Bill de Blasio (; born Warren Wilhelm Jr., May 8, 1961; later Warren de Blasio-Wilhelm) is an American politician who served as the
109th mayor
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...
of
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
from 2014 to 2021. A member of the
Democratic Party, he held the office of
New York City Public Advocate
The office of New York City Public Advocate (President of the City Council) is a citywide elected position in New York City, which is first in line to succeed the mayor. The office serves as a direct link between the electorate and city government ...
from 2010 to 2013.
De Blasio was born in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
and raised primarily in
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...
.
He graduated from
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, th ...
and
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
before brief stints working as a
campaign manager
{{Political campaigning
A campaign manager, campaign chairman, or campaign director is a paid or volunteer individual whose role is to coordinate a political campaign's operations such as fundraising, advertising, polling, getting out the vo ...
for
Charles Rangel
Charles Bernard Rangel (, ; born June 11, 1930) is an American politician who was a U.S. representative for districts in New York from 1971 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the second-longest serving incumbent member of the Ho ...
and
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
. De Blasio started his career as an elected official on the
New York City Council
The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five boroughs.
The council serves as a check against the mayor in a mayor-council government model, the performance of ...
, representing the
39th district in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
from 2002 to 2009. After serving one term as public advocate, he was elected mayor of New York City in
2013
File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...
and reelected in
2017
File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...
.
De Blasio's policy initiatives have included new
de-escalation
De-escalation is a human behavior that is intended to prevent escalation of conflicts. It may also refer to approaches in conflict resolution. People may become committed to behaviors that tend to escalate conflict, so specific measures must be ...
training for police officers, reduced prosecutions for
cannabis possession
The legality of cannabis for medical and recreational use varies by country, in terms of its possession, distribution, and cultivation, and (in regards to medical) how it can be consumed and what medical conditions it can be used for. These ...
, implementation of police
body cameras
A body camera, bodycam, body worn video (BWV), body-worn camera, or wearable camera is a wearable audio, video, or photographic recording system.
Body cameras have a range of uses and designs, of which the best-known use is as a part of poli ...
, and ending the post-
9/11
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerci ...
surveillance program of Muslim residents. In his first term as mayor, he implemented a free universal
pre-kindergarten
Pre-kindergarten (also called Pre-K or PK) is a voluntary classroom-based preschool program for children below the age of five in the United States, Canada, Turkey and Greece (when kindergarten starts). It may be delivered through a preschool ...
program 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
''A Tale of Two Cities'' is a historical novel published in 1859 by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. The novel tells the story of the French Doctor Manette, his 18-year-long imprisonment in the ...
" during his first campaign. He has supported
socially liberal
Cultural liberalism is a social philosophy which expresses the social dimension of liberalism and advocates the freedom of individuals to choose whether to conform to cultural norms. In the words of Henry David Thoreau, it is often expressed a ...
and
progressive policies in regard to
the city's economy, urban planning, public education, police relations, and
privatization
Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...
.
De Blasio ran in the
Democratic primaries for the
2020 presidential election
This national electoral calendar for 2020 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2020 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included.
January
*5 January:
** ...
. 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
Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Vermont since 2007. He was the U.S. representative for the state's at-large congressional district from 1991 to 20 ...
five months later.
De Blasio was term-limited and ineligible to seek a third term in the
2021 New York City mayoral election
The 2021 New York City mayoral election was held on November 2, 2021. Incumbent Mayor Bill de Blasio was term-limited and ineligible to run for re-election.
On June 22, 2021, the primary elections for the Democratic and Republican primaries ...
. He was succeeded by
Eric Adams
Eric Leroy Adams (born September 1, 1960) is an American politician and retired police captain serving as the 110th mayor of New York City since January 1, 2022.
Adams was an officer in the New York City Transit Police and then the New York ...
on January 1, 2022. On May 20, 2022, he announced he was running in the
2022 U.S. House election in the newly redrawn
10th congressional district. He withdrew from the race on July 19, saying he was done with "electoral politics".
Early life, family and education
![Sant'Agata de'Goti (Benevento)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Sant%27Agata_de%27Goti_%28Benevento%29.jpg)
Bill de Blasio was born Warren Wilhelm Jr. on May 8, 1961. While he did not grow up in New York City, his parents drove from their home in
Norwalk, Connecticut
, image_map = Fairfield County Connecticut incorporated and unincorporated areas Norwalk highlighted.svg
, mapsize = 230px
, map_caption = Location in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Fairfield County and ...
, to
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
's
Doctors Hospital for his birth.
He is the third son of Maria Angela (; 1917–2007) and Warren Wilhelm (1917–1979).
He changed his name to Warren de Blasio-Wilhelm in 1983 and to Bill de Blasio in 2001 to honor his maternal family and to reflect his alienation from his father.
De Blasio has two older brothers, Steven and Donald.
His mother was of Italian heritage, and his father was of German, English, French, and Scots-Irish ancestry.
His paternal grandparents were Donald Wilhelm, of Ohio, and Nina (née Warren), of
Iowa
Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...
. His maternal grandfather, Giovanni, was from
Sant'Agata de' Goti
Sant'Agata de' Goti is a ''comune'' (municipality) and former Catholic bishopric in the Province of Benevento in the Italian region Campania, located about 35 km northeast of Naples and about 25 km west of Benevento near the Monte Taburn ...
,
Benevento
Benevento (, , ; la, Beneventum) is a city and '' comune'' of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill above sea level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino (or Beneventano) and the ...
, and his grandmother, Anna (née Briganti), was from
Grassano
Grassano is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Matera, in the southern Italian region of Basilicata. It is located between the Bradano and Basento rivers at an elevation ranging from about above sea level. The town proper is from Matera a ...
,
Matera
Matera (, ; Materano: ) is a city in the region of Basilicata, in Southern Italy.
As the capital of the province of Matera, its original settlement lies in two canyons carved by the Gravina River. This area, the Sassi di Matera, is a comp ...
. His paternal uncle, Donald George Wilhelm Jr., worked for the
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
in Iran and
ghostwrote the memoir of
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
, title = Shahanshah Aryamehr Bozorg Arteshtaran
, image = File:Shah_fullsize.jpg
, caption = Shah in 1973
, succession = Shah of Iran
, reign = 16 September 1941 – 11 February 1979
, coronation = 26 Octob ...
, the last shah of Iran.
His mother, Maria de Blasio, attended
Smith College
Smith College is a private liberal arts women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith and opened in 1875. It is the largest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of elite women's coll ...
