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Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.)

Former U.S. Representative (January 1999 - June 2011)

Why He Matters

Weiner has served in Washington, D.C., for more than a decade, but for much of that time he has set his sights on one goal: New York's City Hall. The Democratic congressman ran an energetic but failed bid for mayor in 2005, and was planning a second run in 2009. But popular incumbent Michael Bloomberg succeeded in overturning the city's two-term limit, leading Weiner not to make the race. Bloomberg went on to win reelection in November 2009.

Meanwhile, the Brooklyn lawmaker became an outspoken advocate for a government-run "public option" in President Obama's health-care reform effort. "The Republican Party is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the insurance industry," Weiner denounced on the House floor in February 2010, prompting an outcry from the GOP.

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Background

At a Glance

Career History: New York City Council member (1991-1998); aide, U.S. Rep. Charles Schumer (1985-1991)
Birthday: Sept. 4, 1964
Hometown: Brooklyn, N.Y.
Alma Mater: State University of New York at Plattsburgh, B.A., 1985
Spouse: Huma Abedin
Religion: Jewish

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Path to Power

Born in 1964 to a lawyer and a schoolteacher, Weiner grew up in Park Slope, Brooklyn, where he honed his debating skills at the kitchen table with his parents and two brothers. Despite a clear intellect, he was never a top student; he failed the entrance exam to the city's elite public high school,Stuyvesant, and later attended the State University of New York at Plattsburgh to play hockey. Although he first dreamed of being a weatherman, Weiner joined the student government and discovered his passion for the rough-and-tumble of politics.

A turning point, the congressman recalled in a 2005 interview with the New York Times, came during his senior year, when he dominated a mock state Assembly meeting in Albany, winning several awards for debating. "It was like one of those things where you say, 'So this is what I'm supposed to do,'" he told the Times.

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Weiner went to work for Schumer in his Washington office soon after graduating from Plattsburgh in 1985. Before long, the young aide knew he eventually wanted his own seat in Congress, though he was unsure where to start. He considered moving to Florida, where he could attend law school and put down roots in an area where transplanted New Yorkers were gaining political influence. Ultimately, however, Weiner moved back to Brooklyn, where he used his position in Schumer's district office to network with community leaders and lay the groundwork for a future campaign. He ran for New York City Council in 1991, defeating a crowded field of candidates race to become, at 27, the youngest man ever elected to the council at that time.

U.S. House

When Schumer decided to challenge incumbent Republican Sen. Alphonse D'Amato in 1998, Weiner jumped into a hotly-contested Democratic primary for Schumer's 9th district House seat. Running in a field of opponents that included two members of the state Assembly and another member of the City Council, Weiner burnished his reputation as a hard-working and scrappy campaigner.

He said he knocked on literally every door in one key area of the district, and after a late endorsement from Schumer, he eked out a victory by fewer than 500 votes over Assemblywoman Melinda Katz (D). It took two weeks to certify the primary results, but in a heavily-Democratic district, Weiner cruised to a general election win.

Though he has yet to face a serious challenge for re-election to the House in the staunchly Democratic district, Weiner's first congressional campaign cemented an underdog image that he embraced wholeheartedly as he prepared for his next major fight: the 2005 race for mayor.

"I'm not, you know, brilliant," Weiner told the New York Observer in 2005. "I just really believe in what I'm doing, and I think this comes across. I think I work harder."

Race for City Hall

Weiner began his 2005 campaign for the Democratic mayoral nomination in last place. Polls showed he was little known by voters outside his congressional district, and he consistently trailed his three primary opponents: Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields, City Council Speaker Gifford Miller, and the party frontrunner, former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer. Making his race more difficult, Schumer - his political mentor and the man whose support could really have helped - stayed on the sidelines.

Modeling his run on Ed Koch's victory nearly three decades earlier, Weiner campaigned as the outer borough champion of the middle-class going up against the Manhattan "elites" (Bloomberg and Council Speaker Miller) who ran the city. He proposed a middle-class tax cut and railed against Mayor Bloomberg's plan to build an Olympic stadium and home for the New York Jets on Manhattan's West Side. Weiner instead suggested that the stadium be built in Queens.

Although a solidly-liberal member of the House Democratic Caucus, Weiner positioned himself to the right of his 2005 primary opponents by advocating tax and spending cuts, tough anti-terrorism and crime policies, and even boasting of his opposition to amnesty for illegal immigrants.

Despite starting back in the pack, Weiner surged in the final weeks before the September primary to capture 29 percent of the vote and force a run-off with Ferrer, who finished just 250 votes shy of the 40 percent he needed to win the Democratic nomination outright.

But after initially vowing to fight Ferrer, Weiner abruptly reversed course and endorsed Ferrer the next day, leading to speculation that party leaders had pressured the congressman to drop out. Weiner denied this, though newspapers reported that he discussed his options with Schumer. The decision was seen as a savvy political move by Weiner, who drew praise for promoting party unity and emerged as a top contender for City Hall in 2009 once Ferrer lost the general election in a landslide to the increasingly popular Bloomberg.

