Yvette Clarke | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2017 | |
| Chair of theCongressional Black Caucus | |
| Assumed office January 3, 2025 | |
| Preceded by | Steven Horsford |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromNew York | |
| Assumed office January 3, 2007 | |
| Preceded by | Major Owens |
| Constituency | 11th district (2007–2013) 9th district (2013–present) |
| Member of theNew York City Council from the40th district | |
| In office January 1, 2002 – December 31, 2006 | |
| Preceded by | Una S. T. Clarke |
| Succeeded by | Mathieu Eugene |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Yvette Diane Clarke (1964-11-21)November 21, 1964 (age 61) New York City,New York, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Relatives | Una S. T. Clarke (mother) |
| Website | House website Campaign website |
Yvette Diane Clarke (born November 21, 1964) is an American politician serving as theU.S. representative forNew York's 9th congressional district since 2013. A member of theDemocratic Party, she first entered Congress in 2007, representingNew York's 11th congressional district until redistricting. Clarke represented the40th district inBrooklyn on theNew York City Council from 2002 to 2006.
Clarke was born inFlatbush, Brooklyn, on November 21, 1964, to Lesley Clarke and former city councilwomanUna Clarke, both immigrants fromJamaica.[1][2] She graduated fromEdward R. Murrow High School and earned a scholarship to enroll atOberlin College inOhio, which she attended from 1982 to 1986.[3] While studying at Oberlin, she spent a summer interning in theWashington, D.C. office of RepresentativeMajor Owens, where she toldRoll Call that she worked on legislative issues involving Caribbean-American trade.[4][5]
In August 2006,Crain's New York Business and theDaily News reported that Clarke's Oberlin transcripts indicated that she had not graduated, contrary to what her campaign literature claimed.[6] Clarke initially said she thought she had earned sufficient credits to graduate from Oberlin, then later said she had completed her degree by attending courses atMedgar Evers College.[6] In 2011, Clarke suggested that she planned to finish her degree at Oberlin by completing independent academic projects.[7][8]
Before entering politics, Clarke worked as achildcare specialist and trained community residents to care for the children of working parents. Later, she served as an assistant toState SenatorVelmanette Montgomery ofBrooklyn andAssemblywomanBarbara Clark, ofQueens. Clarke also worked as director ofbusiness development for the Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation and was the second director of theBronx portion of theNew York City Empowerment Zone.[9][10]
Clarke was elected to the40th district of theNew York City Council in 2001. She succeeded her mother, former City Council member Una S. T. Clarke,[11] who held the seat for more than a decade, making theirs the first mother-to-daughter succession in city council.[12]
She cosponsored City Council resolutions that opposed thewar in Iraq, criticized the federalUSA PATRIOT Act, and called for a national moratorium on thedeath penalty. She was a frequent critic of theBush administration's policies, and opposed budget cuts by Bush and Congress on several programs addressing women's rights and poverty. She later voted against extending provisions of the Patriot Act after the election ofPresidentBarack Obama.[13]
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Clarke's district, redrawn from the 11th in 2013, includesSheepshead Bay,Gerritsen Beach,Brownsville,Crown Heights,East Flatbush,Flatbush,Kensington,Midwood,Prospect Heights,Prospect Lefferts Gardens andPark Slope.