, served in the
U.S. Office of War Information during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
and authored ''The Other Italy: The Italian Resistance in World War II'' (1988).
His father, a
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...
graduate, worked as a contributing editor at ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...
'' magazine. In 1942, he enlisted in the
U.S. Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...
during World War II. During the 82-day
Battle of Okinawa
The , codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa by United States Army (USA) and United States Marine Corps (USMC) forces against the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). The initial invasion of ...
, a grenade detonated below his left foot, and his leg was later amputated below the knee. After receiving a
Purple Heart
The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, ...
, he married Maria in 1945, and became a budget analyst for the federal government. During the 1950s, at the height of the
Red Scare
A Red Scare is the promotion of a widespread fear of a potential rise of communism, anarchism or other leftist ideologies by a society or state. The term is most often used to refer to two periods in the history of the United States which ar ...
, both Maria and Warren were accused of having a "sympathetic interest in
Communism
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...
". The family moved to Connecticut; Warren was chief international economist for
Texaco
Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an independent company unt ...
and Maria worked in public relations at the Italian consulate.
In 1966, the family moved to
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...
, when Warren was offered a job at Arthur D. Little,
and de Blasio began kindergarten.
Bill and his brother Donald were then raised by Maria and her extended family. Of his early childhood, de Blasio said, "my mother and father broke up very early on in the time I came along, and I was brought up by my mother's family—that's the bottom line—the de Blasio family."
When de Blasio was 18, his father committed suicide while suffering from incurable
lung cancer
Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, mali ...
. In 1979, de Blasio graduated from
Cambridge Rindge and Latin School
The Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, also known as CRLS or "Rindge," is a public high school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. It is a part of the Cambridge Public School District. In 1977, two separate schools, the Rindge Technical ...
, where he served in student government and was known to peers as "Senator Provolone".
He received a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
from
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, th ...
in metropolitan studies, a program in
urban studies
Urban studies is based on the study of the urban development of cities. This includes studying the history of city development from an architectural point of view, to the impact of urban design on community development efforts. The core theoretica ...
, and a
Master of International Affairs
The Master in International Affairs (MIA), or the Master in Global Affairs (MGA), also known as Master in International relations (MIR) is a master's degree awarded by schools of international affairs.
Subject matter
Details can vary between d ...
from
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
's
School of International and Public Affairs
The School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University (SIPA) is the international affairs and public policy school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university located in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, New York City. ...
. He is a 1981
Harry S. Truman Scholar.
Early career
In 1984, de Blasio worked for the Urban Fellows Program at the
New York City Department of Juvenile Justice.
In 1987, shortly after completing graduate school at Columbia, de Blasio was hired to work as a political organizer by the
Quixote Center The Quixote Center is a social justice group in Maryland founded by Catholic priest William R. Callahan and Dolores C. "Dolly" Pomerleau in 1976.
History
The Quixote Center achieved prominence in its support of the ideals of the Sandinista gove ...
in
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean t ...
. In 1988, he traveled with the Quixote Center to
Nicaragua
Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the coun ...
for 10 days to help distribute food and medicine during the
Nicaraguan Revolution
The Nicaraguan Revolution ( es, Revolución Nicaragüense or Revolución Popular Sandinista, link=no) encompassed the rising opposition to the Somoza dictatorship in the 1960s and 1970s, the campaign led by the Sandinista National Liberation F ...
. De Blasio was an ardent supporter of the ruling
socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...
government, the
Sandinista National Liberation Front
The Sandinista National Liberation Front ( es, Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional, FSLN) is a socialist political party in Nicaragua. Its members are called Sandinistas () in both English and Spanish. The party is named after Augusto ...
, which was opposed by the
Reagan administration
Ronald Reagan's tenure as the 40th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1981, and ended on January 20, 1989. Reagan, a Republican from California, took office following a landslide victory over ...
at the time.
After returning from Nicaragua, de Blasio moved to New York City, where he worked for a
nonprofit organization
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
focused on improving health care in Central America.
He continued to support the Sandinistas in his spare time and joined a group called the Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York, which held meetings and fundraisers for the Sandinista political party.
De Blasio's introduction to city politics came in 1989, when he worked as a volunteer coordinator for
David Dinkins
David Norman Dinkins (July 10, 1927 – November 23, 2020) was an American politician, lawyer, and author who served as the 106th mayor of New York City from 1990 to 1993. He was the first African American to hold the office.
Before enteri ...
'
mayoral campaign.
Following the campaign, de Blasio was an aide in
City Hall
In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...
.
In 1990, he described himself as an advocate for
democratic socialism
Democratic socialism is a left-wing political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-management within ...
when asked about his goals for society.
U.S. Representative
Charles Rangel
Charles Bernard Rangel (, ; born June 11, 1930) is an American politician who was a U.S. representative for districts in New York from 1971 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the second-longest serving incumbent member of the Ho ...
tapped de Blasio to be his campaign manager for his successful
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...
reelection bid. In 1997, he was appointed to serve as the regional director for the
United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It administers federal housing and urban development laws. It is headed by the Secretary of Housing and Ur ...
(HUD) for New York and New Jersey under the administration of President
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again ...
. As the tri-state region's highest-ranking HUD official, de Blasio led a small executive staff and took part in outreach to residents of substandard housing. In 1999, he was elected to be a school board member for Brooklyn School District 15.
In 2000, he served as campaign manager for
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
's successful
United States Senate bid.
New York City Council (2002–2009)
Elections
![CityCouncilChambersAT](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/CityCouncilChambersAT.jpg)
In 2001, de Blasio ran for the
New York City Council
The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five boroughs.
The council serves as a check against the mayor in a mayor-council government model, the performance of ...
's 39th district, which includes the
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
neighborhoods of
Borough Park,
Carroll Gardens
Carroll Gardens is a neighborhood in the northwestern portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Taking up around 40 city blocks, it is bounded by Degraw and Warren Streets (north), Hoyt and Smith Streets (east), Ninth Street or the G ...
,
Cobble Hill,
Gowanus
Gowanus ( ) is a neighborhood in the northwestern portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, within the area once known as South Brooklyn. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community District 6. Gowanus is bounded by Wyckoff Street on ...
,
Kensington
Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West of Central London.
The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensington Garden ...
,
Park Slope
Park Slope is a neighborhood in northwestern Brooklyn, New York City, within the area once known as South Brooklyn. Park Slope is roughly bounded by Prospect Park and Prospect Park West to the east, Fourth Avenue to the west, Flatbush A ...
, and
Windsor Terrace
Windsor Terrace is a small residential neighborhood in the central part of the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by Prospect Park, Brooklyn, Prospect Park on the east and northeast, Park Slope at Prospect ...
