Val Demings | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Official portrait, 2017 | |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromFlorida's10th district | |
| In office January 3, 2017 – January 3, 2023 | |
| Preceded by | Daniel Webster |
| Succeeded by | Maxwell Frost |
| Chief of theOrlando Police Department | |
| In office December 16, 2007 – June 1, 2011 | |
| Preceded by | Michael McCoy |
| Succeeded by | Paul Rooney |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Valdez Venita Butler (1957-03-12)March 12, 1957 (age 68) Jacksonville, Florida, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | Florida State University (BS) Webster University, Orlando (MPA) |
| Police career | |
| Department | Orlando Police Department |
| Service years | 1983–2011 |
| Rank | Chief |
Valdez Venita Demings (néeButler; born March 12, 1957) is an American politician and former police officer who served asU.S. representative forFlorida's 10th congressional district from 2017 to 2023. The district covered most of the western half ofOrlando and includes much of the area around Orlando's resort parks. It includes many of Orlando's western suburbs, includingApopka andWinter Garden. From 2007 to 2011, Demings served as the first female chief of theOrlando Police Department, closing a 27-year career in law enforcement. She has also beenfirst lady ofOrange County, Florida, since December 4, 2018, when her husbandJerry Demings was sworn in asCounty Mayor.
Demings won the Democratic Party's nomination for U.S. Representative from Florida's 10th congressional district in2012. After losing toRepublican incumbentDaniel Webster, she won in 2016 after the State Supreme Court mandated redistricting statewide.[1]
On January 15, 2020, House SpeakerNancy Pelosi selected Demings to serve as aHouse impeachment manager in thefirst Senate trial of PresidentDonald Trump.[2] In early August 2020, Demings was said to be one of the top contenders to beJoe Biden's vice-presidential running mate in the2020 United States presidential election, along withKamala Harris andSusan Rice.[3] Instead of running for re-election in the House, she became the Democratic nominee in the2022 United States Senate election in Florida, wherein she lost to Republican incumbentMarco Rubio in a landslide.
In July 2024, PresidentJoe Biden nominated Demings to serve as a member of theBoard of Governors of the United States Postal Service.
Valdez Venita Butler was born on March 12, 1957,[4] one of seven children born to a poor family; her father worked as a janitor, her mother as a maid. They lived inMandarin, a neighborhood inJacksonville, Florida. She attendedsegregated schools in the 1960s and graduated fromWolfson High School in 1975.[5][6]
Demings became interested in a career in law enforcement after serving in the "school patrol" at Dupont Junior High School. She attendedFlorida State University, graduating with a degree incriminology in 1979.[5] In 1996, Demings earned amaster's degree in public administration fromWebster University Orlando.[7][8]
After graduating from college, Demings worked as a statesocial worker inJacksonville for 18 months.[5]
In 1983, Demings applied for a job with theOrlando Police Department (OPD); her first assignment was on patrol on Orlando's west side.[5] Demings was appointed chief of the Orlando Police Department in 2007, becoming the first woman to lead the department.[9][10] From 2007 to 2011, she oversaw a 40% decrease in violent crime.[11]
According to a 2015 article inThe Atlantic, the Orlando Police Department "has a long record of excessive-force allegations, and a lack of transparency on the subject, dating back at least as far as Demings's time as chief."[12] A 2008Orlando Weekly exposé described the Orlando Police Department as "a place where rogue cops operate with impunity, and there's nothing anybody who finds himself at the wrong end of their short fuse can do about it."[13] Demings responded with an op-ed in theOrlando Sentinel, writing, "Looking for a negative story in a police department is like looking for a prayer at church", adding, "It won't take long to find one." In the same op-ed, she cast doubt on video evidence that conflicts with officers' statements in excessive force cases, writing, "a few seconds (even of video) rarely capture the entire set of circumstances."[12]
In 2009, she had her firearm, aSig Sauer P226R, stolen from her department vehicle while parked at her home; she was issued a written censure. The firearm has not been recovered.[14]
Demings retired from her position as chief of OPD effective June 1, 2011, after serving with the OPD for 27 years.[15][16][12]
Demings was theDemocratic nominee for theUnited States House of Representatives inFlorida's 10th congressional district in the2012 elections.[17] She faced freshmanRepublicanDaniel Webster in a district that had been made slightly more Republican than its predecessor in 2010. Demings narrowly lost, taking 48% of the vote to Webster's 51%.[18]
Democrats attempted to recruit Demings to run against Webster again in 2014.[19] She decided to run formayor of Orange County, Florida, againstTeresa Jacobs, instead,[20] but dropped out of the mayoral race on May 20, 2014.[21]
In 2015, Demings announced her candidacy for the 10th district seat after a court-ordered redistricting made the 10th significantly more Democratic ahead of the2016 elections.[22] Webster concluded the new 10th was unwinnable, and ran for reelection in the nearby11th district.