In April 2007, Clarke was the sole member of Congress to oppose a bill to rename the Ellis Island Library after British-bornBob Hope, saying in a statement, "Bob Hope is a great American and a fantastic human being, [but] I see the museum and all aspects of the island to be greater than any one human being."[14]
On September 29, 2008, Clarke voted in support of HR 3997, the Emergency Economic Stability Act of 2008. The act failed, 205–228. She wrote legislation to improve the process of removing the names of individuals who believe they were wrongly identified as a threat when screened against theNo Fly List used by theTransportation Security Administration, which passed 413–3 on February 3, 2009.[15] In November 2009 she was one of 54 members of Congress to sign on to a controversial letter to President Obama, urging him to use diplomatic pressure to resolve the blockade affectingGaza.[16][17] On March 25, 2010, she introduced theInternational Cybercrime Reporting and Cooperation Act – H.R.4962.[18]
Clarke supported thePrison Ship Martyrs' Monument Preservation Act (H.R. 1501; 113th Congress), a bill that would direct theSecretary of the Interior to study the suitability and feasibility of designating thePrison Ship Martyrs' Monument inFort Greene Park inBrooklyn as a unit of the National Park System (NPS).[19] Clarke argued the bill was a good idea because "this monument commemorates not only the sacrifices of soldiers in the Revolutionary War who dedicated themselves to the cause of liberty, but a reminder that even in wartime we must protect basic human rights. These thousands of deaths were an atrocity that should never occur again."[20]
On September 17, 2013, Clarke introduced theHomeland Security Cybersecurity Boots-on-the-Ground Act (H.R. 3107; 113th Congress), a bill that would require theUnited States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to undertake several actions designed to improve the readiness and capacity of DHS's cybersecurity workforce.[21][22] DHS would also be required to create a strategy for recruiting and training additional cybersecurity employees.[23]
For the119th Congress:[24]
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Clarke has said she supports atwo-state solution to theIsraeli–Palestinian conflict.[32] Some of her stances have subjected her to public criticism by constituents in her district, which is roughly 20% Jewish according to 2010Census estimates.[33][34] In 2010, Clarke signed two petitions urging Obama to pressure Israel to resolve theGaza Blockade, which she later retracted.[35] In 2009, she voted against H.R. 867,[36] which sought to condemn the controversialGoldstone Report[37] commissioned by theUnited Nations.[38] In 2015 Clarke indicated she would vote for theJCPOA, known as theIran nuclear deal, despite appeals from some of her Jewish constituents and local advocacy groups to vote against it.[39][40][41][42] Explaining her decision, Clarke said in a statement, "Iran is on the verge of creating a nuclear bomb, right now. The JCPOA provides a pathway that holds great potential to forever change this reality."[43] In 2015, Clarke attendedPrime Minister of IsraelBenjamin Netanyahu's speech before a joint session of Congress after initially expressing uncertainty.[44] She voted to provide Israel with support following theOctober 7 attacks.[45][46]
Clarke has stated that she ispro-choice.[47] She has earned high ratings from interest groups such asNARAL Pro-Choice America andPlanned Parenthood for her votes against legislation to place restrictions on abortion rights, including theNo Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act of 2011, which would have prohibited federal funds from being used to cover abortions.[48] Her ratings withanti-abortion organizations such as theNational Right to Life Committee have been correspondingly low.[49]
Clarke has consistently opposed legislation to reduce government spending and cut taxes, including voting against the Job Protection and Recession Prevention Act of 2012, which sought to extend tax cuts established duringGeorge W. Bush's administration through the end of 2013.[48] Clarke received a 92% rating from theNational Journal for being liberal on economic policy in 2011, while she received a 15% rating from theNational Taxpayers Union for her positions on tax and spending in 2011, and a 2% rating from theCitizens Against Government Waste in 2010.[49]
Clarke was among the 46 House Democrats who voted against final passage of theFiscal Responsibility Act of 2023.[50]
Clarke has supported efforts tocombat climate change andlimit fossil fuel consumption.[51] She has generally opposed legislation that gives priority to economic over conservation interests, such as the Stop the War on Coal Act of 2012 and the Conservation and Economic Growth Act of 2012.[52][53] She has supported legislation that increases conservation efforts and regulation of the energy industry, such as the Offshore Drilling Regulations and Other Energy Law Amendments Act of 2010.[48] In 2011 Clarke received 100% ratings fromEnvironment America, theLeague of Conservation Voters, and theSierra Club, the latter on her clean water positions, while she received a 14% rating over the period 2008–2011 from the Global Exchange for her loyalty to the finance, insurance, and real estate lobbies.[49] She was strongly critical of theTrump administration's decision towithdraw from theParis Agreement.[54]
