La'Tasha Mayes

La'Tasha Mayes is an American activist and politician who is a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. A member of the Democratic Party, she represents the 24th district, which contains parts of Pittsburgh.

La'Tasha Mayes
Member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives
from the 24th district
Assumed office
January 3, 2023
Preceded byMartell Covington
Personal details
Born
La'Tasha Denise Mayes

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US
Political partyDemocratic
EducationUniversity of Pittsburgh (BS)
Heinz College, Carnegie Mellon University (MS)

Early life and education

Mayes was born and raised in West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 2003 with a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration. She then attended Heinz College at Carnegie Mellon University, where she graduated with a Master of Science degree in public policy and management in 2005.[1]

Early career

Mayes is an activist and community organizer for reproductive justice.[1] In 2004, Mayes co-founded New Voices for Reproductive Justice, an intersectional[2] advocacy group emphasizing the reproductive health and well-being of Black women and LGBT people in Pennsylvania and Ohio,[3][4][5] and served as its president and executive director until 2022.[1][4] The organization won a lawsuit in 2015 which compelled the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services to expand Medicaid coverage for 74,415 low-income women in Pennsylvania.[6] In 2022, deeming the result of the gubernatorial election critical to protecting abortion rights in Pennsylvania, the group endorsed and helped to organize voters for Democratic nominee Josh Shapiro.[5][7]

In 2008, New Voices for Reproductive Justice was among the leading groups to lobby for the creation of human relations commissions at the county and state levels to enforce statutes of non-discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation.[7] When Allegheny County enacted such legislation and created such a commission in 2009, Mayes was appointed to be vice chair of the Allegheny County Human Relations Commission.[7][8] In 2022, Mayes identified the strengthening of the provisions of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act to a full LGBT non-discrimination ordinance as a campaign priority in her run for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.[9]

In 2015, Mayes ran for the Pittsburgh City Council in the 7th district, losing the Democratic primary to incumbent Deborah Gross.[1][7]

Pennsylvania House of Representatives

2022

On January 19, 2022, Mayes announced that she would run for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from the 24th district, which contains parts of Pittsburgh. The seat was vacated midway through the term by Rep. Ed Gainey, who had been elected mayor of Pittsburgh in 2021. In the special election to succeed him, the Democratic nominee was chosen on February 5 by a vote of local party committee members; Martell Covington, a former legislative aide to state senator Jay Costa,[10] won a plurality of the committee vote and was thus nominated,[11] while Mayes placed second out of six candidates.[11][12] Covington won the special election on April 5 and was seated on April 26.[13]

Subsequently, Mayes ran again for the seat in the regular Democratic primary on May 17 for the full term that would begin in 2023.[14] In her announcement, she said that she was motivated to run to improve community health in the district, with a particular focus on addressing inequities in healthcare that were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.[1] Mayes also asserted that her extensive experience in the field of reproductive justice was relevant in an atmosphere of political threats to abortion access and comprehensive maternal healthcare,[1] arguing that she would be the strongest candidate to protect abortion rights in Pennsylvania if Roe v. Wade would be overturned (which indeed occurred in June 2022 in the U.S. Supreme Court decision Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization).[7]

In the Democratic primary, Mayes defeated incumbent Rep. Covington by a margin of 46% to 38%, while a third candidate, Randall Taylor, garnered 16%.[10][15] Political observers noted that Mayes won despite Covington again receiving the endorsement of the county Democratic committee,[2] and drew comparisons to Jessica Benham and Summer Lee, two other progressive insurgent candidates who won their elections without the county party endorsement.[2]

Mayes won the general election unopposed on November 8.[9]

Committee assignments
  • Appropriations[16]
  • Environmental Resources and Energy[16]
  • Health[16]
  • Judiciary[16]

Tenure

Upon taking office, Mayes will become the first lesbian state legislator in the history of Pennsylvania.[2][9]

Personal life

Mayes resides in the Morningside neighborhood of Pittsburgh.[1][10] She identifies as lesbian.[1][2][9]

