Nikiya Harris

Nikiya Harris is the representative for the Sixth District in the Wisconsin State Senate, succeeding fellow Democrat Spencer Coggs. She ran unopposed in the November general election.^[1] Harris was formerly a member of the Milwaukee County, Wisconsin Board of Supervisors.

Background

Harris was born and raised in Milwaukee. She is a graduate of Washington High School, and has earned a bachelor’s in community education, a master’s in adult education and a Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Management from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Harris was interning in Washington, D.C. when she learned that her mother was sick, at which time she returned to Milwaukee. She had to become guardian for three younger siblings when her mother died. Harris worked as a pre-college program coordinator for UWM’s College of Health Sciences, and later at the Urban Ecology Center, coordinating special events and with the fundraising department.

Public office

On May 25, 2010, she was elected 2nd District County Supervisor in an eleven-candidate race after incumbent Toni Clark was sentenced to a jail term on a felony election law violation.

Senate race

When Spencer Coggs was elected County Treasurer in the Spring of 2012, this set up what would turn into a five-way race in the heavily-Democratic 6th District. Other candidates included Assemblywoman Elizabeth Coggs (Spencer Coggs' cousin), and fellow Milwaukee County Supervisor Michael Mayo. Harris won the primary (tantamount to election in this inner-city seat) with 47.9% of the vote.^[2]

References