Preparing for Another Mayoral Run

In the years since his first mayoral run, Weiner continued to focus on local issues, holding frequent press conferences in New York and leaving little doubt that he was eyeing another bid in 2009. He filed papers to create a citywide campaign committee in February 2007, more than two-and-a half years before the election. Weiner has the fortune of hailing from a state with off-year mayoral elections; thus, he does not have to forfeit his congressional perch to run for mayor.

When Bloomberg launched his effort to overturn the city's two-term limits and seek re-election in 2009, Weiner leapt into action. He lambasted the move as a "backroom deal" and set up a web site, letnycvote.com, to push for a citywide referendum on term limits. Bloomberg won that battle.

Weiner officially stepped out of the race in May 2009 through a New York Times op-ed. "What has animated me most during these past months is how much Washington has changed, and the potential for greater movement still," he wrote. "I've taken stock of my life, my work in Washington and decided that now is not the right time to run. I believe I have a contribution to make in Congress fighting for New Yorkers."

He also wrote that he could not imagine tackling Mayor Bloomberg's massive campaign war chest and called for stricter campaign finance laws. Good thing, since Bloomberg won (though the race was closer than expected), spending $74 million of his own money.

The Issues

A loyal Democrat, Weiner voted with his party 97.7 percent of the time in the 110th Congress. He has also garnered high ratings from traditional liberal interest groups, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, the League of Conservation Voters and labor unions.

The New York Democrat has staked out a somewhat more centrist position on foreign policy and national security. While he initially supported the Iraq war in 2002, he soon joined its most strident critics in calling for a withdrawal of U.S. troops. He opposed reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act, though he has pushed aggressively for more anti-terrorism funding for New York.

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But Weiner has become best known nationally for his vigorous advocacy of the public option. His opinions and columns appeared during the 2009-2010 reform battle appeared profusely throughout the liberal blogosphere and made him a progressive hero.

Health-Care Reform

Weiner is not one of the most liberal House members, but he adopted one of the Congressional Progressive Caucus' main issues: preserving the public option in reform efforts. "I dont see how I could," Weiner told blogger Greg Sargent in September 2009, when asked whether he'd vote for a bill without a robust public option. "I dont see any way I could."

As the debate escalated, Weiner's defense of the public option and attacks on House Republicans for blocking reform efforts became more strident. In October 2009, for instance, he called on the 55 lawmakers receiving Medicare to give up their government-funded insurance since they oppose a public option in reform.

Nonetheless, Weiner supported the final health-care bill when it passed in March 2010, despite the exclusion of a public option and was still fiercely defending it a year later, even when many Democrats remained silent in the face of its uncertain popularity.

"If Democrats believe it's going to go away, they're wrong," Weiner said about health-care reform in March 2011, one year after it was signed into law. "I don't represent the hide-under-the-desk wing of the Democratic Party. I believe we've got to lean into this fight."

The Economy

Weiner has lined up solidly behind the Obama administration's economic policy, voting for the $787 billion economic stimulus package in February 2009 and praising the Obama budget as a "major win" for the Big Apple. He also voted in support of the $700 billion financial bailout package in fall 2008.

Tailoring his congressional agenda to his image as a fighter for the middle class, Weiner in 2006 proposed a 10 percent federal tax cut for the middle-income earners, to be paid for with sharp increases for millionaires and billionaires. In 2008, he partnered with Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-Ohio) to create a bipartisan caucus for the middle-class.

COPS Program

One of Weiner's signature issues in the House has been his long-running push for restored funding for the Community Oriented Policing Services, or C.O.P.S., a Clinton era program that paid for more than 118,000 police officers across the country, including nearly 7,000 in New York. The annual funding for the program rose to more than $1 billion during the Clinton administration, but had been zeroed out under President George W. Bush.

A bill authored by Weiner that would have added 50,000 new police officers, including up to 3,500 in New York, passed the House but was never signed into law by Bush. The proposed Obama budget, however, does restore the funding provided in the Weiner legislation.

Opposing Saudi Aid

A staunch supporter of Israel, Weiner has played a leading role in opposing any American aid to Saudi Arabia, which he has labeled a sponsor of terrorism. In 2007, he joined with fellow New York Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D) to try to block the sale of $20 billion in arms to the Saudis. Though he gained more than 100 signatures from fellow lawmakers and succeeded in slowing the process, the deal was formally announced by the Bush administration in January 2008, and a 30-day window for Congress to block the sale passed without action.

The Network

While Weiner's longest and most personally close ally is undoubtedly Sen. Chuck Schumer. The New Yorker has also picked up important chits with the Clintons through his fervent and loyal support for Hillary's 2008 presidential bid. He campaigned door-to-door for the New York senator in several states and appeared frequently as a surrogate on television. Also helpful to Weiner's relationship with the new secretary of state? His wife is her personal aide, Huma Abedin.

Weiner has also forged a strong relationship with ex-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), publicly backing her on key battles early in her tenure. His deep knowledge of parliamentary rules has also come in handy: Pelosi and the Democratic leadership have often entrusted Weiner with the speaker's gavel during key votes in the House to watch out for maneuvering by Republicans, allowing him some added face-time on national television.

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