. He won the crowded primary election with 32% of the vote. In the general election, he defeated Republican Robert A. Bell, 71% to 17%. He was reelected with 72% of the vote in 2002 and with 83% of the vote in 2005.
Tenure
On the City Council, de Blasio passed legislation to prevent landlord discrimination against tenants who hold federal housing subsidy vouchers, and helped pass the HIV/AIDS Housing Services Law, improving housing services for low-income New Yorkers living with HIV/AIDS. As head of the city council's General Welfare Committee, de Blasio helped pass the Gender-Based Discrimination Protection Law to protect transgender New Yorkers, and passed the Domestic Partnership Recognition Law to ensure that same-sex couples in a legal partnership could enjoy the same legal benefits as heterosexual couples in New York City. During his tenure, the General Welfare Committee also passed the Benefits Translation for Immigrants Law, which helped non-English speakers receive free language-assistance services when accessing government programs. He served on the education,
environmental protection
Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment by individuals, organizations and governments. Its objectives are to conserve natural resources and the existing natural environment and, where possible, to repair dam ...
, finance, and technology committees and chaired the
general welfare
In philosophy, economics, and political science, the common good (also commonwealth, general welfare, or public benefit) is either what is shared and beneficial for all or most members of a given community, or alternatively, what is achieved by ...
committee.
New York City Public Advocate (2010–2013)
2009 election
In November 2008, de Blasio announced his candidacy for
New York City Public Advocate
The office of New York City Public Advocate (President of the City Council) is a citywide elected position in New York City, which is first in line to succeed the mayor. The office serves as a direct link between the electorate and city government ...
, entering a crowded field of candidates vying for the Democratic nomination that included former Public Advocate
Mark J. Green
Mark Joseph Green (born March 15, 1945) is an American author, former public official, public interest lawyer, and Democratic politician from New York City. Green was New York City Consumer Affairs Commissioner from 1990 to 1993 and New York Ci ...
. ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' endorsed de Blasio, praising his efforts to improve public schools and "
elp
Elp is a small village in the Dutch province of Drenthe. It is a part of the municipality of Midden-Drenthe, and lies about 15 km south of Assen.
The village was first mentioned in 1362 as "in Elpe". The etymology is unclear.
Elp was home t ...
many less-fortunate New Yorkers with food stamps, housing, and children's health" as a councilmember. The paper declared de Blasio the best candidate for the job "because he has shown that he can work well with
Mayor Bloomberg when it makes sense to do so while vehemently and eloquently opposing him when justified." His candidacy was endorsed by then Public Advocate
Betsy Gotbaum
Elisabeth A. Gotbaum (née Flower; born June 11, 1938) is an American civil servant, politician and a former New York City Public Advocate. She was elected Public Advocate for New York City in 2001 and reelected in 2005. She was the third woman el ...
, former
Mayor
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...
Ed Koch
Edward Irving Koch ( ; December 12, 1924February 1, 2013) was an American politician, lawyer, political commentator, film critic, and television personality. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1969 to 1977 and was ma ...
, former
Governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
Mario Cuomo
Mario Matthew Cuomo (, ; June 15, 1932 – January 1, 2015) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 52nd governor of New York for three terms, from 1983 to 1994. A member of the Democratic Party, Cuomo previously served as ...
, and
Reverend Al Sharpton
Alfred Charles Sharpton Jr. (born October 3, 1954) is an American civil rights activist, Baptist minister, talk show host and politician. Sharpton is the founder of the National Action Network. In 2004, he was a candidate for the Democratic ...
.
On September 15, 2009, de Blasio finished first in the Democratic primary, garnering 33% of the vote. He won the runoff primary election on September 29, defeating Green, 62% to 38%. In the November 3 general election, de Blasio defeated Republican
Alex Zablocki, 78% to 18%. De Blasio was inaugurated as New York City's third
Public Advocate
An ombudsman (, also ,), ombud, ombuds, ombudswoman, ombudsperson or public advocate is an official who is usually appointed by the government or by parliament (usually with a significant degree of independence) to investigate complaints and at ...
on January 1, 2010. In his inauguration speech he criticized the Bloomberg administration, especially its homelessness and education policies.
Tenure
Affordable housing
In June 2010, de Blasio opposed a
New York City Housing Authority
The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is a public development corporation which provides public housing in New York City, and is the largest public housing authority in North America. Created in 1934 as the first agency of its kind in the U ...
decision to cut the number of
Section 8 vouchers issued to low-income New Yorkers. The cut was announced after the NYCHA discovered it could not pay for approximately 2,600 vouchers that had already been issued. Two months later, he launched an online "NYC's Worst Landlords Watchlist" to track landlords who failed to repair dangerous living conditions. The list drew widespread media coverage and highlighted hundreds of landlords across the city. "We want these landlords to feel like they're being watched", de Blasio told the ''
New York Daily News
The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ...
''. "We need to shine a light on these folks to shame them into action."
Campaign finance
De Blasio has criticized ''
Citizens United'', the January 2010 U.S.
Supreme Court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
decision that overturned parts of the
2002 McCain-Feingold Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. He argued that "corporations should not be allowed to buy elections" and launched a national campaign by elected officials to reverse the decision's effects.
Education
As public advocate, de Blasio repeatedly criticized Bloomberg's education policies. He called for
Cathie Black
Cathleen Prunty "Cathie" Black (born April 26, 1944) is a former New York City Schools Chancellor. On April 7, 2011, Black stepped down from her position after 95 days on the job. Her appointment to replace longtime Chancellor Joel Klein was annou ...
, Bloomberg's nominee for
New York City Schools Chancellor
The New York City Schools Chancellor (formally "Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education") is the head of the New York City Department of Education. The Chancellor is appointed by the Mayor, and serves at the Mayor's pleasure. The ...
, to take part in public forums and criticized her for sending her own children to private schools. In March 2010, he spoke against an
MTA proposal to eliminate free MetroCards for students, arguing the measure would take a significant toll on school attendance. Three months later, he voiced opposition to the mayor's proposed budget containing more than $34 million in cuts to childcare services. In June 2011, de Blasio outlined a plan to improve the process of school co-location, by which multiple schools are housed in one building. His study found community input was often ignored by the city's Department of Education, resulting in top-down decisions made without sufficient regard for negative impacts. He outlined eight solutions to improve the process and incorporate community opinion into the decision-making process. The same month, he also criticized a Bloomberg administration proposal to lay off more than 4,600 teachers to balance the city's budget; de Blasio organized parents and communities against the proposed cuts and staged a last-minute call-a-thon. Bloomberg restored the funding, agreeing to find savings elsewhere in the budget.
