The family moved to the Bedford-Stuyvesant area in Brooklyn, New York City.
[1] In 1969, she became the Director of the department created by the New York City Board of Education and put in charge of the automation of the payrolls.
In 1984, the Democratic 22nd Senate district organization denied Jefferson a re-nomination, and instead nominated Velmanette Montgomery for the seat.
Jefferson tried to challenge Montgomery in the Democratic primary but her petition was rejected ultimately by the New York Court of Appeals.
Jefferson claimed that a campaign worker made a simple mistake with a calculator, and only 3,000 signatures were necessary to get on the primary ballot.