Hakeem Jeffries

Congressman Hakeem Jeffries has represented New York’s 8th Congressional District since 2013 (113th Congress-Present). Jeffries is a member of the Judiciary Committee and Budget Committee. He is also the democratic leader, having been elected to that position by his colleagues in November 2022. In that capacity, he is the highest-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives. In January 2020, Jeffries was selected to serve as one of seven House Impeachment Managers in the Senate trial of President Donald Trump, becoming the first African American man to serve in that role. Jeffries authored legislation to criminalize the chokehold and other inherently dangerous tactics such as a knee to the neck as part of the historic police reform, the “George Floyd Justice in Policing Act,” which was passed by the House of Representatives in 2021. Before Congress, Jeffries was a corporate lawyer who served in the New York State Assembly. Jeffries earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Binghamton University and a master’s degree in Public Policy from Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy. He also earned a Juris Doctor from New York University School of Law.