Mayor of New York City (2014–2021)
2013 election
![Bill de Blasio and family](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Bill_de_Blasio_and_family.jpg)
On January 27, 2013, de Blasio announced his candidacy for mayor of New York City in the
fall election.
The Democratic primary race included nine candidates, among them Council Speaker
Christine Quinn
Christine Callaghan Quinn (born July 25, 1966) is an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, she formerly served as the Speaker of the New York City Council. The third person to hold this office, she was the first female and first ...
, former
U.S. Representative Anthony Weiner
Anthony David Weiner (; born September 4, 1964) is an American former politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 1999 until his resignation in 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he consistently carried the district with at ...
, and former
New York City Comptroller
The Office of Comptroller of New York City, a position established in 1801, is the chief financial officer and chief auditor of the city agencies and their performance and spending. The comptroller also reviews all city contracts, handles the ...
and
2009 mayoral nominee Bill Thompson. After Weiner joined the race in April, early polls showed de Blasio in fourth or fifth place. Despite his poor starting position, de Blasio gained the endorsements of major Democratic clubs, such as the
Barack Obama Democratic Club of Upper Manhattan The Barack Obama Democratic Club of Upper Manhattan is a reform-oriented political club in New York City focused on progressive activism and electing progressive candidates to local office. The club serves the neighborhoods of Washington Heights ...
, and New York City's largest
trade union
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...
,
SEIU
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is a labor union representing almost 1.9 million workers in over 100 occupations in the United States and Canada. SEIU is focused on organizing workers in three sectors: healthcare (over half of members ...
Local 1199
Several unions have been referred to as 1199 within the United States.
Original
* Local 1199, the historical national healthcare workers' union.
SEIU affiliates
* 1199SEIU, the largest healthcare worker labor union in the United States.
** ...
. Celebrities such as
Alec Baldwin
Alexander Rae Baldwin III (born April 3, 1958) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. In his early career, Baldwin played both leading and supporting roles in a variety of films such as Tim Burton's '' Beetlejuice'' (1988), Mike Nic ...
and
Sarah Jessica Parker
Sarah Jessica Parker (born March 25, 1965) is an American actress and television producer. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including six Golden Globe Awards and two Primetime Emmy Awards. ''Time'' magazine named her one of the 100 ...
endorsed him, as did prominent politicians such as former Vermont Governor
Howard Dean
Howard Brush Dean III (born November 17, 1948) is an American physician, author, lobbyist, and retired politician who served as the 79th governor of Vermont from 1991 to 2003 and chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) from 2005 to 2009 ...
and U.S. Congresswoman
Yvette Clarke
Yvette Diane Clarke (born November 21, 1964) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for New York's 9th congressional district since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, she first entered Congress in 2007, representing ...
.
By August, singer
Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte (born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927) is an American singer, activist, and actor. As arguably the most successful Jamaican-American pop star, he popularized the Trinbagonian Caribbean musical style with an internati ...
and actress
Susan Sarandon
Susan Abigail Sarandon (; née Tomalin; born October 4, 1946) is an American actorMcCabe, Bruce"Susan Sarandon, the 'actor'" ''Boston Globe''. April 17, 1981. Retrieved January 21, 2021. and activist. She is the recipient of various accolades, ...
had also endorsed de Blasio.
De Blasio gained media attention during the campaign when he and a dozen others, including city councillor
Stephen Levin, were arrested while protesting the closing of
Long Island College Hospital
University Hospital of Brooklyn at Long Island College Hospital (or LICH) was a 506-bed teaching hospital located in the Brooklyn Heights and Cobble Hill neighborhoods of Brooklyn, New York. The hospital was founded in 1858 as Long Island Coll ...
. De Blasio and Levin were released a few hours later with disorderly conduct summonses. Fellow Democratic mayoral hopefuls Weiner and City Comptroller
John Liu
John Chun Yah Liu (born January 8, 1967) is an American politician in New York City. A member of the Democratic Party, he is a member of the New York State Senate for the 11th district in northeast Queens. He previously served as the 43rd New Y ...
were also at the protest but were not arrested.
During his mayoral campaign, de Blasio outlined a plan to raise taxes on residents earning more than $500,000 a year to pay for universal
pre-kindergarten
Pre-kindergarten (also called Pre-K or PK) is a voluntary classroom-based preschool program for children below the age of five in the United States, Canada, Turkey and Greece (when kindergarten starts). It may be delivered through a preschool ...
programs and to expand after-school programs at
middle school
A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...
s.
He also pledged to invest $150 million annually into the
City University of New York
The City University of New York ( CUNY; , ) is the public university system of New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven senior colleges, seven community colleges and seven pro ...
to lower tuition and improve degree programs.
In September 2013, de Blasio voiced his opposition to
charter schools
A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...
, maintaining that their funding saps resources from classes like art, physical education and after-school programs. He outlined a plan to discontinue the policy of offering rent-free space to the city's 183 charter schools and to place a moratorium on the co-location of charter schools in public school buildings.
In August 2013, the de Blasio campaign released a television advertisement featuring de Blasio's then-15-year-old son, Dante, talking about his father's plans to "'really break from the Bloomberg years.'"
''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...
'' called it "The Ad That Won the New York Mayor's Race", noting that after it ran, "de Blasio built a steady lead that he never relinquished."
Quinn was attacked by a number of groups including
NYCLASS with their "Anybody But Quinn" campaign, allowing de Blasio to move up in the polls. By mid-August he emerged as the new leader among the Democrats. He reached 43% in a Quinnipiac poll released a week before the primary. Preliminary results of the September 11 primary showed de Blasio with 40.1% of the votes, slightly more than the 40% needed to avoid a runoff.
On September 16, second-place finisher
Bill Thompson conceded, citing the unlikelihood of winning a runoff even if uncounted absentee and military ballots pushed de Blasio below the 40% threshold. Thompson's withdrawal made de Blasio the Democratic nominee against Republican
Joe Lhota
Joseph J. Lhota (; born October 7, 1954) is an American public servant and a former politician who served as the chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and was also a former deputy mayor of New York City. He was the Republican n ...
in the general election.
Exit polls showed that the issue that most aided de Blasio's primary victory was his unequivocal opposition to "stop and frisk." After the primary, de Blasio was announced as the nominee of the
Working Families Party
The Working Families Party (WFP) is a minor political party in the United States, founded in New York in 1998. There are active chapters in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Ne ...
