Hakeem Jeffries appeared on PBS NewsHour on Nov. 11, 2026, to discuss what House Democrats plan to do after winning control of the chamber in the midterms. The New York congressman has announced his candidacy for speaker, a job that would make him the first Black lawmaker to hold the position if the House elects him. Away from his role in Congress, Jeffries is the father of two sons, Jeremiah and Joshua.
Jeffries and his wife, Kennisandra Arciniegas-Jeffries, have been married since 1997. They met as students at Binghamton University and built their family life in Brooklyn. Kennisandra became a social worker, the same profession as her mother-in-law, Laneda Jeffries.
Jeremiah and Joshua have largely stayed outside the spotlight as their father moved from the New York State Assembly to congressional leadership. Some of the most revealing public details about the family come from interviews in which Jeffries discussed what he wanted his sons to take from events they were growing up around.
Who are Hakeem Jeffries’ sons Jeremiah and Joshua?
Jeremiah and Joshua are the two children Hakeem and Kennisandra share. Jeffries’ congressional biography identifies Prospect Heights as home for the family. He grew up nearby in central Brooklyn, where his father, Marland, worked as a counselor and his mother worked as a social worker. His sons grew up in the same borough while he built his career in law and politics.
Jeremiah graduated from Boston University in 2023, according to a published family profile. Public reporting on Joshua is more limited. Neither son has a regular public role in his father’s political work. When Jeffries discussed his family in interviews, the focus usually stayed on conversations he had with his sons, or on the experiences that informed those conversations.
Their mother has worked for the benefits fund associated with 1199SEIU, a union representing health care workers. Jeffries met her before he went to law school or held elected office. He graduated from Binghamton in 1992, went on to study public policy at Georgetown and finished law school at New York University in 1997, the year the couple married.
What has Hakeem Jeffries said publicly about raising his sons?
In 2008, Jeffries spoke to NPR about what it meant for his young sons to see Barack Obama secure the Democratic presidential nomination. He described the moment as inspiring for them and for Black Americans who could see new possibilities in national politics. At the time, Jeffries was a state assemblyman, several years away from his own election to Congress.
In a 2020 interview, Jeffries spoke about a different kind of conversation with his children. He discussed what he told his sons about being stopped by police and drew on his own experiences with those encounters. His remarks offered a glimpse of how an issue he dealt with in public life also came up at home.
Jeffries has likewise talked about what he learned from his own parents. In a 2024 television interview, he recalled that his mother taught him and his younger brother, Hasan, to work hard and treat people well. Hasan went on to become a historian. Jeffries revisited those lessons during an October 2026 interview, saying his parents taught both boys to care about the community where they lived.
How much of the Jeffries family’s life is public?
Jeffries’ official biography mentions that he lives with his family in Prospect Heights. His congressional website primarily documents his votes, legislative work and public appearances. A 2026 profile described him as protective of his family’s privacy, which helps explain why details about his sons tend to appear in occasional interviews and biographical profiles.
The 2026 midterms brought renewed attention to the Brooklyn congressman, who first entered the House in 2013 and became Democratic leader in 2023. Jeremiah and Joshua were young when their father first talked publicly about what a presidential nomination meant to them. Much of what he has shared since then has kept the emphasis on his experience as a parent and the lessons that connect three generations of his family.