Bill de Blasio

This page was current at the end of the official's last term in office covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Bill de Blasio

Democratic Party

Prior offices

New York City Department of Education Panel for Educational Policy member appointed by Current Education Council (CEC) presidents

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New York City Council District 39

Successor: Brad Lander

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New York City Public Advocate

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Mayor of New York

Successor: Eric Adams

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Report an officeholder change

Elections and appointments

Last election

August 23, 2022

Education

Bachelor's

New York University

Graduate

Columbia University

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Campaign Instagram

Bill de Blasio (Democratic Party) was the Mayor of New York. He assumed office on January 1, 2014. He left office on January 1, 2022.

De Blasio (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent New York's 10th Congressional District. He lost in the Democratic primary on August 23, 2022. de Blasio unofficially withdrew from the race but appeared on the primary election ballot on August 23, 2022.

De Blasio previously served as New York City public advocate, on the New York City Council, and as a regional director for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Read more about de Blasio's career history below.

Biography

Bill de Blasio, born Warren Wilhelm Jr., was born in 1961 in Manhattan and grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He graduated from New York University with a bachelor’s degree in metropolitan studies and received a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University.

In 1989, de Blasio joined New York City mayoral candidate David Dinkins' (D) campaign as a volunteer coordinator. After Dinkins was elected, de Blasio worked in City Hall as an aide.

De Blasio served as a regional director for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development during the Clinton administration. In 1999, he was elected to a Brooklyn school board position. The following year, he managed Hillary Clinton's (D) successful 2000 senatorial campaign in New York. In 2001, de Blasio was elected to the New York City Council, where he represented District 39. He was elected public advocate in 2009.

In 2013, de Blasio was elected as mayor of New York City. He won a second term in the general election on November 7, 2017.

Career

Below is an abbreviated outline of de Blasio's political career.

• 2014-2022: Mayor of New York
• 2010-2013: New York City Public Advocate
• 2002-2009: Member of the New York City Council, District 39
• 1999: Member of District 15's School Board in Brooklyn
• 1997-1998: Regional Director for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Elections

2022

See also: New York's 10th Congressional District election, 2022

General election

General election for U.S. House New York District 10

Daniel Goldman defeated Benine Hamdan and Steve Speer in the general election for U.S. House New York District 10 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Daniel Goldman (D)	83.5	160,582
		Benine Hamdan (R / Conservative Party)	15.1	29,058
	Submit photo	Steve Speer (Medical Freedom Party)	0.8	1,447
		Other/Write-in votes	0.7	1,260

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 192,347
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Mondaire Jones (Working Families Party)
• Matthew Goldstein (Independent)

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House New York District 10

The following candidates ran in the Democratic primary for U.S. House New York District 10 on August 23, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Daniel Goldman	25.9	18,505
		Yuh-Line Niou	23.6	16,826
		Mondaire Jones	18.1	12,933
		Carlina Rivera	16.5	11,810
		Jo Anne Simon	6.1	4,389
		Elizabeth Holtzman	4.4	3,140
		Jimmy Jiang Li	1.6	1,170
		Yan Xiong	1.0	742
		Maud Maron	0.9	625
		Bill de Blasio (Unofficially withdrew)	0.7	519
		Brian Robinson	0.5	341
	Submit photo	Peter Gleason	0.2	162
		Quanda Francis	0.2	129
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	100

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 71,391
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• John Herron (D)
• Patrick Dooley (D)
• Ian Medina (D)
• David Yassky (D)
• Elizabeth Kim (D)
• Brad Hoylman-Sigal (D)

Republican primary election

The Republican primary election was canceled. Benine Hamdan advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House New York District 10.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Helen Qiu (R)
• Michael Ragusa (R)

Conservative Party primary election

The Conservative Party primary election was canceled. Benine Hamdan advanced from the Conservative Party primary for U.S. House New York District 10.