.
In the general election, he defeated Lhota in a landslide with 72.2% of the vote. Voter turnout for the election set a new record low of only 24% of registered voters, which ''The New York Times'' attributed to the expectation of a landslide in the heavily Democratic city. The finance activities of the 2013 de Blasio campaign became the subject of a federal corruption investigation led by U.S. Attorney
Preet Bharara
Preetinder Singh Bharara (; born October 13, 1968) is an Indian-born American lawyer, author, podcaster and former federal prosecutor who served as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2009 to 2017. He is curren ...
, including whether campaign donors received preferential treatment from City Hall. The investigation ended in March 2017 with no charges.
2017 election
In 2017, de Blasio won reelection to a second term, defeating Republican Assemblywoman
Nicole Malliotakis
Nicole Malliotakis (; born November 11, 1980) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for New York's 11th congressional district since 2021. Her constituency covers Staten Island and southern Brooklyn.
Malliotakis is the on ...
, 65.2%-27.2%.
Tenure
De Blasio was sworn into office on January 1, 2014, by former President
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again ...
. In his inaugural address, he reiterated his campaign pledge to address "economic and social inequalities" within the city. ''The New York Times'' noted that "The elevation of an assertive, tax-the-rich liberal to the nation's most prominent municipal office has fanned hopes that hot-button causes like universal prekindergarten and low-wage worker benefits... could be aided by the imprimatur of being proved workable in New York."
![No NYC Hypocrisy rally & march (33783880945)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/No_NYC_Hypocrisy_rally_%26_march_%2833783880945%29.jpg)
In the first weeks of de Blasio's mayoralty, New York City was struck by a series of snowstorms.
De Blasio was criticized by
Upper East Side
The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park/Fifth Avenue to the we ...
residents who said efforts to clear the snow seemed to be lagging in their neighborhood.
De Blasio apologized the next day, saying that "more could have been done to serve the Upper East Side."
On February 13, heavy snowstorms hit the East Coast again. Under instructions from De Blasio and School Chancellor
Carmen Fariña
Carmen Fariña (née Guillén; born April 5, 1943) is a former New York City Schools Chancellor and head of the New York City Department of Education. Announced by Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio on December 30, 2013, she was the first New York Cit ...
, the city's public schools were kept open. This decision was criticized by teacher unions, parents and the media as 9.5 inches of snow fell that day. By the middle of February, the city had added $35 million to the
Sanitation Department's budget for snow removal.
In July 2014, de Blasio signed a bill authorizing the creation of
municipal identification cards for all residents regardless of immigration status, to help secure access to city services. Homeless New Yorkers were also eligible to obtain the
IDNYC
In the United States, a city (or municipal) identification card is a form of identification card issued by a municipality, such as a city, rather than a state or federal government. Under federal law, cities may issue their own identification car ...
cards if they registered a "care of" address. The IDNYC card program was launched on January 1, 2015.
De Blasio had mixed approval ratings during his mayoralty.
9/11 attacks
In 2016, de Blasio expressed support for the
Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act
The Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) () is a law enacted by the United States Congress that narrows the scope of the legal doctrine of foreign sovereign immunity. It amends the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act and the Anti-Ter ...
that would allow relatives of victims of the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
to sue
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the Ara ...
for its government's
alleged role in the attacks.
Affordable housing
A key focus of de Blasio's mayoral tenure was to build more affordable housing, with a goal of 200,000 units. His plan passed the City Council, but was controversial. Groups such as the
New York Communities for Change came out against the plan, arguing that it promoted
gentrification
Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and planning. Gentrification often increases the ...
. In April 2017, the state government renewed the
421-a tax abatement program after unions and developers made a deal on wages in qualifying construction projects.
Atlantic Avenue, in the
East New York
East New York is a residential neighborhood in the eastern section of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City, United States. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise, are roughly the Cemetery Belt and the Queens borough li ...
neighborhood of
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, which has been scarred by decades of poverty and crime, was the first test and focus of de Blasio's strategy on affordable housing, one of the policy initiatives central to his platform of reducing inequality. Since 2012, city planners had been working to bring residents to forums to consult on the process. The plan was to "invite developers to build up local streets in exchange for more units of affordable housing."
In January 2019, de Blasio and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
Ben Carson
Benjamin Solomon Carson Sr. (born September 18, 1951) is an American retired neurosurgeon and politician who served as the 17th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 2017 to 2021. A pioneer in the field of neurosurgery, he ...
reached an agreement to change the operations of the New York City Housing Authority. The agreement created "specific requirements and milestones to address the serious health and safety hazards at NYCHA properties, including lead-based paint, mold, heat, vermin, among others".
Budget
In 2019, ''
City Journal'' reported that during the de Blasio administration, "New York City's budget has expanded by some $20 billion, and is expected to total about $93 billion for the coming fiscal year. Expenditures have ballooned three times as fast as the rate of inflation".
COVID-19 response
On January 28, 2020, de Blasio said, "this virus was underestimated by the
Chinese government
The Government of the People's Republic of China () is an authoritarian political system in the People's Republic of China under the exclusive political leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It consists of legislative, executive, m ...
. It was actually beginning to spread and was not recognized sufficiently and talked about openly."
On February 13, in an interview with
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's v ...
, he said, "this is something we can handle, but you got to follow some basic rules."
On March 2, de Blasio encouraged New Yorkers in a
tweet "to go on with your lives + get out on the town despite Coronavirus". On March 9, he said that the "vast majority of New Yorkers, being folks under 50 and healthy, are not in particular danger, and if they were to get it, would experience something like a common cold or flu." On March 11, he was "telling people to not avoid restaurants, not avoid normal things that people do. ... If you're not sick, you should be going about your life."
On March 16, ''The New York Times'' reported that during the previous week, de Blasio's "top aides were furiously trying to change the mayor's approach to the coronavirus outbreak. There had been arguments and shouting matches between the mayor and some of his advisers; some top health officials had even threatened to resign if he refused to accept the need to close schools and businesses."
De Blasio followed their advice.
De Blasio was criticized for singling out Jewish residents of the city, following tweets directed at "the Jewish community", who described de Blasio's actions as
scapegoating
Scapegoating is the practice of singling out a person or group for unmerited blame and consequent negative treatment. Scapegoating may be conducted by individuals against individuals (e.g. "he did it, not me!"), individuals against groups (e.g., ...
. In early June 2020, he was criticized for enforcing restrictions on religious gatherings to no more than 25% of capacity whereas all other groups were allowed to operate at 50% capacity. Catholic priests and Jewish synagogue worshipers then sued both De Blasio and Governor Cuomo for being more than twice as restrictive of worship than protest events. In late June, a federal judge overruled the religious worship restrictions and others that limited New York outdoor gatherings.
