Valdez Venita "Val" Demings (née Butler; March 12, 1957) is an American law enforcement officer and politician who serves as the member of the United States House of Representatives from Florida's 10th congressional district. She served as Chief of the Orlando Police Department, the first woman to hold the position. She was the Democratic nominee in both 2012 and 2016 to represent Florida's 10th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives, the latter of which Demings won.
Video Val Demings
Early life
Valdez Venita Butler was born on March 12, 1957, one of seven children born to a poor family; her father worked in orange groves, while her mother was a housekeeper. They lived in Mandarin, a neighborhood in Jacksonville, Florida. She attended segregated schools in the 1960s, graduating from Wolfson High School in the 1970s.
Her desire for a career in law enforcement came when Demings served in the "school patrol" at Dupont Junior High School. She attended Florida State University, graduating with a degree in criminology in 1979.
Maps Val Demings
Career
After graduating from college, Demings worked as a social worker in Jacksonville for 18 months. In 1983, she applied for a job with the Orlando Police Department (OPD), and she began with the department on patrol on Orlando's west side.
Demings was appointed as Chief of the OPD in December 2007, becoming the first woman to lead the department. As Chief, she was credited with reducing violent crime in Orlando. She retired from the position effective June 1, 2011, after serving with the OPD for 27 years.
Political career
2012 U.S. House campaign
Demings was the Democratic Party nominee for the United States House of Representatives in Florida's 10th congressional district in the 2012 elections. She faced freshman Republican Daniel Webster in a district that had been made slightly more Republican than its predecessor. Demings narrowly lost, taking 48 percent of the vote to Webster's 51 percent.
Aborted run for Orange County Mayor
Democrats attempted to recruit Demings to run against Webster again in 2014. After considering her options, she decided to run for Mayor of Orange County, Florida, against Teresa Jacobs, instead. Demings dropped out of the mayoral race on May 20, 2014.
2016 U.S. House campaign
Demings ran again for the 10th district seat after a court-ordered redistricting made the 10th significantly more Democratic ahead of the 2016 elections. She won the Democratic Party nomination on August 30, and won the general election with 65% of the vote.
U.S. House of Representatives
Tenure
Rep. Demings was sworn in on January 3, 2017. She is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the Congressional Black Caucus.
Committee assignments
- Committee on Homeland Security
- Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security
- Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection
- United States House of Representatives Judiciary Committee
- Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations
- Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law
Caucus memberships
- New Democrat Coalition
Political positions
Gun policy
Demings has stated that she seeks to keep firearms out of the hands of "people who seek to do harm," saying that the gun control legislation that she supports "isn't about taking guns away from responsible, law-abiding people." Demings supports the Gun Violence Restraining Order Act of 2017, which would provide a lawful method of temporarily confiscating firearms from people deemed to be a threat to themselves or others. Of the Act, Demings said, "We must do what we can to make sure law enforcement has the tools it needs to more effectively perform the ever more challenging job of keeping us a safe nation. The Gun Violence Restraining Order Act is a major step to doing just that." In the wake of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018, Demings announced her opposition to proposals to arm teachers, saying such efforts were "ridiculous" and "only shift the responsibility from lawmakers to others. It shifts the pain, the hurt, and the guilt to school staff who will find themselves out skilled and outgunned in active shooter situations."
Demings has an "F" rating from the NRA, which they award to those they deem a "true enemy of gun owners' rights". Demings has accused the NRA of "hijacking" conversations after mass shootings to make them about the Second Amendment.
Personal
Her husband, Jerry Demings, is the Orange County Sheriff. Previously, he served as the Chief of the OPD, the first African American to do so, from 1999 through 2002. The two met while on patrol in the OPD; they married in 1988 and have three children.
See also
- List of African-American United States Representatives
- Women in the United States House of Representatives
References
External links
- Val Demings for Congress official campaign website
- Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Profile at Vote Smart
- Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
- Legislation sponsored at the Library of Congress
- Profile at The Wall Street Journal
- Val Demings Video produced by Makers: Women Who Make America
- Appearances on C-SPAN
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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