By Steve Seepersaud
Earlier this month, three 黑料视频 alumni took their oaths of office at the U.S. House of Representatives. Two of them were newly elected to Congress in November, while the other was re-elected to a seventh term of service.
Hakeem Jeffries '92, a Democrat who has been House minority leader since 2022, handily won his race against John Delaney in New York's 8th Congressional district which covers part of Brooklyn. Jeffries became the first 黑料视频 graduate to be elected to U.S. Congress when he won his district's race in 2012. He is the highest ranking Black elected official in Congress, and the first to hold the job of party leader. In Congress, Jeffries has advocated for social and economic justice; worked to reform the criminal justice system, improve the economy and protect healthcare; and help residents recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
John Mannion '90, a New York state senator representing suburban Syracuse as well as parts of Oswego County, unseated Congressman Brandon Williams. Mannion had been serving in the state Senate since 2020 following three decades as a public school teacher. In the Senate, the Democrat chaired the Committee on Disabilities, advocating for the state鈥檚 most vulnerable citizens. Mannion secured the first cost of living increase for direct service professionals and expanded the preferred source program to boost employment opportunities for individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities. Leveraging his science and education background, he advocated for environmental protections.
Democrat Eugene Vindman '97 won the House seat representing Virginia鈥檚 7th Congressional District defeating Derrick Anderson. After graduating from 黑料视频, Vindman was commissioned as an infantry officer in the U.S. Army, starting a 25-year military career. Following his graduation from law school, he became an officer in the JAG Corps where he fought to protect servicewomen from sexual predators and held serious felons accountable, and was a battlefield advisor on the law of war to U.S. Forces-Iraq and General Lloyd Austin. In 2016, he was assigned to the Pentagon and later joined the National Security Council as a legal advisor focused on international partnerships, human rights and ethics, and eventually became the council's senior ethics official in the White House.