When
Brian Lehrer asked De Blasio in a July 2020 radio interview about his approach to helping businesses recover from the pandemic, de Blasio said that his "focus has not been on the business community and the elite", and, quoting Karl Marx’s
Communist Manifesto
''The Communist Manifesto'', originally the ''Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (german: Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei), is a political pamphlet written by German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Commissioned by the Comm ...
, that "the state is the executive committee of the bourgeoisie." He quoted
Ché Guevara, another communist figure, at a rally in Miami a year earlier, upsetting that city’s Latino community.
Charter schools
In 2014, De Blasio's decision to deny public space to several New York City
charter school
A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...
s provoked controversy among advocates of
school vouchers
A school voucher, also called an education voucher in a voucher system, is a certificate of government funding for students at schools chosen by themselves or their parents. Funding is usually for a particular year, term, or semester. In some cou ...
. The decision overturned a Bloomberg administration arrangement that allowed for "co-locations", where charter schools were housed in public school buildings. De Blasio also revoked $200 million of capital funding earmarked for charter schools. ''The New York Times'' emphasized that de Blasio approved 14 charter school co-locations and only denied three, suggesting that he was being unfairly cast as being opposed to charter schools. Two months after the initial decision, the mayor's office announced that it had found space for the three schools. The city would lease, renovate, and maintain three buildings, which were previously used for Catholic schools, from the
Archdiocese of New York
The Archdiocese of New York ( la, Archidiœcesis Neo-Eboracensis) is an ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church ( particularly the Roman Catholic or Latin Church) located in the State of New York. It encompasses the boroug ...
. The three charter schools are run by
Success Academy Charter Schools.
Environmental issues
In April 2019, De Blasio announced his support for the
Green New Deal
Green New Deal (GND) proposals call for public policy to address climate change along with achieving other social aims like job creation and reducing economic inequality. The name refers back to the New Deal, a set of social and economic re ...
and for legislation to ban the construction of glass and steel skyscrapers in New York City, citing environmental concerns and feeling they contribute to global warming. He also criticized the development at
Hudson Yards in Manhattan.
George Floyd riots and protests
On May 31, 2020, de Blasio issued a statement blaming protesters for being in the way of two police cruisers that pushed a barricade into them. On June 7, 2020, he announced: "We will be moving funding from the NYPD to youth initiatives and social services." De Blasio blamed "anarchist" protesters for inciting and organizing violent riots.
On June 21, 2020, the
American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 int ...
announced that it was asking city officials to remove the ''
Equestrian Statue of Theodore Roosevelt'' with a Native American man and an African man standing next to the horse. De Blasio endorsed the decision.
Israel
![De Blasio at Celebrate Israel Parade (8927511453)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/De_Blasio_at_Celebrate_Israel_Parade_%288927511453%29.jpg)
On February 14, 2019, while addressing a rally in New York City about combating
antisemitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
, De Blasio said: "Maybe some people don't realize it, but when they support the
BDS movement, they are affronting the
right of Israel to exist and that is unacceptable." De Blasio condemned Representative
Ilhan Omar
Ilhan Abdullahi Omar (born October 4, 1982) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2019. She is a member of the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party. Before her election to Congress, Omar served in the Minnesot ...
's remarks about Israel and
pro-Israel lobbyists as "absolutely unacceptable" and "illogical".
Marijuana legalization
In December 2018, De Blasio announced his support for
marijuana legalization
The legality of cannabis for medical and recreational use varies by country, in terms of its possession, distribution, and cultivation, and (in regards to medical) how it can be consumed and what medical conditions it can be used for. These ...
in New York City, calling it a "once-in-a-generation opportunity to get a historic issue right for future New Yorkers." He worked with a marijuana task force to produce a report on licensing and regulation, which was released along with a letter of endorsement.
Mohel disclosure rule
In 2015, de Blasio repealed a public health requirement that
mohel
A ( he, מוֹהֵל , Ashkenazi pronunciation , plural: , arc, מוֹהֲלָא , "circumciser") is a Jew trained in the practice of , the "covenant of circumcision".
Etymology
The noun ( in Aramaic), meaning "circumciser", is derived f ...
s inform parents of the risks of
metzitzah b'peh, an oral circumcision ritual that was linked to 17 cases of infant herpes, brain damage, and two deaths since 2000.
In 2012, the rule was passed by the city's Board of Health, which required parents to sign a consent form. Some ultra-
Orthodox Jewish
Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on ...
leaders called the requirement an infringement on religious freedom, sued the city in federal court,
and pressed their followers not to comply. After de Blasio installed allies and donors on New York City's Board of Health, a new policy was instated that mohels could be banned for life if they tested positive for herpes and the DNA strain matched the infant's, but only after a child was infected. It was soon revealed that the city was not disclosing new infections as required by the new policy, and children continued to become infected after undergoing the ritual.
Nepotism laws
De Blasio put his wife, Chirlane McCray, in charge of major policy initiatives such as the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City and ThriveNYC (a $850 million mental health initiative). This caused criticism since McCray had never been elected to office and was chosen for these positions only because of her relationship with De Blasio. De Blasio accused critics of the arrangement of "sexism" and bemoaned the city's anti-
nepotism
Nepotism is an advantage, privilege, or position that is granted to relatives and friends in an occupation or field. These fields may include but are not limited to, business, politics, academia, entertainment, sports, fitness, religion, an ...
laws that prevented McCray from receiving a substantial salary.
NYPD relations
![NYC Mike Brown-Ferguson protest Pace University](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/NYC_Mike_Brown-Ferguson_protest_Pace_University.JPG)
During his mayoral tenure, de Blasio's relationship with the New York City Police Department was called "strained",
"combative", and "frosty".
Ending
the NYPD's "stop and frisk" policy was a centerpiece of De Blasio's campaign. The practice had been challenged by civil rights groups in federal court, where it was
ruled unconstitutional in 2013. The federal appeal of this decision filed by the Bloomberg administration was dropped by de Blasio upon taking office. He vowed to settle cases with claimants who had ongoing litigation against the police for stop and frisk arrests. The NYPD union appealed the decision without de Blasio's support, and was rejected.
De Blasio selected
Bill Bratton
William Joseph Bratton CBE (born October 6, 1947) is an American law enforcement officer and businessman who served two terms as the New York City Police Commissioner (1994–1996 and 2014–2016). He previously served as the Commissioner of th ...
for
New York City Police Commissioner
The New York City Police Commissioner is the head of the New York City Police Department and presiding member of the Board of Commissioners. The commissioner is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the mayor. The commissioner is responsib ...
