Share on WeChat
https://www.powervoter.us:443/hakeem_jeffries
Copy the link and open WeChat to share.
 Share on WeChat
Copy the link and open WeChat to share.
 Share on WeChat
Scan QRCode using WeChat,and then click the icon at the top-right corner of your screen.
 Share on WeChat
Scan QRCode using WeChat,and then click the icon at the top-right corner of your screen.

Hakeem Jeffries

D
Quick Facts
Personal Details

Caucuses/Former Committees

Member, Congressional Progressive Caucus

Former Member, Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations Subcommittee, United States House of Representatives

Former Co-Chair, Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, United States House of Representatives

Former Member, Education and the Workforce Committee, United States House of Representatives

Former Member, Over Criminalization Task Force, United States House of Representatives

Former Member, Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security, United States House of Representatives

Former Member, Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions, United States House of Representatives

Former Member, Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development, United States House of Representatives

Former Member, Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law, United States House of Representatives

Education

  • JD, New York University Law School, 1994-1997
  • MPP, Public Policy, Georgetown University, 1992-1994
  • BA, Political Science, State University of New York at Binghamton, 1988-1992

Professional Experience

  • JD, New York University Law School, 1994-1997
  • MPP, Public Policy, Georgetown University, 1992-1994
  • BA, Political Science, State University of New York at Binghamton, 1988-1992
  • Former Counsel, Columbia Broadcasting System
  • Former Of-Counsel, Godosky & Gentile
  • Former Employee, Office of Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly
  • Assistant General Counsel, Litigation Department, CBS/Viacom, 2004-2006
  • Attorney-at-Law, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison Limited Liability Partnership, 1997-2004
  • Clerk, Judge Harold Baer, Southern District of New York, United States District Court, 1997-1998

Political Experience

  • JD, New York University Law School, 1994-1997
  • MPP, Public Policy, Georgetown University, 1992-1994
  • BA, Political Science, State University of New York at Binghamton, 1988-1992
  • Former Counsel, Columbia Broadcasting System
  • Former Of-Counsel, Godosky & Gentile
  • Former Employee, Office of Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly
  • Assistant General Counsel, Litigation Department, CBS/Viacom, 2004-2006
  • Attorney-at-Law, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison Limited Liability Partnership, 1997-2004
  • Clerk, Judge Harold Baer, Southern District of New York, United States District Court, 1997-1998
  • Democratic Caucus Chair, United States House of Representatives, 2019-present
  • Representative, United States House of Representatives, New York, District 8, 2012-present
  • Candidate, United States House of Representatives, New York, District 8, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020
  • Assembly Member, New York State Assembly, District 57, 2006-2012
  • Candidate, New York State Assembly, District 57, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2010

Former Committees/Caucuses

Member, Congressional Progressive Caucus

Former Member, Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations Subcommittee, United States House of Representatives

Former Co-Chair, Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, United States House of Representatives

Former Member, Education and the Workforce Committee, United States House of Representatives

Former Member, Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions, United States House of Representatives

Former Member, Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development, United States House of Representatives

Former Member, Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law, United States House of Representatives

Current Legislative Committees

Member, Committee on the Budget

Member, Committee on the Judiciary

Member, Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law

Member, Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet

Religious, Civic, and other Memberships

  • JD, New York University Law School, 1994-1997
  • MPP, Public Policy, Georgetown University, 1992-1994
  • BA, Political Science, State University of New York at Binghamton, 1988-1992
  • Former Counsel, Columbia Broadcasting System
  • Former Of-Counsel, Godosky & Gentile
  • Former Employee, Office of Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly
  • Assistant General Counsel, Litigation Department, CBS/Viacom, 2004-2006
  • Attorney-at-Law, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison Limited Liability Partnership, 1997-2004
  • Clerk, Judge Harold Baer, Southern District of New York, United States District Court, 1997-1998
  • Democratic Caucus Chair, United States House of Representatives, 2019-present
  • Representative, United States House of Representatives, New York, District 8, 2012-present
  • Candidate, United States House of Representatives, New York, District 8, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020
  • Assembly Member, New York State Assembly, District 57, 2006-2012
  • Candidate, New York State Assembly, District 57, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2010
  • Member, 77th Precinct Community Council, present
  • Member, Cornerstone Baptist Church, present
  • Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Instructor, Crown Heights Youth Collective
  • Former Member, Law Review, New York University School of Law

Other Info

Favorite Book:

"Bloody Lowndes" by Hasan Kwame Jeffries

Favorite TV Shows:

The Wire

Favorite Type of Music:

Hip-Hop music is a major component of what has helped shape the man I am today.

