Val Demings

Valdez Venita Demings (née Butler; born March 12, 1957) is an American politician and former police officer who served as the U.S. representative from FL's 10th congressional district from 2017 to 2023.

The district covers most of the western half of Orlando and includes much of the area around Orlando's resort parks.

It includes many of Orlando's western suburbs, including Apopka and Winter Garden.

Valdez Venita Butler was born on March 12, 1957, one of seven children born to a poor family; her father worked as a janitor, her mother as a maid.

They lived in Mandarin, a neighborhood in Jacksonville, Florida.

She attended segregated schools in the 1960s and graduated from Wolfson High School in 1975.

Demings became interested in a career in law enforcement after serving in the "school patrol" at Dupont Junior High School.

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).

She attended Florida State University, graduating with a degree in criminology in 1979.

In 1983, Demings applied for a job with the Orlando Police Department (OPD); her first assignment was on patrol on Orlando's west side.

In 1996, Demings earned a master's degree in public administration from Webster University Orlando.

After graduating from college, Demings worked as a state social worker in Jacksonville for 18 months.

From 2007 to 2011, Demings was chief of the Orlando Police Department, its first female chief, capping a 27-year career with the department.

Demings was appointed chief of the Orlando Police Department in 2007, becoming the first woman to lead the department.

From 2007 to 2011, she oversaw a 40% decrease in violent crime.

A 2008 Orlando 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."

Demings responded with an op-ed in the Orlando 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."

In 2009, she had her firearm, a Sig Sauer P226R, stolen from her department vehicle while parked at her home; she was issued a written censure.

The firearm has not been recovered.

She faced freshman Republican Daniel 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%.

Webster concluded the new 10th was unwinnable, and ran for reelection in the nearby 11th district.

Demings won the Democratic nomination on August 30 and the general election in November with 65% of the vote.

Demings retired from her position as chief of OPD effective June 1, 2011, after serving with the OPD for 27 years.

Demings was the Democratic nominee to represent Florida's 10th congressional district in Congress in both 2012 and 2016.

After losing in 2012 to Republican incumbent Daniel Webster, she won in 2016 after the State Supreme Court mandated redistricting statewide.

Demings was the Democratic nominee for the United States House of Representatives in Florida's 10th congressional district in the 2012 elections.

Democrats attempted to recruit Demings to run against Webster again in 2014.

She decided to run for mayor of Orange County, Florida, against Teresa Jacobs, instead, but dropped out of the mayoral race on May 20, 2014.

According to a 2015 article in The 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."

In 2015, Demings announced her candidacy for the 10th district seat after a court-ordered redistricting made the 10th significantly more Democratic ahead of the 2016 elections.

She has also been first lady of Orange County, Florida, since December 4, 2018, when her husband Jerry Demings was sworn in as the mayor.

In her 2018 reelection campaign, Demings was unopposed for a second term.

On January 15, 2020, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi selected Demings to serve as a House impeachment manager in the first Senate trial of President Donald Trump.

In early August 2020, Demings was said to be one of the top contenders to be Joe Biden's vice-presidential running mate in the 2020 United States presidential election, along with Kamala Harris and Susan Rice.

She was the Democratic nominee in the 2022 United States Senate election in Florida, losing to Republican incumbent Marco Rubio.

On May 21, 2020, Demings confirmed she was on "the shortlist" to be Joe Biden's vice presidential nominee for the 2020 presidential election.

She said she would accept the role if offered.

Some critics, including Black Lives Matter activists, criticized her record as Orlando police chief.