51 Facts About Steny Hoyer

Steny Hamilton Hoyer is an American politician and attorney serving as the US representative for since 1981.

Steny Hoyer was a House Majority Leader from 2007 to 2011 and from 2019 to 2023.

Steny Hoyer's district includes a large swath of rural and suburban territory southeast of Washington, DC Hoyer is the dean of the Maryland congressional delegation and the most senior Democrat in the House.

From 2003 to 2023, Steny Hoyer was the second-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives behind Nancy Pelosi.

Steny Hoyer is a two-time House majority leader, having served in the post from 2007 to 2011 under Speaker Pelosi.

Steny Hoyer announced on November 17,2022, that he, along with Pelosi, would not seek a leadership position in the 118th Congress, though he would remain a member of the House.

Steny Hoyer's father was Danish and a native of Copenhagen; "Steny" is a variant of his father's name, "Steen".

Steny Hoyer's mother was an American with Scottish, German, and English ancestry and a descendant of John Hart, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Steny Hoyer graduated from Suitland High School in Suitland, Maryland.

Steny Hoyer was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity.

Steny Hoyer earned his JD degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1966.

From 1962 to 1966, Steny Hoyer was a member of the staff of US Senator Daniel Brewster; on Brewster's staff at that time was Nancy Pelosi.

The district, created in the aftermath of Reynolds v Sims, was renumbered as the 26th in 1975, the same year that Hoyer was elected president of the Maryland State Senate, the youngest in state history.

From 1969 to 1971, Steny Hoyer served as the first vice president of the Young Democrats of America.

Steny Hoyer was reelected, but it soon became apparent that she would never regain consciousness, and Congress declared her seat vacant by resolution in February 1981.

Steny Hoyer narrowly won a crowded seven-way Democratic primary, beating Spellman's husband, Reuben, by only 1,600 votes.

Steny Hoyer has been reelected 14 times with no substantive opposition and is the longest-serving House member ever from southern Maryland.

Steny Hoyer voted against the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in 2003.

Steny Hoyer is rated F by the NRA, indicating a pro-gun-control voting record.

In 2008, Hoyer said he opposed providing immunity to telecom companies, but then negotiated a bill, which Senators Patrick Leahy and Russ Feingold called a "capitulation", that would provide immunity to any telecom company that had been told by the George W Bush administration that its actions were legal.

In June 2010, Steny Hoyer brought up the idea that Congress could temporarily extend middle-class tax cuts set to expire at the end of the year, suggesting that making them permanent would cost too much.

Steny Hoyer voted against the impeachment of President Bill Clinton in 1999.

In 2019 and 2021, Steny Hoyer voted to impeach President Donald Trump.

In February 2021, Steny Hoyer made a speech in Congress that has been viewed online more than two million times, criticizing a Facebook post by US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Steny Hoyer said that, in both posts, Greene had promoted baseless conspiracy theories far more offensive and incendiary than the comment that led Republicans to strip King of his committee roles.

Steny Hoyer asked his colleagues on both sides of the aisle to "do the decent thing" and strip Greene of her committee roles.

Steny Hoyer initially supported the Iraq War and was recognized by the DLC for his vocal leadership on this issue.

Steny Hoyer is a supporter of Israel, and has often been allied with American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

In January 2017, Steny Hoyer voted for a House resolution condemning UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which called Israeli settlement building in the occupied Palestinian territories a flagrant violation of international law and a major obstacle to peace.

Steny Hoyer supported President Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Steny Hoyer has said that a nuclear Iran is "unacceptable" and that the use of force remains an option.

In January 2019, Steny Hoyer opposed Trump's planned withdrawal of US troops from Syria and Afghanistan as "impulsive, irresponsible, and dangerous".

Steny Hoyer is a former chair of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Steny Hoyer has been the top giver to fellow party members in the House.

Steny Hoyer served as chair of the Democratic Caucus, the fourth-ranking position among House Democrats, from 1989 to 1994; the former co-chair of the Democratic Steering Committee; and as the chief candidate recruiter for House Democrats from 1995 to 2000.

Steny Hoyer served as Deputy Majority Whip from 1987 to 1989.

When David E Bonior resigned as minority whip in early 2002, Hoyer ran but lost to Nancy Pelosi.

Steny Hoyer is the first Marylander to become Majority Leader and became the highest-ranking federal lawmaker in Maryland history.

The day after the 2010 midterm elections, in which the Democrats lost control of the House, Steny Hoyer had a private conversation with Pelosi and said he would not challenge her for minority leader.

Steny Hoyer ran for minority whip, but was challenged by outgoing Majority Whip Jim Clyburn.

Steny Hoyer is moderate while Pelosi and Clyburn are more liberal, and a significant number of Steny Hoyer's would-be supporters in the House who were moderate and conservative Democrats had been defeated for reelection.

In 2018, it was reported that Steny Hoyer sought to influence the primary race in Colorado's 6th congressional district.

Steny Hoyer was recorded urging progressive candidate Levi Tillemann to drop out of the race.

On November 28,2018, Steny Hoyer was selected to return as House Majority Leader.

Steny Hoyer has three daughters from his marriage to Judy Pickett Steny Hoyer, who died of cancer in February 1997.

In June 2012, after Steny Hoyer announced his support of same-sex marriage, his daughter Stefany Steny Hoyer Hemmer came out as a lesbian in an interview with the Washington Blade.

Judy Steny Hoyer was an advocate of early childhood education, and child development learning centers in Maryland have been named in her honor.

Steny Hoyer suffered from epilepsy, and the Epilepsy Foundation of America sponsors an annual public lecture in her name.

Steny Hoyer, too, has been an advocate for research in this area, and in 2002 the Epilepsy Foundation gave him its Congressional Leadership Award.

Steny Hoyer serves on the board of trustees for St Mary's College of Maryland and is a member of the board of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, a nonprofit that supports international elections.

Steny Hoyer is an Advisory Board Member for the Center for the Study of Democracy.