Thomas White, Jr. (August 21, 1939 – August 27, 2010) was a member of the

New York City Council The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City in the United States. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five boroughs. The council serves as a check against the mayor in a mayor-council government mod ...

from

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

. A

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

, he represented the 28th Council district, which includes the neighborhoods of

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

South Jamaica South Jamaica (also commonly known as "Southside") is a residential neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is located south of downtown Jamaica. Although a proper border has not been established, the neighborhood is a subsectio ...

, and Richmond Hill. He co-founded and was the Executive Director of J-CAP, an alcohol and substance abuse residential treatment program in New York State.Official NYC Council Website about Thomas White
/ref> White won the Democratic primary vote in November 2009 to seek a new term, following the overturning of

term limit A term limit is a legal restriction on the number of terms a person may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potential for monopoly, w ...

s at the insistence of New York City's Mayor

Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman and politician. He is the majority owner and co-founder of Bloomberg L.P., and was its CEO from 1981 to 2001 and again from 2014 to 2023. He served as the 108th mayo ...

in a vote by the

, by a six votes. This small margin of victory has been attributed by some political observers to public anger over the overturning by the City Council of two referendums supporting eight-year term limits. Five other council incumbents, four of whom had voted to overturn term limits, lost their bids for re-election, the largest such number since the 1980s.

References

1939 births 2010 deaths New York City Council members New York (state) Democrats Politicians from Queens, New York African-American New York City Council members 20th-century African-American politicians 21st-century African-American people {{NewYork-politician-stub