Steny Hoyer
Steny Hamilton Hoyer (; born June 14, 1939) is the U.S. Representative for Maryland's 5th congressional district, serving since 1981. The district includes a large swath of rural and suburban territory southeast of Washington, D.C..
A Democrat, he was first elected in a special election on 19 May 1981 and served as the House Majority Leader from 2007 to 2011. He had previously served as House Minority Whip from 2003 to 2007, and was reelected to that post in 2011. These positions make him the second-ranking figure in the House Democratic Leadership hierarchy.
Early life and education
Hoyer was born in New York City, New York, and grew up in Mitchellville, Maryland, the son of Jean (née Baldwin) and Steen Theilgaard Høyer. His father was Danish and a native of Copenhagen; "Steny" is a variant of his father's name, "Steen", and Hoyer is an anglicized form of the fairly common Danish surname "Høyer". His mother was an American with Scottish, German, and English ancestry and a descendant of John Hart, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He graduated from Suitland High School in Suitland, Maryland.