, a position he had held under Mayor
Rudy Giuliani
Rudolph William Louis Giuliani (, ; born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 107th Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney General from 1981 to 198 ...
. Bratton, who introduced
stop and frisk
A ''Terry'' stop in the United States allows the police to briefly detain a person based on reasonable suspicion of involvement in criminal activity. ("In ''Terry v. Ohio'', 392 U. S. 1, 30 (1968), we held that the police can stop and briefly de ...
under Giuliani, promised it would be used "legally, respectfully" and less frequently. Some de Blasio supporters were disappointed by Bratton's appointment.
In February 2014, Pastor Bishop Orlando Findlayter—the founder of the New Hope Christian Fellowship Church, and a friend and supporter of de Blasio—was pulled over for failing to signal before making a left turn. Findlayter was then detained by police on outstanding warrants and driving with a suspended license.
De Blasio is alleged to have called the police on Findlayter's behalf. Findlayter was released shortly thereafter. In a press conference, de Blasio told reporters that while he had called the police to make an inquiry regarding Findlayter's arrest he did not ask the police to release him. A spokesperson for the mayor said that de Blasio's call occurred after the police already had decided to release Findlayter.
[ While both the police and City Hall denied that De Blasio requested preferential treatment for Findlayter, City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer said De Blasio's behavior was concerning because "the mayor shouldn't be involved in any way about somebody's arrest."]
On December 3, 2014, after a grand jury
A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a pe ...
decided not to indict NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo in the death of Eric Garner
On July 17, 2014, Eric Garner was killed in the New York City borough of Staten Island after Daniel Pantaleo, a New York City Police Department (NYPD) officer, put him in a prohibited chokehold while arresting him. Video footage of the incide ...
, de Blasio said in a speech that he and his African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
wife, Chirlane McCray
Chirlane Irene McCray (born November 29, 1954) is an American writer, editor, and activist. She is married to former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and had been described as de Blasio's "closest advisor." She chaired the Mayor's Fund to Adva ...
, had had many conversations with their biracial son about taking "special care in any encounters he has with the police officers who are there to protect him". De Blasio also "offered qualified support for protesters after the grand jury decision not to charge the officer involved in the chokehold death of Eric Garner in New York City".
After New York City police officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos were killed in an ambush in December 2014, "cops and union leaders publicly rebuked e Blasio arguing hat
A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...
his earlier remarks had stoked anti-police sentiment." When de Blasio eulogized the two fallen officers, hundreds of their fellow police officers turned their backs on him.
After the murder of New York City police officer Miosotis Familia in July 2017, de Blasio received further criticism for not attending Familia's vigil. Many officers again turned their backs on him when he spoke at a service for Familia.
In November 2019, de Blasio criticized former mayor Michael Bloomberg's apology for the stop and frisk
A ''Terry'' stop in the United States allows the police to briefly detain a person based on reasonable suspicion of involvement in criminal activity. ("In ''Terry v. Ohio'', 392 U. S. 1, 30 (1968), we held that the police can stop and briefly de ...
policy, tweeting, "This is LONG overdue and the timing is transparent and cynical. With all due respect to my predecessor, we've spent six years undoing the damage he created with this bankrupt policy. We ended stop and frisk AND drove down crime. Actions speak louder than words." Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch joined the Mayor in criticizing Bloomberg's apology as well.
Technology and innovation
When de Blasio appointed Minerva Tantoco as the city's chief technology officer in fall 2014, he said her goal would be to "develop and implement a coordinated strategy for technology and innovation, for how this city as a whole is going to approach the role of technology in our everyday lives, in our economy, in our schools, in our civic participation." Two years later, Tantoco's efforts were only partially successful.
Along with Governor Cuomo, de Blasio supported moving Amazon's headquarters
Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the to ...
to Long Island City
Long Island City (LIC) is a residential and commercial neighborhood on the extreme western tip of Queens, a borough in New York City. It is bordered by Astoria to the north; the East River to the west; New Calvary Cemetery in Sunnyside to the ...
in the Amazon HQ2
Amazon HQ2 is Amazon's corporate headquarters in Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia and is an expansion of the company's headquarters in Seattle, Washington.
HQ2 was announced in September 2017, when Amazon submitted request for proposals to go ...
search, and worked with Cuomo to develop a benefits package from New York City and State funds totaling $2.988 billion. In November 2018, Long Island City in Queens was selected as one of two sites for HQ2, along with Crystal City in Virginia, outside of Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
Long Island City's selection as a site for Amazon's HQ2 was controversial before and after it happened, and was protested by local residents, community organizations, and politicians. After receiving pushback, Amazon withdrew its plans to open HQ2 in Long Island City on February 14, 2019. De Blasio criticized Amazon's decision.
Transportation
In 2014, de Blasio released a report dedicated to "better transit for New York City." Some of the ideas brought up in the report were to rebuild Penn Station Pennsylvania Station is a name applied by the Pennsylvania Railroad to several of its grand passenger terminals.
Pennsylvania Station or Penn Station may also refer to
Current train stations
* Baltimore Penn Station
* Pennsylvania Station (Cinci ...
/Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...
, create more bus rapid transit
Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...
routes, and a "Vision Zero" initiative to reduce traffic-related deaths in the city.
The "Vision Zero" initiative, inspired by a successful Swedish plan, saw a gradual decrease in pedestrian fatalities, from 299 in 2013 to 200 in 2018. But in 2019 there was an increase in cyclist deaths, and de Blasio discussed several proposals to combat cyclist deaths, including a $58.4 million plan and requiring cyclists to wear helmets and acquire licenses to operate a bicycle.
While the de Blasio administration planned on increasing the rate at which bicycle racks were added in the city, the annual rate instead fell by 42% compared to the Bloomberg administration, reaching a new average of 1,633 new racks per year. Jon Orcutt, a spokesman for Bike New York, said, "Everybody's talking about Citi Bike
Citi Bike is a privately owned public bicycle sharing system serving the New York City boroughs of the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens, as well as Jersey City, New Jersey, and Hoboken, New Jersey. Named after lead sponsor Citigroup, it w ...
s and scooters but it's the humble bike rack that needs more attention."
