Earlier this month, three ßÙßÇÂþ» 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
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 ßÙßÇÂþ» 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
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’s 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.
Eugene Vindman
Democrat Eugene Vindman '97 won the House seat representing Virginia’s 7th Congressional
District defeating Derrick Anderson. After graduating from ßÙßÇÂþ»,
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.