Working Families Party primary election

The Working Families Party primary election was canceled. Incumbent Mondaire Jones advanced from the Working Families Party primary for U.S. House New York District 10.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• John Herron (Working Families Party)

2020

Presidency

See also: Presidential candidates, 2020

Former Vice President Joe Biden (D) won the presidential election on November 3, 2020. Biden received 306 electoral votes and President Donald Trump (R) received 232 electoral votes. In the national popular vote, Biden received 81.2 million votes and Trump received 74.2 million votes.

De Blasio announced that he was running for president on May 16, 2019. He suspended his campaign on September 20, 2019.

Ballotpedia compiled the following resources about de Blasio and the 2020 presidential election:

• Recent news stories about the 2020 presidential election;
• An overview of key national and state campaign staffers;
• Endorsements from politicians, public figures, and organizations;
• An overview of candidate campaign travel; and
• A list of other presidential candidates who are running for election.

Click here for de Blasio's 2020 presidential campaign overview.

2017

See also: Municipal elections in New York, New York (2017)

New York City held elections for mayor, public advocate, comptroller, and all 51 seats on the city council in 2017. New Yorkers also voted for offices in their boroughs: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island.

Primary elections were scheduled for September 12, 2017, and the general election was on November 7, 2017. Under New York law, candidates who run unopposed in a primary or general election win the nomination or election automatically, and their names do not appear on the ballot. The following candidates ran in the general election for mayor of New York City.

Mayor of New York City, General Election, 2017
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Bill de Blasio Incumbent	66.17%	760,112
	Republican	Nicole Malliotakis	27.59%	316,947
	Reform	Sal Albanese	2.13%	24,484
	Green	Akeem Browder	1.44%	16,536
	Smart Cities	Michael Tolkin	0.98%	11,309
	Dump the Mayor	Bo Dietl	0.97%	11,163
	Libertarian	Aaron Commey	0.24%	2,770
		Write-in votes	0.47%	5,343
Total Votes				1,148,664
Source: New York City Board of Elections, "2017 General Certified Election Results," November 28, 2017

Incumbent Bill de Blasio defeated Sal Albanese, Michael Tolkin, Robert Gangi, and Richard Bashner in the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City.

Mayor of New York City, Democratic Primary Election, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Bill de Blasio Incumbent	74.00%	343,054
Sal Albanese	15.21%	70,521
Michael Tolkin	4.70%	21,771
Robert Gangi	3.09%	14,321
Richard Bashner	2.44%	11,296
Write-in votes	0.56%	2,606
Total Votes		463,569
Source: New York City Board of Elections, "2017 Primary: Official Election Results," September 26, 2017

2013

De Blasio was elected as mayor of New York City on November 4, 2013.

New York, New York Mayoral General Election, 2013
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic/Working Families	Bill de Blasio	73.2%	795,679
	Republican/Conservative/Taxes 2 High/Students First	Joseph Lhota	24.3%	264,420
	Independence	Adolpho Carrion	0.8%	8,675
	Green Party	Anthony Gronowicz	0.5%	4,983
	Jobs & Education/Common Sense	Jack Hidary	0.3%	3,640
	Rent is 2 Damn High	Jimmy McMillan	0.2%	1,990
	School Choice	Erick Salgado	0.2%	1,946
	Libertarian	Michael Sanchez	0.2%	1,746
	Socialist Works	Dan Fein	0.1%	758
	Tax Wall Street	Randy Credico	0.1%	690
	Freedom	Michael Greys	0.1%	575
	Reform	Carl Person	0%	306
	Affordable Tomorrow	Joseph Melaragno	0%	289
	War Veterans	Sam Sloan	0%	166
	Flourish	Michael Dilger	0%	55
	N/A	Write-in votes	0.2%	1,792
Total Votes				1,087,710

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Bill de Blasio did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

Endorsements

2017

In 2017, de Blasio's endorsements included the following:

• Uniformed Sanitationmen’s Association Local 381
• Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union

Issues

First-term agenda

In May 2015, de Blasio unveiled a multi-point progressive agenda. "Something different is happening. It's a movement from the grassroots. It's an urgent call for change," he said at a rally in Washington, D.C. His plan drew comparisons to the 1994 Republican Contract With America. President Barack Obama (D) commented that de Blasio's agenda was essentially his own. "I noted that it was basically my agenda, except for trade," Obama said.

