Demings, Val, 1957-

Valdez Venita Demings (née Butler; born March 12, 1957) is an American politician and former police officer serving as the U.S. Representative for Florida's 10th congressional district since 2017.

Born in Jacksonville, Florida, Demings attended segregated schools throughout the 1960s before graduating from Wolfson High School. She then attended Florida State University, graduating with a degree in criminology in 1979. She would later earn a master's degree in public administration at Webster University Orlando. After graduating from college, Demings worked as a state social worker in Jacksonville for 18 months. In 1983, Demings applied for a job with the Orlando Police Department, remaining there until retiring in 2011, leading the department during her last three and a half years.

Demings was the Democratic nominee to represent Florida's 10th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives in both 2012 and 2016. She narrowly lost the general election in 2012 to Republican incumbent Daniel Webster but won in 2016 after the State Supreme Court mandated the creation of a new, majority-minority Democratic district in Orlando. Demings was reelected in 2018 and 2020. Though on the shortlist to be named the Democratic vice presidential nominee for the 2020 election and a candidate to be named Secretary of Homeland Security after the Democratic ticket emerged victorious in November 2020, she was not selected for either position.