Hakeem Jeffries Biography-Wiki
Hakeem Jeffries is an American politician serving as the U.S. Representative for New York’s 8th congressional district since 2013.
A corporate lawyer by occupation, he worked for Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, then Viacom and CBS, before running for and serving in the New York State Assembly from 2007 to 2012, representing the 57th Assembly district. Jeffries has also chaired the House Democratic Caucus since 2019.
Hakeem Jeffries Age
Jeffries was born Hakeem Sekou Jeffries in Brooklyn Hospital on August 4, 1970. He is currently 49 years old as of 2019.
Hakeem Jeffries Education
Hakeem Jeffries graduated from Midwood High School and received a B.A. degree in political science from Binghamton University with honors. He is a member of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity. He received a J.D. degree from New York University School of Law and obtained a Master of Public Policy degree from Georgetown University.
Hakeem Jeffries Family
Hakeem Jeffries Parents | Nationality
Hakeem is the son of Laneda Jeffries, a social worker, and Marland Jeffries, a state substance-abuse counselor. Jeffries grew up in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. His parents are the second generation of Americans. His grandparents were born and lived in the United States of America where his parents lived.
Hakeem Jeffries Siblings
Hakeem has a younger brother Hasan Kwame Jeffries, who is an associate professor of history at Ohio State University in Columbus. He is the author of Bloody Lowndes: Civil Rights and Black Power in Alabama’s Black Belt.
Hakeem Jeffries Wife
Jeffries is married to Kennisandra Arciniegas-Jeffries, a social worker with 1199 SEIU’s Benefit Fund.
Hakeem Jeffries Children
They couple together have two boys, Jeremiah who was born in 2001 and Joshua was born in the year 2004. The family lives in Prospect Heights.
Hakeem Jeffries Religion
A Congressional breakdown by religion from The Washington Post identifies Jeffries as Christian Baptist. Over 65 Congress members are Baptist, according to the publication. Now 49 years old, Jeffries has never given an interview in which he talks about his religious upbringing, spirituality, or faith.
Hakeem Jeffries Career
Law Career
Hakeem Jeffries served as a clerk for Judge Harold Baer, Jr. of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, then worked in the litigation department of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison before becoming assistant litigator for Viacom and CBS, where he worked on litigation stemming from the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy. During Jeffries’ 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 and as the president of Black Attorneys for Progress.
Hakeem Jeffries Elections
In 2000, Hakeem Jeffries challenged incumbent Assemblyman Roger Green in the Democratic primary, criticizing Green for becoming inattentive to the needs of the constituency and preoccupied with the pursuit of higher office.
During post-census redistricting, Jeffries’s district was drawn one block outside of Green’s Assembly district. Jeffries was still legally permitted to run in the district for the 2002 cycle, as state law only requires a candidate to live in the same county as a district they seek in the first election after a redistricting, but this still complicated Jeffries’s path. Jeffries described the re-drawing of the district as a “desperate act by a career politician trying to save his government job”. Green responded that the lines had actually been re-drawn to remove parts of Jeffries’s affluent Prospect Heights neighborhood in favor of public housing, and insisted that he had not even known where Hakeem Jeffries had lived.
Tensions continued to be high throughout the re-match, with Hakeem Jeffries at one point criticizing Green for accepting $3,700 in support from the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association of the City of New York, using a press release to link the union to the torture of Abner Louima.
Hakeem Jeffries was later forced to admit that a political club he had founded, Brooklyn Freedom Democratic Association, had been behind three anonymous mail pieces sent during the last week of the election, two which attacked Green for inaction as a legislator, and a third which falsely implied that presumptive Democratic gubernatorial nominee Carl McCall supported Jeffries when he had in fact endorsed Green.
In 2006 Green decided to retire from the Assembly in order to run for New York’s 10th congressional district against incumbent Democrat U.S. Congressman Ed Towns. Hakeem Jeffries ran for the 57th district again and won the Democratic primary, defeating Bill Batson and Freddie Hamilton 64 percent to 25 percent and 11 percent. In the general election, he handily defeated Republican nominee Henry Weinstein
Two years later, in 2008, Hakeem Jeffries won re-election to a second term, defeating the Republican candidate Charles Brickhouse, with 98 percent of the vote. In 2010 he won re-election to a third term, easily defeating the Republican candidate Frank Voyticky.
