Valdez “Val” Demings

Valdez Venita "Val" Demings served in the U.S. House of Representatives for Florida's 10th District from 2017-2023. She ran for the U.S. Senate for Florida in 2022, but lost in the general election to incumbent Marco Rubio.

Demings was born January 1, 1957, in Jacksonville, Florida. She graduated from Florida State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in criminology in 1979. She began her career as a social worker in Jacksonville. In 1983, she graduated from the police academy of the Orlando Police Department and was hired as a patrol officer. She was appointed chief of police in December 2007, the first woman to lead the department, and served until her retirement in June 2011. Her husband, Jerry Demings, is the Orange County sheriff and served as the chief of the OPD from 1999 to 2002, the first African American to hold that position.

Demings was the Democratic Party nominee for the U.S. House of Representatives in Florida's 10th District in the 2012 elections, but lost to the incumbent. In 2014, she ran for mayor of Orange County, Florida, but withdrew from the race in May 2014.

For information on Deming's policy subject areas, committee appointments and sponsored/co-sponsored legislation during her time in the U.S. House of Representatives, please visit her profile on https://www.congress.gov.

Sources:

Val Demings. Ballotpedia. (n.d.). Retrieved November 14, 2022, from https://ballotpedia.org/Val_Demings