Bill de Blasio (; born Warren Wilhelm Jr., May 8, 1961) is an American politician serving since 2014 as the 109th mayor of New York City. A member of...
Bill de Blasio (; born Warren Wilhelm Jr., May 8, 1961) is an American politician serving since 2014 as the 109th mayor of New York City. A member of the Democratic Party, he held the office of New York City Public Advocate from 2010 to 2013.
De Blasio was born in Manhattan and primarily raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He graduated from New York University and Columbia University before a brief stint as a campaign manager for Charles Rangel and Hillary Clinton. De Blasio started his career as an elected official on the New York City Council, representing the 39th district in Brooklyn from 2002 to 2009. After serving one term as public advocate, he was elected mayor of New York City in 2013 and reelected in 2017.
De Blasio's policy initiatives have included new de-escalation training for police officers, reduced prosecutions for cannabis possession, implementation of police body cameras, and ending the post-9/11 surveillance program of Muslim residents. In his first term, he implemented free universal Pre-K in the city. De Blasio has called attention to what he calls stark economic inequality in New York City, which he described as a "tale of two cities" during his first campaign. He has supported socially liberal and progressive policies in regard to the city's economy, urban planning, public education, police relations, and privatization.
De Blasio ran in the Democratic primaries for the 2020 presidential election. After registering low poll numbers and failing to qualify for the third round of primary debates, he suspended his campaign on September 20, 2019, and endorsed Bernie Sanders five months later.
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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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