Bill de Blasio
Who
De Blasio represents Park Slope in the City Council, which means roughly half of his constituents are hipster parents.
Backstory
A graduate of NYU and Columbia Business School, de Blasio's political career began during the 1989 mayoral race, when he coordinated volunteers for the eventual winner, David Dinkins. De Blasio went on to work as an assistant for deputy mayor Bill Lynch, but when Dinkins lost to Rudy Giuliani in 1993, he found himself out of a job. He revived his political career three years later when he was picked to manage Bill Clinton and Al Gore's reelection campaign in New York, and his efforts were later rewarded with a job in the Department of Housing and Urban Development, working under Andrew Cuomo. But it wasn't until 1999, when he took the helm of Hillary Clinton's senatorial campaign, that he really made his name, serving as one of Hillary's trusted advisors and most ubiquitous mouthpieces. After her successful bid for office, in 2001 de Blasio hit the campaign trail himself and ran for city council. Knocking on doors in Park Slope, Cobble Hill, and Carroll Gardens, he ended up winning and he's since gone on to win re-election in 2003 and 2005.
Of note
Since his win in 2001, it's never been much of a secret that de Blasio has harbored greater political ambitions. In 2005, he made a bid to succeed Gifford Miller as city council speaker, eventually conceding the race to Christine Quinn; a year later, he flirted with the idea of running for Congress against Vito Fossella in the district that covers Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn. With term limits preventing him from remaining in the city council beyond 2009, he's now hoping to succeed Marty Markowitz as Brooklyn borough president. His opponents in the race will likely include fellow councilmen Charles Barron and Domenic M. Recchia Jr.
On the job
As a member of city council, de Blasio is the chair of the general welfare committee, which oversees areas like domestic violence services, Medicaid, and the distribution of food stamps. But he may be best known for his outspoken support of Bruce Ratner's controversial Atlantic Yards development: Along with Marty Markowitz and fellow councilmember David Yassky, de Blasio was behind a 2007 purge of several members of the Brooklyn community Bboard who opposed the project, helping smooth the way for its eventual approval. His stance on the Atlantic Yards project lost him some local support, but he earned even more criticism when he pushed through a campaign finance bill that loosened restrictions on political contributions by unions.
AKA
De Blasio is actually his mother's maiden name—he was born Warren Wilhelm Jr. Although he's been known as Bill de Blasio since his youth, he only legally changed his name in 2002.
Personal
De Blasio is married to Chirlane McCray. Their couple's, held in Prospect Park, was conducted by two gay, interracial, interdenominational ministers. They have two kids, Chiara and Dante, and live on 11th Street in Park Slope.
No joke
The West Wing offered up official confirmation of his status as a Hillary insider during her first campaign for Senate. In one episode, Rob Lowe's character could be seen standing in front of a whiteboard on which the words "Call B. De Blasio" were written.