Demings won the Democratic nomination on August 30[23] and the general election in November with 65% of the vote.[24][25] She is the third Democrat to win this Orlando-based district since its creation in 1973 (it was numbered as the 5th from 1973 to 1993, the 8th from 1993 to 2013, and has been the 10th since 2013).
In her2018 reelection campaign, Demings was unopposed for a second term.[26]
On May 21, 2020, Demings confirmed she was on "the shortlist" to beJoe Biden'svice presidential nominee for the2020 presidential election. She said she would accept the role if offered.[27] Some critics, includingBlack Lives Matter activists, criticized her record as Orlando police chief.[28][29]Kamala Harris was announced as Biden's running mate on August 11, 2020. In November 2020, Demings was named a candidate forUnited States Secretary of Homeland Security in theBiden administration.[30]
Demings was sworn in on January 3, 2017. She is a member of theNew Democrat Coalition[31] and theCongressional Black Caucus.[32]
As of March 2022, Demings had voted in line with Biden's stated position 100% of the time.[33]
In June 2021, Demings announced her candidacy for the Democratic nomination in Florida's 2022 U.S. Senate election.[36] The incumbent U.S. Senator, RepublicanMarco Rubio, ran for reelection in 2022. In March 2022,PolitiFact reported that Demings falsely claimed that Rubio supported tax hikes.[37] She lost to Rubio in the November 8, 2022, general election.
On July 25, 2024, PresidentJoe Biden nominated Demings to serve as a member of theBoard of Governors of the United States Postal Service.[38] TheU.S. Senate did not confirm her nomination and it expired at the end of the118th Congress.
In 2025, Demings was a speculated candidate to succeed her husband in the2026 election forMayor of Orange County, although she announced she would not run for the position in June.[39] She has also been a speculated candidate for the2027 Orlando mayoral election.[40]
Demings received a 100% voting score fromNARAL Pro-Choice America for 2017, 2018, and 2019.[41] She received a 100% rating fromPlanned Parenthood Action Fund for 2020.[42] She has an F rating from the anti-abortionSusan B. Anthony List.[43]
Demings received a 100% rating from theAmerican Civil Liberties Union for the117th Congress.[44]
Demings received a 97% lifetime rating from theLeague of Conservation Voters based on scores from 2017 to 2021.[45][46]
Demings supports eliminating thefilibuster in the United States Senate.[47][48][49]
Demings has said that she seeks to keep firearms out of the hands of "people who seek to do harm", saying that the gun control legislation she supports "isn’t about taking guns away from responsible, law-abiding people."[50] She supported the Gun Violence Restraining Order Act of 2017, which would have provided a lawful method of temporarily confiscating firearms from people deemed to be a threat to themselves or others. Of the act, Demings said, "We must do what we can to make sure law enforcement has the tools it needs to more effectively perform the ever more challenging job of keeping us a safe nation. The Gun Violence Restraining Order Act is a major step to doing just that."[51] After theStoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018, Demings opposedarming teachers, calling the idea "ridiculous"[52] and saying it would "only shift the responsibility from lawmakers to others. It shifts the pain, the hurt, and the guilt to school staff who will find themselves outskilled and outgunned in active shooter situations."[51]
Demings has an "F" rating from theNRA Political Victory Fund (NRA-PVF).[53][54] She has accused the NRA of "hijacking" conversations aftermass shootings in the United States to make them about theSecond Amendment.[55]
Demings supports and has vowed to defend theAffordable Care Act.[56]
