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Keisha Waites

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Keisha Waites
Member of theAtlanta City Council
from Post 3 At-Large
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 3, 2022
Preceded byAndre Dickens
Member of theGeorgia House of Representatives
from the 60th district
In office
February 13, 2012 – September 18, 2017
Preceded byGloria Bromell Tinubu
Succeeded byKim Schofield
Personal details
Born
Keisha Sean Waites

(1972-10-30)October 30, 1972(age 51)
Atlanta,Georgia,U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
EducationAtlanta Metropolitan State College(BA)
WebsiteCampaign website

Keisha Sean Waites(born October 30, 1972) is an Americanpoliticianfrom the state ofGeorgia.ADemocrat,she served in theGeorgia House of Representativesfrom 2012 to 2017, representing southeast Atlanta, College Park, East Point,Hapeville,Forest Park, Hartsfield Jackson Airport, Porsche Headquarters and parts ofClaytonandDeKalb counties.[1]

Early life and career

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Born in 1972 atGrady HospitalinAtlanta,Georgia,United States, Waites attendedLakeside High Schoolin Dekalb county and graduated in 1991. She then attended Georgia Southern andAtlanta Metropolitan Collegeand graduated with a degree inpolitical science.[1]In 2014, Waites completed Harvard University'sJohn F. Kennedy School of Governmentprogram for Senior Executives in State and Local Government as aDavid BohnettLGBTQ Victory Institute Leadership Fellow.

Political career

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Before winning election to the state legislature in 2012, Waites mounted seven unsuccessful campaigns for elected office:

  1. 2001:Atlanta City Council,at-large post 1 (as Sean Waites)
  2. 2002:State Senate,District 36: placed fourth in the Democratic primary
  3. 2005: Atlanta City Council
  4. 2006:Fulton County Commission
  5. 2008: State House, District 61: lost primary runoff
  6. 2009: Atlanta City Council
  7. 2011: Fulton County Commission: lost runoff

In addition, Waites applied for an appointment to the Atlanta City Council in 2004, one of four candidates who put themselves forward to temporarily fill a vacant seat. The council did not select Waites for the vacancy, choosing Esther Stewart-Moseley instead.[2]

Waites's qualified for the District 60 House seat on January 9, 2012.[3][4]In the special election, she took 54.2 percent of the vote (321 votes) compared to 18.6 percent (110 votes) for Theresa Middlebrooks and 27.2 percent (161 votes) for Latrenka Riley, thus avoiding a runoff.[5]

Waites resigned from her House seat on September 18, 2017, to run for the chairship of theFulton CountyCommission.[6]She finished in second place, ahead ofGabriel Sterling,and advanced to arunoff election,[7]which she lost toincumbentRobb Pitts.[8]She ran in the Democratic primary forGeorgia's 13th congressional districtagainst incumbentDavid Scott,coming in second place in a field of four candidates.[9]She filed for the5th congressional district special electionto fill the remaining term ofJohn Lewis.[10]

In 2021, Waites filed to run forAtlanta City CouncilPost 3 At-Large to succeed incumbentAndre Dickens(who filed to run forAtlanta Mayor), her fourth bid for a council seat. After winning the largest share of votes in the first round among five candidates, Waites ran in a November 30 runoff with Jacki Labat,[11]winning the runoff 52%-47%.

Personal life

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Waites is openly LGBT.[12]

References

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  1. ^ab"State Rep. Keisha Waites"(PDF).House.ga.gov.RetrievedMarch 10,2022.
  2. ^Atlanta City Council:Submission Applications, May 13, 2004ArchivedJanuary 3, 2015, at theWayback Machine,accessed February 8, 2012
  3. ^Dyana Bagby (January 11, 2012)."Atlanta lesbian Keisha Waites running for public office — for ninth time".The GA Voice.
  4. ^"List of Candidates on the February 07, 2012 Special Election Ballot".Georgia Secretary of State. Archived fromthe originalon January 16, 2012.RetrievedFebruary 8,2012.
  5. ^Laura Douglas-Brown (February 7, 2012)."Election results: Keisha Waites to become fourth openly gay Ga. state legislator".The GA Voice.
  6. ^"LGBT state lawmaker quits to run for Fulton chair".Project Q Atlanta.September 19, 2017.
  7. ^Kass, Arielle."Robb Pitts, Keisha Waites face off to lead Fulton County commission".The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
  8. ^"Pitts to remain Fulton County chair in close win".Reporternewspapers.net.May 23, 2018.
  9. ^Mitchell, Tia; Journal-Constitution, The Atlanta."Election 2020: Scott avoids runoff, wins Democratic primary in Georgia's 13th".Ajc.RetrievedAugust 5,2020.
  10. ^"Several prominent Democrats line up to succeed John Lewis in Congress".Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
  11. ^Wells, Myrydd (November 19, 2021)."The Atlanta City Council runoff election—explained in 10 minutes".Atlantamagazine.RetrievedMarch 10,2022.
  12. ^Greg Bluestein, Political Insider blog."The nation's first black and lesbian lawmaker resigns from Georgia Legislature".Ajc.RetrievedMarch 19,2020.
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