Hakeem Jeffries Positions
Since fall 2006 he has been a cautious supporter of Bruce Ratner’s controversial Atlantic Yards project. He has opposed the Keystone XL pipeline, but also voted against an amendment that would have restricted sales of oil transported on the pipeline to within the United States.
Hakeem Jeffries is pro-Israel, saying at a rally in July 2014 “Israel should not be made to apologize for its strength.” Citing his own childhood growing up in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, Jeffries added that he knew from experience that “the only thing that neighbors respect in a tough neighborhood is strength.” Since taking federal office, Jeffries has been called “a rising star”. He has been appointed to the House Judiciary Committee Task Force on Over Criminalization as well as appointed the Congressional Black Caucus Whip. He also plays in the infield on the Congressional Baseball Team.
In Congress, as the Congressional Black Caucus’ Whip, he has been actively involved in maintaining the CBC historic role as “the conscience of the Congress.” In his CBC role, he has hosted Special Orders on the House floor, including regarding voting rights (after the Supreme Court decision weakening the 1965 Voting Rights Act) and in December 2014, leading CBC members in a “hands up, don’t shoot” protest to protest the killings of African-Americans by police.
After the shootings in Charleston in June 2015 by a white supremacist inspired by the Confederate flag, Jeffries led the effort to have the flag removed for sale or display on National Park Service land, an amendment eventually killed by the Republican House leadership after its initial support and inclusion on a voice vote. During dramatic debate on the House floor, Jeffries stood next to the Confederate battle flag, and noted he “got chills” and lamented that the “Ghosts of the Confederacy have invaded the GOP.”
With a high concentration of public housing and high unemployment in his district, Hakeem Jeffries has also made an issue of HUD’s failure to adequately enforce Section 3 of its initial creating statute from 1968, which explicitly required that federally funded capital and rehabilitation projects in public housing developments had to employ residents of those developments. As Jeffries noted, “we can download the power of the federal government into neighborhoods that are struggling the most, without legislative action. The most promising area is Section 3.”
Hakeem Jeffries supports banning discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. In 2019, he voted in favor of the Equality Act and urged Congress members to do the same.
Hakeem Jeffries District | Office
New York’s Eighth Congressional District for the US House of Representatives is in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. Its current representative is Hakeem Jeffries. From 1993 to 2013, the district covered much of the west side of Manhattan and western coastal sections of Brooklyn.
Hakeem Jeffries Committees Assignments
- State House Committee on Banks
- State House Committee on Codes
- State House Committee on Corporations, Authorities, and Commissions
- State House Committee on Correction
- State House Committee on Housing
- State House Committee on Judiciary
- State House Subcommittee on Banking in Underserved Communities
- State House Subcommittee on Mitchell-Lama
- State House Subcommittee on Transitional Services
- State House Subcommittee on Trust and Estates
- Committee on the Judiciary
- Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet
- Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial And Antitrust Law
- Committee on the Budget
Hakeem Jeffries Net Worth
Jeffries as a U.S. Representative for New York’s 8th Congressional District and one of the House Managers in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial has an estimated net worth of about $567,000.
Hakeem Jeffries Contact
Washington, DC Office
2433 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: 202-225-5936
Hours: M-F 9 – 5 pm
Frequent Asked Question Hakeem Jeffries
What nationality is Hakeem Jeffries?
Hakeem is an American politician serving as the U.S. Representative for New York’s 8th congressional district since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, his district covers parts of Brooklyn and Queens.
Who are Hakeem’s parents?
Hakeem is the son of father Marland Jeffries and mother Laneda Jeffries
Who is Hakeem’s father?
Hakeem’s father is called Marland Jeffries who used to work as a state substance-abuse counselor.
Who is Hakeem married to?
Jeffries is married to his wife Kennisandra Arciniegas-Jeffries who works a social worker with 1199 SEIU’s Benefit Fund.
What does Hakeem do?
Hakeem is a lawyer by profession and politician
Where did Hakeem go to college?
graduated from Midwood High School and received a B.A. degree in political science from Binghamton University with honors. He also received a J.D. degree from New York University School of Law and obtained a Master of Public Policy degree from Georgetown University.
Where is Hakeem district?
New York’s Eighth Congressional District for the US House of Representatives is in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. Its current representative is Hakeem Jeffries. From 1993 to 2013, the district covered much of the west side of Manhattan and western coastal sections of Brooklyn.
Hakeem Jeffries Twitter
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