16 Facts About Herman Badillo

In 1970 Herman Badillo was elected to the United States House of Representatives from New York's 21st District in the South Bronx, becoming the first Puerto Rican to so serve.

Herman Badillo was a member of the Committee on Education and Labor.

Herman Badillo was reelected easily with 75 percent of the vote.

Herman Badillo served on the Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs Committee and the Small Business Committee, where he had a seat on the Minority Enterprise and General Oversight Sub-committee.

Herman Badillo was a critical player in the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act and the inclusion of its language access provisions.

Herman Badillo sought the Democratic nomination for mayor of New York in 1969,1973,1977,1981 and 1985.

Herman Badillo unsuccessfully sought a Republican mayoral nomination in 2001, losing in a landslide vote for billionaire businessman and political neophyte Michael Bloomberg who would later prevail in that general election.

Herman Badillo resigned from Congress on December 31,1977, to become deputy mayor of New York City under Mayor Ed Koch, a position he held until September 1979.

Herman Badillo supported Mario Cuomo for governor over Koch during the 1982 Democratic primary.

In 1985 Herman Badillo considered a bid for mayor against Koch in the Democratic primary.

In 1986 Herman Badillo was the Democratic nominee for New York State Comptroller, losing to Republican incumbent Edward Regan.

Herman Badillo sought the Democratic nomination, but finished third, behind Alan Hevesi and the incumbent Comptroller, Elizabeth Holtzman.

In 1993 Eric Adams, while President of the Grand Council of Guardians, accused Herman Badillo of betraying his Hispanic heritage by having as his wife a white, Jewish woman, instead of a Latina.

Herman Badillo resigned as education special counsel and CUNY Chairman when announcing his candidacy for mayor in 2001.

In January 2011 Herman Badillo joined national personal injury law firm Parker Waichman Alonso as a senior counsel in its New York office.

Herman Badillo died on December 3,2014, at the Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan, of congestive heart failure at the age of 85.