Policy Positions

2021

Abortion

1. Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation?
- Pro-choice

Budget

1. In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket?
- Yes

2. Do you support expanding federal funding to support entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare?
- Yes

Campaign Finance

1. Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions?
- Yes

Crime

1. Do you support the protection of government officials, including law enforcement officers, from personal liability in civil lawsuits concerning alleged misconduct?
- No

Defense

Do you support increasing defense spending?
- Unknown Position

Economy

1. Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth?
- Yes

2. Do you support lowering corporate taxes as a means of promoting economic growth?
- No

3. Do you support providing financial relief to businesses AND/OR corporations negatively impacted by the state of national emergency for COVID-19?
- Yes

Education

1. Do you support requiring states to adopt federal education standards?
- Unknown Position

Energy and Environment

1. Do you support government funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, geo-thermal)?
- Yes

2. Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions?
- Yes

Guns

1. Do you generally support gun-control legislation?
- Yes

Health Care

1. Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")?
- No

2. Do you support requiring businesses to provide paid medical leave during public health crises, such as COVID-19?
- Yes

Immigration

1. Do you support the construction of a wall along the Mexican border?
- No

2. Do you support requiring immigrants who are unlawfully present to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship?
- No

National Security

1. Should the United States use military force to prevent governments hostile to the U.S. from possessing a weapon of mass destruction (for example: nuclear, biological, chemical)?
- Unknown Position

2. Do you support reducing military intervention in Middle East conflicts?
- Yes

Trade

Do you generally support removing barriers to international trade (for example: tariffs, quotas, etc.)?
- Yes

New York State Legislative Election 2008 Political Courage Test

Abortion

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding abortion.

1. Abortions should always be illegal.
- No Answer

2. Abortions should always be legal.
- X

3. Abortions should be legal only within the first trimester of pregnancy.
- No Answer

4. Abortions should be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape.
- No Answer

5. Abortions should be legal when the life of the woman is endangered.
- No Answer

6. Abortions should be subject to a mandatory waiting period.
- No Answer

7. Require clinics to give parental notification before performing abortions on minors.
- No Answer

8. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

Budget and Tax

State Budget: Indicate what state funding levels (#1-6) you support for the following general categories. Select one level per category, you can use a number more than once.State Taxes: Indicate what state tax levels (#1-6) you support for the following general categories. Select one level per category, you can use a number more than once.

1. Education (Higher)
- Greatly Increase

2. Education (K-12)
- Greatly Increase

3. Emergency preparedness
- Slightly Increase

4. Environment
- Slightly Increase

5. Health care
- Greatly Increase

6. Law enforcement
- Slightly Increase

7. Transportation and Highway infrastructure
- Slightly Increase

8. Welfare
- Greatly Increase

9. Other or expanded categories
- No Answer

10. Alcohol taxes
- Maintain Status

11. Cigarette taxes
- Slightly Increase

12. Corporate taxes
- Greatly Increase

13. Gasoline taxes
- Maintain Status

14. Income taxes (incomes below $75,000)
- Maintain Status

15. Income taxes (incomes above $75,000)
- Maintain Status

16. Sales taxes
- Slightly Decrease

17. Vehicle taxes
- Slightly Decrease

18. Should there be a cap on school district property taxes?
- No

19. Should state sales taxes be extended to Internet sales?
- No

20. Should accounts such as a "rainy day" fund be used to balance the state budget?
- No

21. Should fee increases be used to balance the state budget?
- No

22. Do you support raising the income tax for those making $1,000,000 or more?
- Yes

23. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

Campaign Finance and Government Reform

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding campaign finance and government reform.c) Do you support limiting the following types of contributions to state legislative candidates?

