Hakeem Jeffries

Hakeem Sekou Jeffries ( hah-KEEM; born August 4, 1970) is an American politician and attorney who has served as House minority leader and leader of the House Democratic Caucus since 2023. Currently in his seventh term, Jeffries has been the U.S. representative for New York's 8th congressional district since 2013 and served three terms as a member of the New York State Assembly from 2007 to 2012.

Jeffries was born in the New York City borough of Brooklyn and raised in the Crown Heights neighborhood. He attended law school at New York University, graduating with honors and becoming a corporate lawyer before running for elected office. Both his state assembly district and congressional district are anchored in Brooklyn.

In Congress, Jeffries chaired the House Democratic Caucus from 2019 to 2023. The members of the caucus unanimously elected him to succeed Nancy Pelosi as leader in November 2022. This made him the first African American to lead a party in either chamber of the United States Congress.

Early life and career

Jeffries was born on August 4, 1970, at the Brooklyn Hospital Center in the Downtown Brooklyn district of New York City, to Marland Jeffries, a state substance-abuse counselor, and Laneda Jeffries, a social worker. He has one brother, Hasan. He grew up in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and is a lifelong member of the Cornerstone Baptist Church.

Jeffries graduated from Midwood High School, a public school, in 1988. He then studied political science at Binghamton University, graduating in 1992 with a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors. During his time at Binghamton he became a member of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.

Jeffries continued his education at the McCourt School of Public Policy of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., earning a Master of Public Policy (M.P.P.) degree in 1994. He then attended the School of Law of New York University in Lower Manhattan, where he was a member of the NYU Law Review. He graduated magna cum laude in 1997, with a Juris Doctor degree and delivered the student address at Convocation.

Upon graduating from law school, Jeffries became a law clerk for Judge Harold Baer Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

From 1998 to 2004, Jeffries was in private practice at the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. In 2004, he became a corporate litigator for television companies Viacom and CBS, where among other matters he worked on the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy. During Jeffries's time at Paul, Weiss, he also served as director of intergovernmental affairs for the New York State Chapter of the National Association of Minority Contractors (construction contractors) and as the president of Black Attorneys for Progress.

New York State Assembly

Jeffries was elected and reelected, serving in the New York State Assembly for a Brooklyn district from 2007 to 2012. During this time, he introduced over 70 bills.

In 2007, while still in his first term in the State Assembly, Jeffries endorsed and supported Barack Obama, and was among Obama's earliest supporters in Hillary Clinton's home state. In one interview, he said, "When I first ran for office, some people suggested that someone with the name 'Hakeem Jeffries' could never get elected, and when I saw someone with the name 'Barack Obama' get elected to the U.S. Senate, it certainly inspired me."

While in the Assembly, Jeffries worked on policing issues. In 2010, Governor David Paterson signed a Stop-and-Frisk database bill sponsored by Jeffries and then-Senator Eric Adams that banned police from compiling names and addresses of those stopped but not arrested during street searches.

Jeffries wrote and sponsored that law. He also sponsored and passed House Bill A.9834-A (now law), which stopped counting prison populations of upstate districts as part of those districts' population, becoming the second state to end this practice.

U.S. House of Representatives

Early years in Congress (2013–2018)

On April 11, 2013, Jeffries introduced the Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument Preservation Act (H.R. 1501; 113th Congress). The bill would direct the secretary of the interior to study the suitability and feasibility of designating the Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument in Fort Greene Park in Brooklyn as a unit of the National Park System (NPS). Jeffries said, "as one of America's largest revolutionary war burial sites and in tribute to the patriots that lost their lives fighting for our nation's independence, this monument deserves to be considered as a unit of the National Park Service." On April 28, 2014, the Prison Ship Martyrs's Monument Preservation Act was passed by the House.

On July 15, 2014, Jeffries, who in private practice addressed intellectual property issues, introduced the To establish the Law School Clinic Certification Program of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (H.R. 5108; 113th Congress), which would establish the Law School Clinic Certification Program of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to be available to accredited law schools for the ten-year period after enactment of the Act.

In 2015, Jeffries led the effort to pass the Slain Officer Family Support Act, which extended the tax deadline for people making donations to organizations supporting the families of deceased NYPD detectives Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos. The families of the officers, who had been killed in their patrol car on December 20, 2014, in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Jeffries's district, had been the recipients of charitable fundraising. Before the law's enactment, people would have had to make those contributions by December 31, 2014, to qualify for a tax deduction in connection with taxes filed in 2015. With the change, contributions made until April 15, 2015, were deductible. President Obama signed the bill into law on April 1, 2015.

In 2015, prominent African-American pastors called for Jeffries to step into the 2017 Democratic primary for mayor of New York City against Bill de Blasio. Jeffries said he had "no interest" and wished to remain a member of Congress.

On May 22, 2018, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the bipartisan First Step Act by a 358–36 vote with Jeffries as a key sponsor. The bill was the bipartisan product of Jeffries and Representative Doug Collins. President Trump signed it into law on December 21, 2018. It eased mandatory minimum federal sentences, expanded early releases, and ended some draconian practices, such as the shackling of women inmates giving birth.

Jeffries also played a key role in the House passage of the bipartisan Music Modernization Act, which became law in 2018. Again, he teamed up with Collins in a bipartisan manner to introduce and pass this law.

Among the practices Jeffries continued from his time in the Assembly in Congress is Summer at the Subway, rebranded as "Congress on Your Corner", offering outdoor evening office hours from June through August near subway stations that allow him to connect and hear constituents' concerns firsthand.

Committee assignments

As a freshman, Jeffries served on the influential Budget Committee. Later, he served on the Judiciary Committee. During the 114th Congress, Jeffries also served on the House Education and Workforce Committee. He has been a long-standing member of the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Leadership (2018–2022)

Democratic Caucus Chair

On November 28, 2018, Jeffries defeated California congresswoman Barbara Lee to become chair of the House Democratic Caucus. His term began when the new Congress was sworn in on January 3, 2019. In this role, he was the fifth-ranking member of the Democratic leadership.

First impeachment of President Donald Trump

On January 15, 2020, Jeffries was selected as one of seven House managers presenting the impeachment case against Trump during his trial before the United States Senate. On January 22, 2020, a protester in the Senate gallery interrupted Jeffries by yelling comments at the senators seated a floor below. Jeffries quickly responded with a scripture verse, Psalm 37:28, "For the Lord loves justice and will not abandon his faithful ones", before continuing with his testimony.

During the impeachment hearings, in response to Trump's counsel's rhetorical question “Why are we here?” to the Senate, Jeffries delivered a soliloquy that concluded by quoting Biggie Smalls: "and if you don't know, now you know". Billboard magazine called it a "noteworthy mic-drop moment".

House Democratic Leader (2022–)

With outgoing Speaker Pelosi's endorsement, Jeffries was elected unopposed as House Democratic leader for the 118th Congress in November 2022, becoming the first African American to lead a party caucus in either chamber of Congress.