In June 2019 Demings released a congressional report on insulin prices, criticizing manufacturers for raising prices well beyond manufacturing costs, and said it was "inexcusable that American families are dying for the sake of corporate profit."[57]
On December 18, 2019, Demings voted for both articles ofimpeachment against President Donald Trump.[58] Shewas selected as one of sevenHouse impeachment managers who presented the impeachment case against Trump duringhis trial before theUnited States Senate.[59]
On January 13, 2021, Demings voted for the single article of impeachment in thesecond impeachment of President Donald Trump.[60]
Citing the unusually contested2021 United States Electoral College vote count and the2021 storming of the United States Capitol, Demings joinedRepresentativeCori Bush in sponsoring House Resolution 25 on January 11, 2021, seeking toexpel the 138 RepublicanU.S. Representatives who voted to object to the electoral college certification.[61][62][63][64]
Demings's husband,Jerry Demings, is mayor ofOrange County, Florida, and the formerOrange County Sheriff.[16] He served as the chief of the Orlando Police Department, the first African American to do so, from 1999 to 2002.[5][8] The two met on patrol in the OPD; they married in 1988 and have three children.[5]
Demings is a member ofThe Links andDelta Sigma Theta sorority.[65][66]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Daniel Webster (Incumbent) | 164,649 | 51.7 | |
| Democratic | Val Demings | 153,574 | 48.3 | |
| Write-In | Naipaul Seegolam | 46 | 0.0 | |
| Total votes | 318,269 | 100.0 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Val Demings | 23,260 | 57.12 | |
| Democratic | Geraldine F. Thompson | 8,192 | 20.12 | |
| Democratic | Bob Poe | 6,918 | 16.99 | |
| Democratic | Fatima Rita Fahmy | 2,349 | 5.77 | |
| Total votes | 40,719 | 100 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Val Demings | 198,491 | 64.87 | |
| Republican | Thuy Lowe | 107,498 | 35.13 | |
| Total votes | 305,989 | 100 | ||
| Democraticgain fromRepublican | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Val Demings (incumbent) | 73,583 | 75.0 | |
| Democratic | Wade Darius | 24,519 | 25.0 | |
| Total votes | 98,102 | 100.0 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Val Demings (incumbent) | 239,434 | 63.61% | ||
| Republican | Vennia Francois | 136,889 | 36.36% | ||
| Independent | Sufiyah Yasmine (write-in) | 74 | 0.01% | ||
| Total votes | 376,397 | 100.0 | |||
| Democratichold | |||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Marco Rubio (incumbent) | 4,474,847 | 57.68% | +5.70% | |
| Democratic | Val Demings | 3,201,522 | 41.27% | −3.04% | |
| Libertarian | Dennis Misigoy | 32,177 | 0.41% | −1.71% | |
| Independent | Steven B. Grant | 31,816 | 0.41% | N/A | |
| Independent | Tuan TQ Nguyen | 17,385 | 0.22% | N/A | |
| Write-in | 267 | 0.00% | ±0.00% | ||
| Total votes | 7,758,014 | 100.00% | N/A | ||
| Republicanhold | |||||
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)Three of the people who spoke to Playbook raised the prospect that Demings alternatively could consider moving to Orlando and running for mayor of the city in 2027
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
Media from Commons
Quotations from Wikiquote
Texts from Wikisource
Data from Wikidata| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromFlorida's 10th congressional district 2017–2023 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forU.S. Senator fromFlorida (Class 3) 2022 | Most recent |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded byas Former U.S. Representative | Order of precedence of the United States as Former U.S. Representative | Succeeded byas Former U.S. Representative |
| People | |
|---|---|
| Other | |