1. Do you support limiting the number of terms for New York governors?
- No Answer

2. Do you support limiting the number of terms for New York state senators and assemblymembers?
- No

3. Individual
- Yes

4. PAC
- Yes

5. Corporate
- Yes

6. Political Parties
- Yes

7. Do you support requiring full and timely disclosure of campaign finance information?
- Yes

8. Do you support imposing spending limits on state-level political campaigns?
- Yes

9. Should New York participate in the federal REAL ID program?
- No Answer

10. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

Crime

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding crime.

1. Increase state funds for construction of state prisons and hiring of additional prison staff.
- No Answer

2. Establish the death penalty in New York.
- No Answer

3. Support programs to provide prison inmates with vocational and job-related skills and job-placement assistance when released.
- X

4. Implement penalties other than incarceration for certain non-violent offenders.
- X

5. Minors accused of a violent crime should be prosecuted as adults.
- No Answer

6. Support state and local law enforcement officials enforcing federal immigration laws.
- No Answer

7. Support hate crime legislation.
- X

8. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

Education

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding education.

1. Support state funding of universal pre-K programs.
- X

2. Support federal education standards and testing requirements for K-12 students (No Child Left Behind).
- No Answer

3. Support state education standards and testing requirements for K-12 students.
- X

4. Support requiring public schools to administer high school exit exams.
- No Answer

5. Allow parents to use vouchers to send their children to any public school.
- No Answer

6. Allow parents to use vouchers to send their children to any private or religious school.
- No Answer

7. Provide state funding to increase teacher salaries.
- X

8. Support using a merit pay system for teachers.
- No Answer

9. Provide state funding for tax incentives and financial aid to help make college more affordable.
- X

10. Support allowing illegal immigrant high school graduates of New York to pay in-state tuition at public universities.
- X

11. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

Employment

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding employment.

1. Increase funding for state job-training programs that re-train displaced workers and teach skills needed in today's job market.
- X

2. Reduce state government regulations on the private sector.
- No Answer

3. Provide low interest loans and tax credits for starting, expanding, or relocating businesses.
- X

4. Provide tax credits for businesses that provide child care for children in low-income working families.
- X

5. Increase state funds to provide child care for children in low-income working families.
- X

6. Include gender identity in New York's anti-discrimination laws.
- X

7. Increase the state minimum wage.
- X

8. Support laws that prevent employers from dismissing employees at will.
- X

9. Support financial punishments for those who knowingly employ illegal immigrants.
- No Answer

10. Support increased work requirements for able-bodied welfare recipients.
- No Answer

11. Increase funding for employment and job training programs for welfare recipients.
- X

12. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

Environment and Energy

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding the environment and energy.

1. Promote increased use of alternative fuel technology.
- X

2. Support increased production of traditional domestic energy sources (e.g. coal, natural gas, oil, etc).
- X

3. Support providing financial incentives to farms that produce biofuel crops.
- X

4. Use state funds to clean up former industrial and commercial sites that are contaminated, unused, or abandoned.
- X

5. Support funding for improvements to New York's power generating and transmission facilities.
- No Answer

6. Support funding for open space preservation.
- X

7. Limit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases linked to global warming.
- X

8. Enact environmental regulations even if they are stricter than federal law.
- X

9. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

Gun

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding guns.

1. Should background checks be required on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows?
- Yes

2. Should citizens be allowed to carry concealed guns?
- No

3. Should a license be required for gun possession?
- Yes

4. Do you support current levels of enforcement of existing state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns?
- No Answer

5. Do you support current state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns?
- No Answer

6. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

Health

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding health.

