Bill Perkins (politician)

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Bill Perkins
Bill Perkins NLN (cropped).jpg
Bill Perkins speaking at Times Square in New York City, 2008.
Member of the New York City Council
from the 9th district
Assumed office
March 1, 2017
Preceded byInez Dickens
In office
January 1, 1998 – December 31, 2005
Preceded byC. Virginia Fields
Succeeded byInez Dickens
Member of the New York State Senate
from the 30th district
In office
January 1, 2007 – February 28, 2017
Preceded byDavid Paterson
Succeeded byBrian Benjamin
Personal details
BornNew York City, New York, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Alma materBrown University

Bill Perkins is an American politician from the state of New York. A Democrat, he is the New York City Councilmember for the 9th district. The district includes portions of Harlem in Manhattan. Perkins formerly represented the same seat from 1998 to 2005, and was a member of the New York State Senate for the 30th District from 2007 to 2017.

Early life and education[]

Perkins was born and raised in Harlem, New York, and attended Collegiate School (New York City)[1] on a scholarship before receiving a scholarship to Brown University.[2] He graduated from Brown in 1972.[3]

Political career[]

New York City Council (1998-2005)[]

In 1997, Perkins was first elected to the New York City Council, winning the seat easily after losing the Democratic nomination for the Council three times previously. On the Council, Perkins served as Deputy Majority Leader, and championed the lead paint laws that required New York City residences to be tested for hazardous conditions.[4]

New York State Senate (2007-2017)[]

Term-limited from the Council in 2005, Perkins opted to seek election to the New York State Senate in 2006, where he won.[5] He was re-elected five times and served for more ten years before resigning to retake his seat on the New York City Council. Perkins also ran briefly to succeed Charles Rangel in the United States House of Representatives in 2016, but later dropped out.[6]

In 2015 Perkins, was one of a number of Black activists who met with Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro in Harlem. He was quoted as saying, “We recognize that in the person of Nicolás Maduro, the president of Venezuela, we have an exceptional leader!”[7]

Perkins was one of the few New York lawmakers who endorsed Bernie Sanders, not Hillary Clinton, in the 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries.[8]

New York City Council (2017-present)[]

In 2016, Councilmember Inez Dickens, who had succeeded Perkins on the Council, announced that she would forgo her last year on the Council before term-limits to run for a vacant seat in the New York State Assembly. That seat had become open because long-time Assemblymember Keith Wright opted to also run for Congress, eventually losing the primary to Adriano Espaillat. While he could have run for his Assembly seat again, he opted not to.[9] After Dickens won the Assembly seat, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio called a February 14, 2017 special election to fill her vacated seat on the City Council. Perkins announced that he would be a candidate and won the election with over 33% of the vote. He was sworn into office on March 1, 2017.[10]

Perkins won a full four-year term in the November 2017 general election.[11]

On January 31, 2019, Perkins was transported to the hospital by authorities "after neighbors called the police on him for acting erratically in his Manhattan home". At the time, the Daily News reported that Perkins was receiving treatment for colon cancer and that various constituents and colleagues had expressed concern about his health and his continued fitness to hold public office.[12] In June 2021, Gothamist published a piece on Perkins entitled "As Worries Persist Over Harlem Lawmaker's Health, Elected Leaders Stay Mum".[13]

Perkins sought re-election to the City Council in 2021.[13] The June 22, 2021 Democratic primary[14] in Council District 9 was so close that a recount was held.[13] On August 9, 2021, Perkins conceded the primary election to Kristin Richardson Jordan, a democratic socialist, and announced that he would retire at the end of the year.[15][16]

hideElection history
Location Year Election Results
NYC Council
District 17 		2017 Non-partisan special election √ Bill Perkins 33.95%
Marvin Holland 28.38%
Athena Moore 14.81%
Larry Scott Blackmon 11.84%
Cordell Cleare 9.51%
Dawn Simmons 5.15%
Charles Cooper 3.05%
Todd Stevens 1.59%
Caprice Alves 1.49%
NYC Council
District 17 		2017 Democratic Primary √ Bill Perkins 49.87%
Marvin Holland 19.59%
Cordell Cleare 17.45%
Tyson-Lord Gray 8.33%
Marvin Spruill 2.35%
Julius Tajiddin 1.94%
NYC Council
District 17 		2017 General √ Bill Perkins (D) 78.17%
Tyson-Lord Gray (Liberal) 12.94%
Dianne Mack (Harlem Matters) 4.40%
Jack Royster (R) 2.46%
Pierre Gooding (Reform) 1.72%

See also[]

Further reading[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Winter Convocation Honors the Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr". Collegiate School. January 28, 2013.
  2. ^ https://council.nyc.gov/bill-perkins/pb/9/
  3. ^ https://council.nyc.gov/bill-perkins/pb/9/ "He...was awarded a scholarship to Collegiate Preparatory School in Manhattan and later a scholarship to Brown University. After graduating from Brown in 1972...Bill returned to New York" (Bill Perkins' biography on the NY City Council website)
  4. ^ "Bill Perkins wins District Council #9 special election". Retrieved 2017-03-10.
  5. ^ "Our Campaigns - NY State Senate 30 Race - Nov 07, 2006". Retrieved 2017-03-10.
  6. ^ "Harlem Community Board Chairman Eyes Vacant State Senate Seat - Central Harlem - DNAinfo New York". Archived from the original on 2017-03-12. Retrieved 2017-03-10.
  7. ^ Planas, Roque (September 29, 2015). "Black Activists Honor Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro In Harlem". HuffPost.
  8. ^ "KING: Senators in Harlem, Queens support Sanders — EXCLUSIVE". Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  9. ^ "Bill Perkins Reclaims Harlem City Council Seat. What Next?". Retrieved 2017-03-10.
  10. ^ "Our Campaigns - New York City Council 09 Special Race - Feb 14, 2017". Retrieved 2017-03-10.
  11. ^ "Election Results: De Blasio Wins Second Term as New York City Mayor". December 20, 2017 – via NYTimes.com.
  12. ^ Light, Jillian Jorgensen, Mikey. "NYC Councilman Bill Perkins taken to hospital after neighbors called police on him for acting erratically". nydailynews.com.
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b c Cruz, David (July 22, 2021). "As Worries Persist Over Harlem Lawmaker's Health, Elected Leaders Stay Mum". Gothamist.
  14. ^ "2021 New York City Council primary election results". City & State NY.
  15. ^ "Bill Perkins concedes Council primary, will retire at end of year". www.ny1.com.
  16. ^ Olumhense, Ese (August 13, 2021). "Results of Recounted NYC Council Races to be Certified Tuesday, As Bill Perkins Concedes Defeat in Harlem". City Limits.

External links[]

Political offices
Preceded by
inez Dickens 		New York City Council, 9th district
2017-present 		Succeeded by
Incumbent
Preceded by
C. Virginia Fields 		New York City Council, 9th district
1998–2005 		Succeeded by
Inez Dickens
New York State Senate
Preceded by
David Paterson 		New York State Senate, 30th District
2007–2017 		Succeeded by
Brian Benjamin
Retrieved from ""