New York's 8th congressional district

New York's Eighth Congressional District for the United States House of Representatives is in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. Its current representative is Hakeem Jeffries.

The majority of the 8th district's residents are African-Americans. The district's configuration changed upon the decennial redistricting prior to the 2012 election. Traditionally, it had covered much of the west side of Manhattan and western coastal sections of Brooklyn. With the new district boundaries, the district encompasses African-American and Caribbean-American Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brownsville, Canarsie, East New York and Ocean Hill, East Flatbush, along with Howard Beach, Marine Park and Mill Basin and mixed neighborhoods like Clinton Hill, Fort Greene, Ozone Park, and Coney Island.

Voting

2012 election

The state's congressional districts had been redrawn in a manner which puts much of the territory of the old 10th Congressional district into the new 8th Congressional district. The election had a few competitors for what was then an open seat, with the 10th incumbent congressman Edolphus Towns retiring. State assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries faced off against New York City councilor Charles Barron. Jeffries won the primary and ultimately the general election.