de Blasio, Bill, 1961–, American politician, b. New York City as Warren Wilhelm, Jr., B.A New York Univ., 1984, M.A. Columbia, 1987. A liberal Democrat, de Blasio worked in the New York City government and in election campaigns, including serving as Hillary Clinton's senatorial campaign manager (2000), and from 1997 to 1999 was with the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development. In 2001 he was elected to the New York City Council, and in 2009 he was elected city public advocate. An initial underdog in the 2013 New York mayor's race, de Blasio won the Democratic primary and subsequently won the general election in a landslide. He won reelection easily in 2017. In 2019 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the 2020 Democratic nomination for president.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: U.S. History: Biographies