House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on PBS NewsHour on Nov. 11, 2026, and laid out his party’s priorities after Democrats won control of the House in the midterms. The Brooklyn congressman is in position to become the first Black speaker of the House, pending a formal vote. In the weeks before the election, he spoke about two people who shaped his approach to public service, his parents, Marland and Laneda Jeffries.
Marland worked as a counselor, and Laneda, whose maiden name is Gomes, was a social worker. They met as students at Central State University in Ohio and raised two sons, Hakeem and Hasan, in central Brooklyn. In interviews, Hakeem has recalled growing up in a working-class neighborhood and a union household, with parents who expected their sons to work hard and take an interest in the people around them.
Marland died on Dec. 31, 2023, at 85. The statement from his son’s office said he and Laneda had been married for 56 years. It also noted that he was a graduate of Columbia University and a member of Omega Psi Phi, a historically Black fraternity.
Who was Hakeem Jeffries’ father, Marland Jeffries?
Marland attended Central State University, a historically Black university in Wilberforce, Ohio, where he met Laneda. He continued his education at Columbia University in New York and worked as a counselor. In Brooklyn, he placed a strong emphasis on academic achievement and taught his sons about African history and politics.
The names he and Laneda gave their sons carried some of that history. Hakeem’s middle name, Sekou, honors Ahmed Sékou Touré, who led Guinea after its independence from France. Hasan’s middle name, Kwame, honors Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of independent Ghana. The names reflect subjects that mattered in the household while the brothers were growing up.
Hakeem had been House Democratic leader for about a year when his father died. His office announced the death on Jan. 2, 2024, and said Marland had died peacefully in his sleep. Along with Laneda, his survivors included his two sons and five grandchildren. The family requested privacy at the time.
Who is Hakeem Jeffries’ mother, Laneda Jeffries?
Laneda built her career in social work while raising her family in Brooklyn. In a 2024 interview with 60 Minutes, Hakeem described her as an influence on his understanding of public service. He recalled that she taught him and his brother to work hard and to treat people well. He returned to those lessons in an October 2026 interview, crediting both parents with instilling a responsibility to care about their community.
His recollections also describe the difficulties the family faced. In a 2026 profile, Hakeem recalled that his mother was repeatedly mugged on her way home from work when he was young. He has described his adolescence in Brooklyn against the backdrop of the crack cocaine epidemic. He grew up attending Cornerstone Baptist Church, one of the institutions he names when speaking about the community around his family.
What did Marland and Laneda pass on to their sons?
Hakeem and Hasan pursued different careers. Hakeem studied political science at Binghamton University, earned a graduate degree in public policy from Georgetown and went to law school at New York University. He practiced law, served in the New York State Assembly and entered Congress in 2013. Hasan became a historian and professor whose work focuses on the Black freedom struggle and the civil rights movement.
Hakeem has talked about his family on the House floor as well as in interviews. During a July 2025 speech, he recalled that Hasan was born with a serious heart condition in 1973. He also joked about his younger brother describing himself as their mother’s favorite son. It was a glimpse of the relationship between two brothers whose careers have taken them into different areas of public life.
When Hakeem described his upbringing on local television in October 2026, he talked about his parents’ work, their Brooklyn neighborhood and their church in the same breath. The family history he tells begins with two students meeting in Ohio and continues in the Brooklyn community where they raised their sons.