who is anthony weiner
Anthony Weiner is a former Democratic politician from New York whose career collapsed after multiple sexting scandals, including crimes involving a minor that led to his imprisonment and sex-offender status.
Quick Scoop: Who is Anthony Weiner?
Anthony David Weiner (born September 4, 1964) is an American politician and registered sex offender from New York.
He served on the New York City Council and then in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing New York’s 9th Congressional District from 1999 until his resignation in 2011.
Political career in brief
- Started as an aide to then‑Congressman Chuck Schumer after college in the mid‑1980s.
- Elected to the New York City Council in the early 1990s, becoming its youngest member at the time.
- Won a seat in the U.S. House in 1998 and held it for over a decade.
- Known as an aggressive, media‑savvy liberal voice on issues like health care and tobacco regulation (he backed the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act).
The sexting scandals and crimes
Anthony Weiner became far more famous for his scandals than for his legislation.
- In 2011, a lewd photo posted from his Twitter account exposed that he had been sending explicit messages to women; he first denied it, then admitted it and resigned from Congress.
- Further sexting incidents emerged in later years, including explicit online communication with a 15‑year‑old girl.
- In 2017, he pleaded guilty to one count of transferring obscene material to a minor and received a 21‑month federal prison sentence; he is now a registered sex offender.
These scandals also intersected with national politics: an investigation into his devices in 2016 led the FBI to briefly reopen its review of Hillary Clinton’s emails late in the presidential campaign, drawing intense media attention.
Attempts at a comeback and latest news
Weiner tried multiple political comebacks despite his notoriety.
- He ran for New York City mayor in 2013, initially gaining attention but ultimately collapsing in the polls as more sexting revelations surfaced.
- More recently, he attempted a return to local politics by running for a New York City Council seat (District 2) but finished poorly in the 2025 Democratic primary.
- Reporting on that race described his 2025 comeback bid as effectively doomed, with him landing near the bottom of a crowded field.
How forums and public discussions see him
Online forums and political discussion spaces tend to frame Anthony Weiner as:
- A cautionary tale of self‑inflicted political ruin through compulsive online behavior.
- A once‑promising New York Democrat whose scandals helped shape national narratives during the 2016 election cycle.
- A deeply controversial figure: some discussions focus on his admitted “sickness” and attempts at treatment, while many others argue that his conduct involving a minor should permanently end any public‑office ambitions.
In many forum threads, the core theme is that his own digital trail destroyed what had been a rapidly rising career in New York and national politics.
Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.