Bill de Blasio
Bill de Blasio is an American former politician who served as the 110th mayor of New York City from 2014 to 2021. 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 raised primarily in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He graduated from New York University and Columbia University before brief stints working 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 one term as public advocate, he was elected mayor of New York City in 2013. De Blasio was reelected mayor in 2017.
De Blasio 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 supported socially liberal and progressive policies. In his first term as mayor, he implemented a free universal pre-kindergarten program in the city. De Blasio's other policy initiatives included the ThriveNYC mental health program, new de-escalation training for police officers, reduced prosecutions for cannabis possession, and ending the post-9/11 surveillance program of Muslim residents. De Blasio was term-limited and ineligible to seek a third term in the 2021 New York City mayoral election. He was succeeded by Eric Adams on January 1, 2022.
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. In 2022, he ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in the newly redrawn 10th congressional district, but withdrew his candidacy prior to the Democratic primary.
Early life, family and education
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, to Manhattan's Doctors Hospital for his birth. He is the third son of Warren Wilhelm and Maria Angela. 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, of Iowa. His maternal grandfather, Giovanni, was from Sant'Agata de' Goti, Campania, and his grandmother, Anna, was from Grassano, Basilicata. His paternal uncle, Donald George Wilhelm Jr., worked for the Central Intelligence Agency in Iran and ghostwrote the memoir of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last shah of Iran.His mother, Maria de Blasio, attended Smith College, served in the U.S. Office of War Information during World War II and authored The Other Italy: The Italian Resistance in World War II. His father, a Yale University graduate, worked as a contributing editor at Time magazine. In 1942, he enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War II. During the 82-day Battle of Okinawa, a grenade detonated below his left foot, and his leg was later amputated below the knee. After receiving a Purple Heart, he married Maria in 1945, and became a budget analyst for the federal government. During the 1950s, at the height of the Red Scare, both Maria and Warren were accused of having a "sympathetic interest in Communism". The family moved to Connecticut; Warren was chief international economist for Texaco and Maria worked in public relations at the Italian consulate.
In 1966, the family moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, 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. In 1979, de Blasio graduated from Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, where he was in student government and was known to peers as "Senator Provolone". He received a Bachelor of Arts from New York University in metropolitan studies, a program in urban studies, and a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. 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 in Maryland. In 1988, he traveled with the Quixote Center to Nicaragua for 10 days to help distribute food and medicine during the Nicaraguan Revolution. De Blasio was an ardent supporter of the ruling socialist government, the Sandinista National Liberation Front, which was opposed by the Reagan administration at the time. After returning from Nicaragua, de Blasio moved to New York City, where he worked for a nonprofit organization 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' mayoral campaign. Following the campaign, de Blasio was an aide in City Hall. In 1990, he described himself as an advocate for democratic socialism when asked about his goals for society.U.S. Representative Charles Rangel tapped de Blasio to be his campaign manager for his successful 1994 reelection bid. In 1997, he was appointed to be the regional director for the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development for New York and New Jersey under the administration of President Bill Clinton. 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 was campaign manager for Hillary Clinton's successful United States Senate bid.
New York City Council (2002–2009)
Elections
In 2001, de Blasio ran for the New York City Council's 39th district, which includes the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Borough Park, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Gowanus, Kensington, Park Slope, and Windsor Terrace. 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 2003 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 was on the education, environmental protection, finance, and technology committees and chaired the general welfare committee.New York City Public Advocate (2010–2013)
2009 election
In November 2008, de Blasio announced his candidacy for New York City Public Advocate, entering a crowded field of candidates vying for the Democratic nomination that included former Public Advocate Mark Green. The New York Times endorsed de Blasio, praising his efforts to improve public schools and " 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, former Mayor Ed Koch, former Governor Mario Cuomo, and Reverend Al Sharpton.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 on January 1, 2010. In his inauguration speech he criticized the Bloomberg administration, especially its homelessness and education policies.