Universal pre-kindergarten
As mayor, de Blasio's signature initiative was the implementation of Universal Pre-K, i.e. publicly funded pre-kindergarten for all New York City residents. He sought to fund the program by increasing taxes on New York City residents earning $500,000 or more. De Blasio's initiative saw an increase in Universal Pre-K enrollment in New York City through 2015, with over 70% of pre-K expansions happening within the ZIP codes of the city's poorest quartile. In 2017, de Blasio proposed an expansion of the program to "3-K", to include three-year-olds. Preschool for three-year-olds would start in poorer neighborhoods, with the goal of covering the entire city, if the state or federal governments provided funding.
2020 presidential campaign
On May 16, 2019, de Blasio announced that he would seek the Democratic nomination for president after releasing a YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
video in which he said, "I'm Bill de Blasio, and I'm running for president because it's time we put working people first." He was the first incumbent mayor of New York City to run for president since John Lindsay
John Vliet Lindsay (; November 24, 1921 – December 19, 2000) was an American politician and lawyer. During his political career, Lindsay was a U.S. congressman, mayor of New York City, and candidate for U.S. president. He was also a regular ...
, who ran for the Democratic nomination in 1972
Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...
.
During his campaign, de Blasio expressed support for increasing the federal minimum wage
A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation by the end of the 20th century. Bec ...
to $15 an hour. On June 19, 2019, he said, "We have to make sure there is a peace settlement in Afghanistan; it obviously has to involve the Taliban
The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...
. Until that point, I don't think it's sensible to take out our troops." De Blasio advocated a robot tax
A robot tax is a legislative strategy to disincentivize the replacement of workers by machines and bolster the social safety net for those who are displaced. While the automation of manual labour has been contemplated since before the industrial r ...
and proposed to make large corporations responsible for five years of income tax from jobs that are automated away.
Despite his large margins of victory during his mayoral races, polls found de Blasio to be widely unpopular. ''The New York Times'' described his candidacy as a "long shot", citing his low national poll numbers and inconsistent approval ratings in New York City. An April 2019 poll found his approval rating at 42% in the city, with 44% of voters disapproving. A May 2019 Quinnipiac University poll
The Quinnipiac University Poll is a public opinion polling center based at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. It surveys public opinion in Connecticut, Florida, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, Iowa, Minnesota, New York (state), New York, ...
of New York City voters found that 76% did not want de Blasio to run for president. Just before he suspended his campaign, his approval rating had dropped to 33%, with 58% disapproving.
De Blasio attempted to position himself as a progressive in contrast to the at-the-time front-runner, former Vice President
A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...
Joe Biden. He was hoping to challenge U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders
Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Vermont since 2007. He was the U.S. representative for the state's at-large congressional district from 1991 to 20 ...
of Vermont
Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...
and Elizabeth Warren
Elizabeth Ann Warren ( née Herring; born June 22, 1949) is an American politician and former law professor who is the senior United States senator from Massachusetts, serving since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party and regarded as a ...
of , both of whom were seen as leaders of the progressive wing of the Democratic party.
De Blasio's campaign failed to gain traction. He was unable to qualify for Democratic primary debates in September and October, which were seen as necessary events for his campaign to maintain viability. He regularly polled at 0% among Democratic primary voters, including in his home state. After failing to qualify for the third round of primary debates, de Blasio announced the suspension of his campaign on September 20, 2019. On February 14, 2020, de Blasio endorsed Sanders.
In October 2021, the New York City Department of Investigations published a report with findings that "the City has not been reimbursed by the de Blasio Campaign for the travel expenses of the security detail during the Mayor’s presidential campaign, totaling over $300,000."
Endorsements
Electoral history
Personal life
De Blasio and his wife, activist and poet Chirlane McCray
Chirlane Irene McCray (born November 29, 1954) is an American writer, editor, and activist. She is married to former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and had been described as de Blasio's "closest advisor." She chaired the Mayor's Fund to Adva ...
, met while both were working for Mayor Dinkins' administration and married in 1994.[ The couple honeymooned in ]Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
in violation of a US travel ban. They lived in Park Slope, Brooklyn
A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are green spaces set aside for recreation inside towns and cities. N ...
before they moved to Gracie Mansion
Archibald Gracie Mansion (commonly called Gracie Mansion) is the official residence of the Mayor of New York City. Built in 1799, it is located in Carl Schurz Park, at East End Avenue and 88th Street in the Yorkville neighborhood of Manhattan. T ...
, the traditional residence of New York City mayors. They have two children: Dante, a graduate of Brooklyn Technical High School
Brooklyn Technical High School, commonly called Brooklyn Tech and administratively designated High School 430, is an elite public high school in New York City that specializes in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. It is one of th ...
who graduated from Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...
in 2019, and Chiara, a student at Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University is a private Jesuit university in Santa Clara, California. Established in 1851, Santa Clara University is the oldest operating institution of higher learning in California. The university's campus surrounds the historic Mis ...
in California. Chiara addressed her drug use and depression in late December 2013, in a four-minute video that de Blasio's mayoral transition team released.
At , de Blasio is the tallest mayor in New York City's history.
De Blasio, an Italian American
Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, ...
, occasionally gives interviews, press conferences, and speeches in Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
.
De Blasio is a passionate fan of the Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...
, having said he has a "deep devotion" to the New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...
' archrivals.
Religion
De Blasio has described himself as "spiritual but not religious
"Spiritual but not religious" (SBNR), also known as "spiritual but not affiliated" (SBNA), is a popular phrase and initialism used to self-identify a life stance of spirituality that does not regard organized religion as the sole or most valuable ...
". His mother rejected her Roman Catholic faith. De Blasio did not attend church in his early life.
Net worth
According to ''Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'', De Blasio and his wife had a net worth of $2.5 million as of August 2019.
See also
* List of mayors of New York City
The mayor of New York City is the chief executive of the Government of New York City, as stipulated by New York City's charter. The current officeholder, the 110th in the sequence of regular mayors, is Eric Adams, a member of the Democratic Pa ...
* List of mayors of the 50 largest cities in the United States
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
Notes
Citations
Further reading
*
External links
Official mayoral website
*
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, -
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:De Blasio, Bill
1961 births
2004 United States presidential electors
2012 United States presidential electors
2016 United States presidential electors
21st-century American politicians
American people of English descent
American people of French descent
American people of German descent
American people of Irish descent
American politicians of Italian descent
American people of Scottish descent
Candidates in the 2020 United States presidential election
Former Roman Catholics
Living people
Mayors of New York City
New York (state) Democrats
New York City Council members
New York City Public Advocates
New York University alumni
People from Manhattan
People from Park Slope
Politicians from Brooklyn
Politicians from Cambridge, Massachusetts
School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University alumni
United States Department of Housing and Urban Development officials