Short Biography for Introductions

Click here for Rep. Hoyer's official photo

Now serving as the House Majority Leader, Congressman Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland is charged with managing the House Floor as well as scheduling legislation to be considered on the Floor. He also plays a key role in helping House Democrats determine their legislative agenda and political strategy, and building support for the Party's positions and delivering the Democratic message both in Washington and nationally.

Congressman Hoyer's service as Majority Leader makes him the highest-ranking Member of Congress from Maryland in history.  Now serving his 14th term in Congress representing the Fifth Congressional District of Maryland, he also became the longest-serving Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland in history on June 4, 2007.  Prior to being elected Majority Leader, he served as the Democratic Whip in the 108th and 109th Congresses.

Public service has always been at the center of Steny Hoyer's professional life. He won a seat in the Maryland Senate at the age of 27, and just a few years later, at the age of 35, was elected President of the Senate, the youngest ever in state history.

Congressman Hoyer is recognized by Members on both sides of the aisle as an effective leader and committed consensus builder who knows how to get things done. He is the former Chairman of the Helsinki Commission, and is widely regarded as a champion on human and civil rights. He is perhaps best known for serving as the lead House sponsor of historic Federal election reform (the "Help America Vote Act"), which President Bush signed into law on October 29, 2002, and for guiding the landmark Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) to passage in 1990.

He and his wife, the late Judith Pickett Hoyer, have three daughters, Susan, Stefany and Anne; son-in-law Loren Taylor; three grandchildren, Judy, James Cleveland, and Alexa; and one great-granddaughter, Ava.