The Progressive Agenda listed the following points of de Blasio's plan:

“

Lift the Floor for Working People Raise the federal minimum wage, so that it reaches $15/hour, while indexing it to inflation. Reform the National Labor Relations Act, to enhance workers’ right to organize and rebuild the middle class. Pass comprehensive immigration reform to grow the economy and protect against exploitation of low-wage workers. Oppose trade deals that hand more power to corporations at the expense of American jobs, workers’ rights, and the environment. Invest in schools, not jails-- and give a second chance to those coming home from prison. Support Working Families Pass national paid sick leave. Pass national paid family leave. Make Pre-K, after-school programs and childcare universal. Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit and protect and expand Social Security. Allow students to refinance student loan debt to take advantage of lower interest rates, and support debt-free college. Tax Fairness Close the carried interest loophole. End tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas. Implement the “Buffett Rule” so millionaires pay their fair share. Close the CEO tax loophole that allows corporations to take advantage of “performance pay” write-offs.

”

Noteworthy events

Events and activity following the death of George Floyd

See also: Events following the death of George Floyd and responses in select cities from May 29-31, 2020

De Blasio was mayor of New York during the weekend of May 29-31, 2020, when events and activity took place in cities across the U.S. following the death of George Floyd. Events in New York, New York, began on Thursday, May 28, 2020, with demonstrations at Union Square in Manhattan and elsewhere throughout the city. No curfews were issued over the weekend. The national guard was not deployed.

To read more about the death of George Floyd and subsequent events, click [show] to the right.

On May 25, 2020, Minneapolis police officers arrested Floyd, a Black man, after receiving a call that he had made a purchase with a counterfeit $20 bill. Floyd died after Derek Chauvin, a white officer, arrived at the scene and pressed his knee onto Floyd's neck as Floyd laid face-down on the street in handcuffs. Both the Hennepin County Medical Examiner and an independent autopsy conducted by Floyd's family ruled Floyd's death as a homicide stemming from the incident. The medical examiner's report, prepared by Dr. Michael Baden and Dr. Allecia Wilson, said that it was "not a legal determination of culpability or intent, and should not be used to usurp the judicial process." On April 20, 2021, Chauvin was found guilty of murder and manslaughter in relation to Floyd's death. Floyd's death was filmed and shared widely, leading to activity regarding racism, civil rights, and police use of force. The first events took place in Minneapolis-St. Paul on May 26. An event in Chicago organized by Chance the Rapper and Rev. Michael Pfleger took place the same day, making it the first major city outside of Minneapolis to host an event in response to Floyd's death.

Racial tensions and the NYPD

Initial response

Following a grand jury's decision not to indict a New York City police officer responsible for the death of Eric Garner, an African-American male, in early December 2014, de Blasio held a press conference in which he expressed concern for the safety of his son, Dante, who is biracial. de Blasio described Dante as "a good young man, [a] law-abiding young man who would never think to do anything wrong ... [but] because of a history that still hangs over us, the dangers he may face, we've had to literally train him, as families have all over this city for decades, in how to take special care in any encounter he has with the police officers who are there to protect him."

De Blasio's comments came amidst the development of a growing protest movement in New York and other cities in the United States centered on the relationship between police and local African-American communities. The comments attracted both praise and criticism. Some—including Obama and New York City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton—thanked de Blasio for his words and defended his relationship with the New York Police Department (NYPD). Bratton noted, "This mayor has been strongly, strongly supportive of the police." Others, however, such as Pat Lynch, President of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, were highly critical of the comments. Lynch said that de Blasio "threw cops under the bus."