Clarke has called forimmigration reform that would create apath to citizenship forundocumented immigrants living in the United States and direct resources away fromenforcement.[55] In 2010, she voted for theDREAM Act, which passed the House but was blocked in the Senate.[56] Clarke has voted against legislative proposals toconstrain immigration.[57] She praised the Obama administration'sDACA program and condemned the Trump administration's termination of the program, calling it "cruel and vindictive".[58] She has also called for extending theTemporary Protected Status granted toHaitian immigrants seeking refuge after the2010 earthquake in Haiti,[59] and for theabolition of ICE.[60]
In 2023, Clarke was among 56 Democrats to vote in favor of H.Con.Res. 21, which directed PresidentJoe Biden to remove U.S. troops fromSyria within 180 days.[61][62]
On April 10, 2019, Clarke and SenatorsRon Wyden andCory Booker introduced the Algorithmic Accountability Act of 2019, legislation granting additional powers to the Federal Trade Commission in addition to forcing companies to study whether race, gender or other biases influence their technology.[63] That June, Clarke also introduced H.R. 3230: Deepfakes Accountability Act into the116th United States Congress.[64]
On January 11, 2022, Clarke and RepresentativeRitchie Torres sent a letter to Jen Easterly, the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), requesting more information on efforts to reduce security risks to federal networks through the adoption of multi-factor authentication requirements. The letter argues that broad adoption of multi-factor-authentication is essential to protect the security of federal networks and systems.[65]
Clarke introduced H.R. 5586, an updated Deepfakes Accountability Act into the118th United States Congress on September 20, 2023, in a continuing effort to protect national security fromdeepfake technology threats, while providing legal recourse to victims of harmful deepfakes.[66] Clarke is Co-Chair of theCongressional Creators Caucus alongsideBeth Van Duyne.[67]
On theColbert Report, in its "Better Know a District" segment in early September 2012, whenStephen Colbert asked Clarke what she would have changed in 1898, the year Brooklyn merged with New York City, if she could go back in time, Clarke answered the abolition of slavery. Colbert replied, "Slavery...Really? I didn't realize there was slavery in Brooklyn in 1898". (Slavery was abolished in New York State in 1827.[68]) Clarke responded, "I'm pretty sure there was", saying the Dutch owned slaves in New York in 1898.[68][69][70] The next day, Clarke was unavailable for comment, and her media representative stated the statements were meant in jest.[71]
Clarke endorsedHillary Clinton for president in 2016 and cast a vote for her as a superdelegate at the2016 Democratic National Convention.[72] During the2016 campaign, Clarke appeared with Clinton at an event atMedgar Evers College.[73]
In 2004, Clarke, then a member of the New York City Council, made her first run for Congress for the11th district against incumbent Major Owens, for whom she had interned in college.[74] Clarke's run followed an unsuccessful bid by her mother in 2000 against Owens for the same seat.[75][76] Clarke lost the 2004 Democratic primary to Owens, who won 45.4% of the vote to her 28.9% in a multi-candidate race.[77] After the 2004 election, Owens declined to seek reelection, after which Clarke announced her intention to run again in 2006.[78] Owens later called Clarke and her mother's successive political campaigns against him "[a] stab in the back".[79][80]
In May 2006, another Caribbean-American candidate, AssemblymanN. Nick Perry, withdrew from the race to succeed Owens, leading some observers to contend that Clarke's chances for winning the race would improve now that another candidate from the same community was no longer competing.
On September 12, 2006, Clarke won the Democratic nomination with a plurality, 31.20%, of the vote in a four-person primary, defeating then-councilmanDavid Yassky,State Senator Carl Andrews, and Major Owens's son, Christopher Owens. In the November 7 general election, Clarke was elected to the House of Representatives with 89% of the vote againstRepublican nominee Stephen Finger.[81][82]
Clarke was reelected on November 4 by a large margin.
Clarke was reelected on November 2 by a large margin.
Clarke was challenged in the Democratic primary by Sylvia Kinard, an attorney and ex-wife of formerNew York City Comptroller andmayoral candidateBill Thompson.[83] Clarke defeated Kinard with 88.3% of the vote.[84] She had $50,000 in her campaign account before the June primary.[85] In the November general election, Clarke defeated Republican nominee Daniel Cavanagh.[86]
Clarke was reelected with 89.5% of the vote, defeating Cavanagh again.[87]
Clarke ran unopposed in the primary and defeated Alan Bellone in the November general election with 92.4% of the vote.[88]
On June 26, Clarke narrowly defeated primary challenger Adem Bunkeddeko with 51.9% of the vote.[89] She defeated Republican nominee Lutchi Gayot in the November 6 general election.[90]
Clarke faced a four-way Democratic primary against Adem Bunkeddeko,Chaim Deutsch, and former army veteran and Democratic Socialists of America member Isiah James.
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| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromNew York's 11th congressional district 2007–2013 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromNew York's 9th congressional district 2013–present | Incumbent |
| Preceded by | Chair of theCongressional Black Caucus 2025–present | |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded by | United States representatives by seniority 57th | Succeeded by |
