Former Majority Leader Steny Hoyer announces his retirement from the U.S. House of Representatives
Hoyer has also been the House Majority Whip.
The longest-serving Democrat in the United States House of Representatives, Steny Hoyer has been one of the most powerful politicians in the country. He is now evidently ready to call it a career.
Hoyer has declared that he does not intend to run for re-election to another term in Congress this year. He confirmed his plans in a recent interview with The Washington Post, indicating that he’d made his final decision over the recent Christmas season with his family.
Hoyer first won his seat in the U.S. House from the 5th District of Maryland in the Washington, D.C. region in a 1981 special election held after Gladys Spellman suffered a heart attack that left her in a coma. In 2003, Hoyer became the House Minority Whip and held either that position or that of Majority Leader for the next two decades during a partnership with California U.S. Representative Nancy Pelosi, who during that same time span was either Speaker of the House or the Minority Leader. Pelosi has likewise announced her intentions to retire from Congress.
Around the same time Hoyer became the Minority Whip for the first time, he also became the Ranking Member of the Committee on House Administration. Among other roles he’s held include two tenures as Chairman of the U.S. Helsinki Commission.
Hoyer began his career in politics as a staffer for U.S. Senator Daniel Brewster. In 1967, Hoyer became a Maryland State Senator. After spending time as Vice President of the youth wing of the Democratic Party, he became President of the Senate in 1975. Hoyer departed from the Maryland Senate in 1978 and ran for Lieutenant Governor, finishing in second place in the primary behind Samuel Bogley.
Steny Hoyer is a native of New York City. His father was a Danish immigrant from Copenhagen, while on his mother’s side he is descended from American Founding Father John Hart of New Jersey. The younger Hoyer would graduate from high school in Suitland, Maryland followed by the University of Maryland, College Park and Georgetown University Law Center.
In 1961, Hoyer married Judith Pickett and the couple had three daughters. Judith passed away from cancer in 1997. In 2023, Hoyer married Elaine Kamarck.