Keisha Waites

Keisha Sean Waites (born October 30, 1972) is an American politician from the state of Georgia. A Democrat, she served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 2012 to 2017, representing southeast Atlanta, College Park, East Point, Hapeville, Forest Park, Hartsfield Jackson Airport, Porsche Headquarters and parts of Clayton and DeKalb counties.[1]

Keisha Waites
Member of the Atlanta City Council
from Post 3 At-Large
Assumed office
January 3, 2022
Preceded byAndre Dickens
Member of the Georgia 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 (1972-10-30) October 30, 1972
Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
EducationAtlanta Metropolitan State College (BA)
WebsiteCampaign website

Early life and career

Born in 1972 at Grady Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, Waites attended Lakeside High School in Dekalb county and graduated in 1991. She then attended Georgia Southern and Atlanta Metropolitan College and graduated with a degree in political science.[1] In 2014, Waites completed Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government as a David Bohnett LGBTQ Victory Institute Leadership Fellow.

Political career

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 the Fulton County Commission.[6] She finished in second place, ahead of Gabriel Sterling, and advanced to a runoff election,[7] which she lost to incumbent Robb Pitts.[8] She ran in the Democratic primary for Georgia's 13th congressional district against incumbent David Scott, coming in second place in a field of four candidates.[9] She filed for the 5th congressional district special election to fill the remaining term of John Lewis.[10]

In 2021, Waites filed to run for Atlanta City Council Post 3 At-Large to succeed incumbent Andre Dickens (who filed to run for Atlanta 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

Waites is openly LGBT.[12]

References
  1. "State Rep. Keisha Waites" (PDF). House.ga.gov. Retrieved March 10, 2022.
  2. Atlanta City Council: Submission Applications, May 13, 2004 Archived January 3, 2015, at the Wayback 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 from the original on January 16, 2012. Retrieved February 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.com. Retrieved August 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.com. Retrieved March 10, 2022.
  12. Greg Bluestein, Political Insider blog. "The nation's first black and lesbian lawmaker resigns from Georgia Legislature". Ajc.com. Retrieved March 19, 2020.
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