As part of the newly restructured Congressional District 5, the University and southeast Queens will be represented by a familiar face as Democrat Gregory Meeks won his eighth term in the U.S. House of Representatives in a landslide, according to Newsday.
With 79 percent of the vote, Meeks, defeated Republican Alan Jennings and in neighborhoods primarily of Democratic affiliation including the St. John’s campus.
Meeks won reelection handily despite a Congressional ethics investigation that has been ongoing for more than a year. He was accused of not reporting a $40,000 “loan” from Edul Ahmad, a real estate agent that was convicted of fraud in an unrelated case.
Since 1998, Meeks has been the congressman for New York’s sixth district until the 2010 U.S. Census results prompted redistricting changes and switched most neighborhoods of both Districts 5 & 6.
Meeks has been an advocate for lowering interest-rates for college loans and voted in favor of the College Cost Reduction Act in 2007, which raised the maximum Pell Grant by almost $500