Electoral history
Pittsburgh City Council, 7th district, 2015[17][18]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic primary election
Democratic Deborah Gross 2,597 64.46%
Democratic La'Tasha Mayes 1,417 35.17%
Write-in 15 0.37%
Total votes 4,029 100.00%
General election
Democratic Deborah Gross 5,736 97.55%
Write-in 144 2.45%
Total votes 5,880 100.00%
Democratic hold
Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 24th district, 2022 (special)[11][13]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic committee vote
Democratic Martell Covington 40 39.60%
Democratic La'Tasha Mayes 24 23.76%
Democratic Randall Taylor 16 15.84%
Democratic NaTisha Washington 10 9.90%
Democratic Lamar Blackwell 6 5.94%
Democratic Will Anderson 5 4.95%
Total votes 101 100.00%
General election
Democratic Martell Covington 5,054 92.96%
Republican Todd Elliott Koger 311 5.72%
Write-in 72 1.32%
Total votes 5,437 100.00%
Democratic hold
Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 24th district, 2022 (regular)
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic primary election
Democratic La'Tasha Mayes 5,360 46.21%
Democratic Martell Covington (incumbent) 4,416 38.07%
Democratic Randall Taylor 1,824 15.72%
Total votes 11,600 100.00%
General election
Democratic La'Tasha Mayes 21,036 100.00%
Total votes 21,036 100.00%
Democratic hold

References
  1. Felton, Julia (January 24, 2022). "Pittsburgh activist La'Tasha Mayes joins race for state House seat vacated by mayor Ed Gainey". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  2. McGoldrick, Gillian (June 14, 2022). "La'Tasha Mayes is the latest local Democrat to rebuff the Allegheny County Dems — and will make history while doing it". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Archived from the original on June 20, 2022. Retrieved November 29, 2022.
  3. Koscinski, Kiley; Zenkevich, Julia; Harris, Megan (March 12, 2019). "New fund seeks to take the waiting out of political action". WESA. Retrieved November 29, 2022.
  4. Sauchelli, Emily (August 23, 2022). "Kelly Davis feels she was destined to be an advocate for reproductive rights". Public Source. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  5. McGoldrick, Gillian (June 27, 2022). "Abortion access to be 'front and center' in Pa. gubernatorial, Senate races". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  6. "New Voices Pittsburgh wins lawsuit against Pa. Department of Human Services". New Pittsburgh Courier. August 11, 2015. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  7. Rosenfeld, Jordana (January 19, 2022). "Longtime local organizer La'Tasha Mayes announces bid for Gainey's House seat". Pittsburgh City Paper. Retrieved November 29, 2022.
  8. Rosenfeld, Jordana (May 4, 2022). "Pennsylvania state House district 24: Martell Covington, La'Tasha D. Mayes, and Randall Taylor". Pittsburgh City Paper. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  9. Villemez, Jason (October 19, 2022). "La'Tasha D. Mayes is ready for Harrisburg". Philadelphia Gay News. Retrieved November 29, 2022.
  10. Felton, Julia (May 18, 2022). "La'Tasha Mayes poised to win Democratic nomination in 24th State House District". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Retrieved November 29, 2022.
  11. Potter, Chris (February 5, 2022). "Dems pick Covington as their champion in special election to complete Gainey's state House term". WESA. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  12. Rosenfeld, Jordana (February 1, 2022). "Meet six Democratic contenders for Mayor Gainey's former House seat". Pittsburgh City Paper. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  13. Lyons, Kim (April 6, 2022). "Covington and Abney elected to legislature in special elections". Pittsburgh City Paper. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  14. Felton, Julia (May 12, 2022). "Newly elected state Rep. Martell Covington faces primary challenge from 2 Dems". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  15. Worthy, Ariel (May 18, 2022). "Majority Black state House districts 19 and 24 elect Abney and Mayes". WESA. Retrieved November 29, 2022.
  16. "Representative La'Tasha D. Mayes". The official website for the Pennsylvania General Assembly. Retrieved April 17, 2023.
  17. "Allegheny County primary election results, 2015". Allegheny County. May 19, 2015. Archived from the original on October 17, 2015. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  18. "Allegheny County general election results, 2015" (PDF). Allegheny County. November 3, 2015. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 7, 2022. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
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