Newton Leroy "Newt" Gingrich (; né McPherson; born June 17, 1943) is an American politician and author who served as the 50th Speaker of the United St...
Newton Leroy "Newt" Gingrich (; né McPherson; born June 17, 1943) is an American politician and author who served as the 50th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999. A member of the Republican Party, he was the U.S. Representative for Georgia's 6th congressional district serving north Atlanta and nearby areas from 1979 until his resignation in 1999. In 2012, Gingrich unsuccessfully ran for the Republican nomination for President of the United States.
A professor of history and geography at the University of West Georgia in the 1970s, Gingrich won election to the U.S. House of Representatives in November 1978, the first Republican in the history of Georgia's 6th congressional district to do so. He served as House Minority Whip from 1989 to 1995. A co-author and architect of the "Contract with America", Gingrich was a major leader in the Republican victory in the 1994 congressional election. In 1995, Time named him "Man of the Year" for "his role in ending the four-decades-long Democratic majority in the House".As House Speaker, Gingrich oversaw passage by the House of welfare reform and a capital gains tax cut in 1997. Gingrich played a key role in several government shutdowns, and impeached President Clinton on a party-line vote in the House. The poor showing by Republicans in the 1998 Congressional elections, a reprimand from the House for Gingrich's ethics violation, pressure from Republican colleagues, and revelations of an extramarital affair with a congressional employee 23 years his junior resulted in Gingrich's resignation from the speakership on November 6, 1998. He resigned altogether from the House on January 3, 1999. Political scientists have credited Gingrich with playing a key role in undermining democratic norms in the United States and hastening political polarization and partisanship.Since leaving the House, Gingrich has remained active in public policy debates and worked as a political consultant. He founded and chaired several policy think tanks, including American Solutions for Winning the Future and the Center for Health Transformation. Gingrich ran for the Republican nomination for President in the 2012 presidential election, and was considered a potential frontrunner at several points in the race. Despite an impressive late victory in the South Carolina primary, Gingrich was ultimately unable to win enough primaries to sustain a viable candidacy, he withdrew from the race in May 2012 and endorsed eventual nominee Mitt Romney. Gingrich later emerged as a key ally of Donald Trump, and was reportedly among the finalists on Trump's short list for running mate in the 2016 election.
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Val Demings
Valdez Venita Demings (née Butler; born March 12, 1957) is an American politician and former police officer serving as the U.S. Representative for Flo...
Valdez Venita Demings (née Butler; born March 12, 1957) is an American politician and former police officer serving as the U.S. Representative for Florida's 10th congressional district since 2017. The district covers most of the western half of Orlando and includes much of the area around Orlando's resort parks. It also includes many of Orlando's western suburbs, such as Apopka and Winter Garden. From 2007 to 2011, she was Chief of the Orlando Police Department, the first woman to lead the department, capping a 27-year career with the department.
Demings was the Democratic nominee to represent Florida's 10th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives in both 2012 and 2016. She lost the general election in 2012 to Republican incumbent Daniel Webster but won in 2016 after the State Supreme Court mandated the creation of a new, majority-minority Democratic district in Orlando. On January 15, 2020, Speaker Nancy Pelosi selected Demings to serve as an impeachment manager in the Senate trial of President Donald Trump. In early August 2020, Demings was said to be one of the top contenders for Vice President in the Biden Administration, along with Kamala Harris and Susan Rice.
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