Clarification

During the days following the comments he made about his son, de Blasio sought to clarify his meaning in an interview on ABC's This Week, saying, "I want to say it the right way, because I think there was so much misunderstanding here. ... It’s different for a white child. That’s just the reality in this country. And with Dante, very early on with my son, we said, ‘Look, if a police officer stops you, do everything he tells you to do, don’t move suddenly, don’t reach for your cellphone.’ Because we knew, sadly, there’s a greater chance it might be misinterpreted if it was a young man of color. We all want to look up to figures of authority. But there’s that fear that there could be that one moment of misunderstanding with a young man of color, and that young man may never come back."

Police killings

Tensions between de Blasio and New York City law enforcement associations increased after a lone gunman shot and killed two police officers, Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, in Brooklyn on December 20, 2014. Some blamed de Blasio for the deaths of Ramos and Liu because of statements like the one above, and because of his support for the protest movement in New York over the Garner case. Lynch, from the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, said, "There's blood on many hands tonight. Those that incited violence on the streets under the guise of protest that tried to tear down what NYPD officers did every day. We tried to warn it must not go on, it cannot be tolerated. That blood on the hands starts at City Hall in the office of the mayor." Edward Mullins, President of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, echoed Lynch's words in a letter to de Blasio, saying, "Mayor de Blasio, the blood of these two officers is clearly on your hands." De Blasio responded to these statements and others in a press conference on December 22, 2014, at the NYPD headquarters: "There will be a time for me to talk about my own personal views. I will simply say I think what [Lynch] said was a mistake, and it was wrong." In regards to the deaths of Ramos and Liu, de Blasio said, "The attack on them was an attack on all of us; it was an attack on our democracy, it was an attack on our values, it was an attack on every single New Yorker, and we have to see it as such."

De Blasio also called for a cessation of protests in the city until after the funerals of Ramos and Liu, saying, "It's a time for everyone to put aside political debates, put aside protests, put aside all of the things we will talk about in due time."

Low police morale found in survey

A February 2016 poll of 6,004 members of the New York Patrolmen's Benevolent Association (PBA) found that 96 percent of respondents saw a worsening relationship between the police and the public. The poll conducted by McLaughlin & Associates also found that 87 percent of respondents evaluated the city as less safe than prior to de Blasio's election in November 2013. Eighty-nine percent of participants said they would leave the department for improved salaries elsewhere in the region and 86 percent were less likely to recommend jobs in the department to family members than they were two years ago. McLaughlin & Associates received replies from approximately 25 percent of the PBA's 24,000 members.

Presidential preference

2016 presidential endorsement

✓ De Blasio endorsed Hillary Clinton for the Democratic primary in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

See also: Endorsements for Hillary Clinton

See also

2022 Elections

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Candidate

U.S. House New York District 10

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Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by -	Mayor of New York 2014-2022	Succeeded by Eric Adams (D)
Preceded by -	New York City Public Advocate 2010-2013	Succeeded by -
Preceded by -	New York City Council District 39 2002-2009	Succeeded by Brad Lander (D)
Preceded by -	New York City Department of Education Panel for Educational Policy member appointed by Current Education Council (CEC) presidents -1999	Succeeded by -

[show]

New York's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Kirsten Gillibrand (D)

Chuck Schumer (D)

Representatives

District 1

Nicholas LaLota (R)

District 2

Andrew Garbarino (R)

District 3

Tom Suozzi (D)

District 4

Laura Gillen (D)

District 5

Gregory Meeks (D)

District 6

Grace Meng (D)

District 7

Nydia Velazquez (D)

District 8

Hakeem Jeffries (D)

District 9

Yvette Clarke (D)

District 10

Daniel Goldman (D)

District 11

Nicole Malliotakis (R)

District 12

Jerrold Nadler (D)

District 13

Adriano Espaillat (D)

District 14

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D)

District 15

Ritchie Torres (D)

District 16

George Latimer (D)

District 17

Michael Lawler (R)

District 18

Pat Ryan (D)

District 19

Josh Riley (D)

District 20

Paul Tonko (D)

District 21

Elise Stefanik (R)

District 22

John Mannion (D)

District 23

Nick Langworthy (R)

District 24

Claudia Tenney (R)

District 25

Joseph Morelle (D)

District 26

Tim Kennedy (D)

Democratic Party (21)

Republican Party (7)