1. Ensure that citizens have access to basic health care through managed care, insurance reforms, or state-funded care where necessary.
- X

2. Guaranteed medical care to all citizens is not a responsibility of state government.
- No Answer

3. Limit the amount of damages that can be awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits.
- No Answer

4. Allow patients to sue their HMOs.
- X

5. Require hospitals and labs to release reports on infections that are a risk to public health, while not compromising patient confidentiality.
- X

6. Legalize physician assisted suicide in New York.
- No Answer

7. Support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes.
- X

8. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

Social

['Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding social issues.', 'Legislative Priorities']

1. Should New York recognize civil unions between same-sex couples?
- Yes

2. Should same-sex couples be allowed to marry?
- Yes

3. Should New York provide state-level spousal rights to same-sex couples?
- Yes

4. Do you support a moment of silence in public schools?
- No Answer

5. Do you support voluntary prayer in public schools?
- No

6. Do you support sexual education programs that include information on abstinence, contraceptives, and HIV/STD prevention methods?
- Yes

7. Do you support abstinence-only sexual education programs?
- No

8. Should the state government consider race and gender in state government contracting and hiring decisions?
- Yes

9. Do you support affirmative action in public college admissions?
- Yes

10. Should New York continue affirmative action programs?
- Yes

11. Do you support state funding of stem cell research?
- Yes

12. Do you support state funding of embryonic stem cell research?
- Yes

13. Do you support allowing pharmacists who conscientiously object to emergency contraception to refuse to dispense it?
- No

14. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

2019

Abortion

1. Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation?
- Pro-choice

Budget

1. In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket?
- Yes

2. In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing defense spending?
- Yes

Campaign Finance

1. Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions?
- Yes

Economy

1. Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth?
- Yes

2. Do you support lowering corporate taxes as a means of promoting economic growth?
- No

Education

1. Do you support requiring states to adopt federal education standards?
- Yes

Energy & Environment

1. Do you support government funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, thermal)?
- Yes

2. Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions?
- Yes

Guns

1. Do you generally support gun-control legislation?
- Yes

Health Care

1. Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")?
- No

Immigration

1. Do you support the construction of a wall along the Mexican border?
- No

2. Do you support requiring immigrants who are unlawfully present to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship?
- No

Marijuana

Do you support the legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes?
- Yes

National Security

1. Should the United States use military force in order to prevent governments hostile to the U.S. from possessing a nuclear weapon?
- No

2. Do you support increased American intervention in Middle Eastern conflicts beyond air support?
- Unknown Position

Congress Bills
Endorsements
Jeffries was endorsed by the United Auto Workers, several SEIU locals, Assemblyman Vito Lopez and MoveOn.org, among others.
Jeffries was endorsed by the United Auto Workers, several SEIU locals, Assemblyman Vito Lopez and MoveOn.org, among others.
Speeches
Articles

Selection as House minority leader

Jan. 1, 1900

Jeffries was elected to be House minority leader in the 118th Congress when House Democrats held their leadership elections on November 30, 2022. He ran unopposed.

Impeachment of President Donald Trump

Jan. 1, 1900

On February 5, 2020, President Donald Trump (R) was acquitted of abuse of power by a vote of 52-48 and obstruction of Congress by a vote of 53-47. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) first announced the House would pursue an inquiry into Trump on September 24, 2019, following allegations that Trump requested the Ukrainian government investigate former Vice President Joe Biden (D) and his son, Hunter Biden, in exchange for aid. Trump denied the allegations and called the inquiry "the worst witch hunt in political history." Following weeks of public hearings, the House voted to impeach Trump on December 18, 2019, charging him with abuse of power by a vote of 230-197 and obstruction of Congress by a vote of 229-198. For a breakdown of the U.S. House votes by representative and party, . On January 15, 2020, Speaker Nancy Pelosi named Jeffries one of the seven managers responsible for presenting the case for impeachment of President Donald Trump to the Senate. At that time, he had been a member of the House Judiciary Committee since 2013. As chair of the House Democratic Caucus, Jeffries was the highest-ranking member of Democratic Party leadership to be named a manager.

Selection as chairman of the House Democratic Caucus

Jan. 1, 1900

Jeffries was elected to be the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus in the 116th Congress when House Democrats held their leadership elections on November 28, 2018. He defeated Barbara Lee, winning by a 123-113 vote.