Steny Hoyer

Maryland's Fifth District Democratic Representative, Steny H. Hoyer, began serving in the US House of Representatives in 1981 and was one of the country’s most important Democratic leaders until he left his political position in 2023.

Early Life

Born in New York City, Hoyer attended college at the University of Maryland, where he received a bachelor's degree in business and management in 1963 and worked as an intern for then Maryland Senator Daniel Brewster. He also earned a Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University Law School in 1966 but went directly into politics. That year, at the age of twenty-seven and only a few months out of law school, Hoyer was elected to the Maryland Senate.

Political Career

Hoyer had campaigned on a platform of fair housing and followed up during his twelve years in office with vigorous proposals for stronger financial disclosure requirements for elected officials, a stronger state Human Rights Commission, and the reform of Maryland's rape and sexual assault laws. He also used his growing political weight to advocate for reforms and increased funding in the state's public school system, serving on the Maryland State Board of Higher Education from 1978 to 1981. In 1975, Hoyer was elected president of the state Senate. At only thirty-six years old, he was the youngest person to ever hold that post.

In 1981, Hoyer campaigned in the special elections for a seat in the US House of Representatives on behalf of Maryland's Fifth District, an area in the southern portion of the state whose constituency includes a significant number of federal employees, several military installations, and the University of Maryland. He won the special election and held his seat in subsequent elections without significant opposition until after redistricting in 1990.

US House of Representatives

The political interests that Hoyer has held since the outset of his career have proven well suited to his congressional constituency. His early concerns in the area of civil rights have crystallized into a long-term concern for employment rights, particularly with regard to the federal government workers of southern Maryland. Hoyer guided the Federal Employee Pay Comparability Act to passage in the House in 1990, supported federal salary increases in 1999, and improved employee benefits in 2001. He is perhaps most well-known, however, for his sponsorship of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990, an historic piece of legislation that improved access for disabled Americans to employment, housing, education, public association, and a wide range of services.

In 2002, Hoyer successfully guided to passage the Help America Vote Act, one of the most significant reforms to American election law in history. He has also been one of the House's strongest proponents of federal support for local law enforcement initiatives, including the COPS on the Beat Program that sponsored the hiring of neighborhood "beat" police officers throughout the nation. Recognizing the large military personnel presence in his district, Hoyer exerted his congressional influence to preserve southern Maryland's military bases in the face of vigorous efforts during the 1990s to cut Pentagon costs. He has also worked tirelessly throughout his long career on issues including gang resistance, funding Head Start and teacher training programs, election reform, and campaign finance reform.

During his twenty terms in office, Hoyer has made a priority of participating in Democratic Party leadership. He served as chair of the Democratic Caucus from 1989 to 1994, chief candidate recruiter for the House Democrats from 1995 to 2000, and deputy majority whip from 1987 to 1989. In November 2002, Hoyer was unanimously elected House democratic whip, the second-ranking position among Democrats in the House.

In 2007, Hoyer was elected as House majority leader. He was re-elected in 2008 and served in that position until 2011. He served again as House minority whip from 2011 to 2019, when Democrats won back control of the House, at which point he was elected as majority leader. Hoyer became the longest-serving member of Congress from Maryland in US history in 2007. He served in this position until 2023 as the second most important Democratic leader in the House behind Speaker Pelosi. In August 2024, he suffered a minor ischemic stroke. He received treatment and reportedly did not suffer any lasting effects. Congress was on recess at the time, and Steny returned to his usual schedule within about a week.

Hoyer's wife, Judith, died in 1997. He has three daughters and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. In 2023, it was announced that he was engaged to marry Elaine Kamarck, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, in June of that year.

Bibliography

"Biography of Steny Hoyer." US Congressman Steny Hoyer, hoyer.house.gov/about. Accessed 16 Oct. 2024.

Drum, Kevin. "The Establishmentarian." Washington Monthly, 18 Oct. 2006, washingtonmonthly.com/2006/10/18/the-establishmentarian-2. Accessed 16 Oct. 2024.

Fossam, Sam and Haley Talbot. "Rep. Steny Hoyer Suffers ‘mild ischemic stroke,’ Responding Well to Treatment." CNN, 13 Aug. 2024, www.cnn.com/2024/08/13/politics/steny-hoyer-ischemic-stroke/index.html. Accessed 16 Oct. 2024.

Karni, Annie. "How Steny Hoyer, Pelosi's No. 2, Decided It Was Time to Step Aside." The New York Times, 2 Dec. 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/12/02/us/politics/steny-hoyer-step-aside.html. Accessed 16 Oct. 2024.

Kurtz, Judy. "Steny Hoyer Engaged to Brookings Institution Senior fellow." Hill, 1 Feb. 2023, thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/3839174-steny-hoyer-engaged-to-brookings-institution-senior-fellow/. Accessed 16 Oct. 2024.

Schulman, Daniel. "Steny Hoyer's K Street Project." Mother Jones, 9 Nov. 2006, www.motherjones.com/politics/2006/11/steny-hoyers-k-street-project. Accessed 16 Oct. 2024.