Michael Scott Rawlings (born August 25, 1954) is an American businessman and politician who was the 59th
Mayor
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...
of
Dallas
Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
,
Texas
Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
. A member of the
Democratic Party, he won the nonpartisan
2011 Dallas mayoral election defeating former
Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle. He was reelected in
2015
2015 was designated by the United Nations as:
* International Year of Light
* International Year of Soil __TOC__
Events
January
* January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...
by defeating Dallas lawyer Marcos Ronquillo.
Rawlings was
CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization.
CEOs find roles in variou ...
of
Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut, LLC is an American multinational pizza restaurant chain and international franchise founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas, by brothers Dan and Frank Carney. The chain, headquartered in Plano, Texas, operates 19,866 restaurants worldw ...
from 1997 to 2002, and CEO of the Tracy-Locke ad agency.
In addition to his work in the city, Rawlings is also a prominent opponent of
domestic violence
Domestic violence is violence that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes r ...
, speaking at many events, including a
Ring The Bell event at the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
alongside actor
Patrick Stewart
Sir Patrick Stewart (born 13 July 1940) is an English actor. With a career spanning over seven decades of Patrick Stewart on stage and screen, stage and screen, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Patrick Stewart, variou ...
.
Rawlings garnered national attention during the Ebola outbreak, the July 7th, 2016, ambush on Dallas police officers, and a dispute over the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System. On the question of
Confederate Statue Removal, Rawlings stated in August 2017 that Confederate statues in Dallas city parks are "monuments of propaganda" and called for a task force to decide what should be done with them. Rawlings pushed for the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue in a city park.
At the 2018
Conference of Mayors, Rawlings, who was known as a supporter of the arts in Dallas, received the 2018 National Award for Local Arts from the United States Conference of Mayors and Americans for the Arts in Washington, DC.
Electoral history
2011 Dallas mayoral election
Initial Election
Runoff Election
2015 Dallas mayoral election
References
External links
Appearanceson
C-SPAN
Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American Cable television in the United States, cable and Satellite television in the United States, satellite television network, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a Non ...
programs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rawlings, Mike
1954 births
Living people
20th-century American businesspeople
21st-century American businesspeople
21st-century mayors of places in Texas
American chief executives of food industry companies
Boston College alumni
Businesspeople from Dallas
Liverpool High School alumni
Mayors of Dallas
People from Borger, Texas
Pizza Hut
Presbyterians from Texas
Texas Democrats