucus between the left wing and the so-called red-to-blue members. , who rocked Republican seats in the districts won by Mr Trump.