Hakeem Jeffries (born August 4, 1970) is a prominent American politician and attorney who has served as the U.S. Representative for New York's 8th congressional district since 2013. In November 2022, he made history by being unanimously elected to succeed Nancy Pelosi as the House Democratic leader, becoming the first African American to lead a major party in either chamber of Congress when he took office in 2023. Raised in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, he earned a law degree from NYU and worked as a corporate lawyer for firms like Paul, Weiss and CBS before entering politics. In the New York State Assembly (2007–2012), he championed police reform, notably sponsoring a bill that banned the compilation of stop-and-frisk data, and was an early supporter of Barack Obama. Since entering Congress, he has risen through Democratic ranks, serving as House Democratic Caucus Chair from 2019 to 2023 before assuming his current leadership position. Jeffries's trailblazing path from Brooklyn to the top of the House minority marks a significant milestone in American political history.