Demings, Val, 1957-

<p>Congresswoman Val Demings represents Florida's 10th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.</p>

<p>Rep. Demings is a lifelong public servant who broke numerous glass ceilings in her rise through the Orlando Police Department and her election to Congress.</p>

<p>Today, she works on the House Judiciary, Homeland Security, and Intelligence Committees. In 2020, she broke another glass ceiling and continued her career as a guardian of the law when she became one of the first women and one of the first Black Americans to prosecute a presidential impeachment before the U.S. Senate.</p>

<p>Rep. Demings shared a two-room home in Jacksonville, Florida with her six older siblings. Her parents, Elouise, a maid, and James, a janitor, instilled in their children a deep respect for hard work, decency, and responsibility.</p>

DEMINGS, Valdez, A Representative from Florida; born in Jacksonville, Duvall County, Fla., March 12, 1957; graduated from Wolfson High School, Jacksonville, Fla.; B.S., Florida State University, Tallahassee, Fla., 1979; M.P.A., Webster University, Orlando, Fla., 1996; social worker; police officer; commander of special operations, Orlando, Fla., police department, 2003-2006, chief, 2007-2012; unsuccessful candidate for election to the One Hundred Thirteenth Congress in 2012; elected as a Democrat to the One Hundred Fifteenth and to the two succeeding Congresses (January 3, 2017-present); one of the managers appointed by the House of Representatives in 2020 to conduct the impeachment proceedings of Donald J. Trump, President of the United States.

<p>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. The district covers most of the western half of Orlando and includes much of the area around Orlando's resort parks. It also includes many of Orlando's western suburbs, such as Apopka and Winter Garden. From 2007 to 2011, she was Chief of the Orlando Police Department, the first woman to lead the department, capping a 27-year career with the department.

<p>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 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. On January 15, 2020, Speaker Nancy Pelosi selected Demings to serve as an impeachment manager in the Senate trial of President Donald Trump. In early August 2020, Demings was said to be one of the top contenders for Vice President in the Biden Administration, along with Kamala Harris and Susan Rice.</p>