Anthony D. Weiner

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Anthony Weiner

Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 9th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 6, 1999–
Preceded by	Charles Schumer
Succeeded by	Incumbent

Born	September 04, 1964 (age 42) New York City, New York
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	single
Religion	Jewish

Anthony David Weiner (born September 4, 1964) is a Democratic politician from the U.S. state of New York. He represents New York's 9th congressional district (map) in the United States House of Representatives. The district includes parts of Brooklyn and Queens including Sheepshead Bay, Midwood, Marine Park, Rego Park, Forest Hills (where Weiner lives), Kew Gardens, Fresh Meadows, Middle Village, Woodhaven, Ozone Park, Gerritsen Beach, Howard Beach and Rockaway Beach.

1 Early life
2 New York City Council
3 US House of Representatives
4 2005 campaign for mayor of New York City
5 Miscellaneous
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Early life

Weiner was born in Brooklyn, New York to Morton "Mort" Weiner and Frances "Fran" Weiner. He attended New York public schools, including Brooklyn Technical High School, and received a bachelor's degree from State University of New York at Plattsburgh. He then worked on the staff of Congressman Chuck Schumer from 1985 to 1991.

[edit] New York City Council

Weiner was elected to the New York City Council in 1991. At 27, he was the youngest person ever to serve on that body up to that point.

[edit] US House of Representatives

In 1998, midway through his fourth term, his former boss, Schumer, opted for an ultimately successful campaign for the United States Senate. Weiner ran for and won the Democratic nomination to succeed him, which was tantamount to election in the heavily Democratic 9th. He has been reelected three times with almost no opposition. He is only the fifth person to represent the 9th since its creation in 1920 (it was numbered as the 10th from 1920-45, the 15th from 1945-53, the 11th from 1953-63, the 10th again from 1963-73, the 16th from 1973-83, the 10th again from 1983-93, and the 9th since 1993). [1]

Weiner has one of the most liberal voting records in the House. He voted for the Iraq War in 2002, which he later said he regretted.

Weiner received an "A" on the liberal Drum Major Institute's 2005 Congressional Scorecard on middle-class issues.^[1]

[edit] 2005 campaign for mayor of New York City

Rep. Weiner with union members

Weiner ran for the Democratic nomination for mayor of New York in 2005 against three other Democrats.

Weiner started out last in many polls, but surged in the final weeks of the campaign. His publicly announced campaign strategy was to come in second in the Democratic primary election with enough votes to force a runoff election, win that runoff, then campaign against the Republican candidate, incumbent Michael Bloomberg. When the initial returns came in, Fernando Ferrer had 39.95%, just shy of the 40% required to avoid a runoff, and Weiner had 28.82%. In a legally non-binding statement, Weiner then declared himself withdrawn from the race and endorsed Ferrer, citing the need for party unity. Eventually, the runoff was declared unnecessary as absentee ballots put Ferrer over the 40% mark. Weiner denied rumors that various high-ranking New York Democrats such as Schumer and then-New York State Attorney General (and current Governor of New York) Eliot Spitzer had urged him to concede.

Inasmuch as Ferrer lost the general election to Bloomberg, this move may set Weiner up as a very possible nominee, if not a front-runner, for the 2009 mayoral race.

[edit] Miscellaneous

Weiner is a bachelor, who for a number of years dated Alli Joseph.^[2]

As of August 2006, Weiner is the sole documented recipient of political campaign contributions from comedian and Daily Show host Jon Stewart.^[3] , who was his post-college roommate.

Weiner, who is a Democrat, repeatedly called his opposition "the Republic Party" when speaking on the floor of the House of Representatives in February 2007. The term "Republic Party" is widely seen as a counter to the epithet "Democrat Party" (as opposed to "Democratic Party", the party's grammatically correct name) commonly used by Republican partisans, especially during the 2006 midterm election season.

[edit] References

^ Congress at the Midterm: Their 2005 Middle-Class Record. Drum Major Institute. Retrieved on August 18, 2006.
^ Burnett, James. "Life of the Party", New York, 2001-12-03. Retrieved on August 18, 2006.
^ Jon Stewart Federal Campaign Contributions Report. Newsmeat (2006-08-14). Retrieved on August 18, 2006.

Preceded by Charles Schumer	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 9th congressional district 1999–	Succeeded by Incumbent