Keisha Waites

Keisha Waites
Member of the Georgia House of Representatives
from the 60th district
Incumbent
Assumed office
February 13, 2012
Preceded by Gloria Tinubu
Personal details
Born October 30, 1972
Atlanta, Georgia
Political party Democratic
Residence Atlanta, Georgia
Occupation Emergency management consultant

Keisha Sean Waites (born 1972) is an American politician from the state of Georgia. A Democrat, she was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives on February 7, 2012, in a special election to fill the 60th district seat left vacant by Gloria Tinubu's resignation. District 60 includes southeast Atlanta, Hapeville, and parts of Clayton and DeKalb counties. She was sworn in on February 13, 2012.[1]

Early life and career

Born in 1972 at Grady Hospital, Rep. Waites attended Lakeside High School in Atlanta and graduated in 1991. She then attended Atlanta Metropolitan College and graduated with a degree in political science.

Waites was formerly chief of staff to State Rep. Sheila Jones. She has served on the Atlanta Planning Advisory Board, the boards of the Atlanta Commission on Women, the National Women's Political Caucus-Atlanta Chapter, Georgia Stonewall Democrats, Fulton County Democratic Party Executive Board, and NAACP-Atlanta chapter.[2]

Outside of politics, Waites has worked on a contract basis as an intergovernmental affairs officer for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.[3] She also worked for the U.S. Small Business Administration as a commercial loan specialist.[4]

Biography

State Representative Waites brings a broad record of civic involvement, strong business acumen and fresh ideas to those that she serves. Since taking office in the Georgia General Assembly, Rep. Waites has played a major leadership role. As a freshman legislator, Waites secured a community grant from the Home Depot Foundation, authored and sponsored legislation that would bring the first high speed rail to Georgia, authored and sponsored legislation to provide free tuition to the children of fallen law enforcement officials killed in the line of duty, and authored and sponsored legislation addressing bullying and employment discrimination. Rep. Waites also successfully secured in-kind sponsorships for youth in her district to attend premium venues at no cost to the students, parents, or taxpayers. Waites states that her greatest accomplishment to date is authoring and sponsoring legislation during the recent 2014 legislative session that brought Georgia’s State Capitol and Legislative Office buildings into full ADA compliance. Both buildings are now equipped with tactile and braille placards and both are fully wheel chair accessible. The building renovations and upgrades were completed in the summer of 2014. “It is an incredible feeling to be a part of such monumental history and to lobby and work on behalf of the disabled community,” said Rep. Waites. Rep. Waites is currently a member of the following committees: Public Safety and Homeland Security, Transportation, Juvenile Justice formerly (Children and Youth), and Special Rules.

Following college, one of her accomplishments includes assisting hundreds of families with obtaining the American dream of homeownership. Rep. Waites has dedicated much of her life to public service. Prior to joining the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Waites served with the United States Small Business Administration’s Disaster Assistance division. At the SBA, Waites facilitated disaster assistance loans to small businesses to help them grow, create new jobs, and nourish the economy. Waites worked with homeowners, small businesses, corporations, and non-profit organizations who had suffered catastrophic property damage in a presidential declared federal disaster across the Southeast and throughout the United States. The SBA Disaster Assistance program provides low-interest, long-term disaster loans to applicants to help them recover and rebuild their lives after being affected by such natural disasters as: floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, wildfires. During her tenure with the SBA, Waites formed relationships and gained professional expertise that provided her with a superior understanding of the needs of small and large business owners, while balancing those needs with residential communities. This unique experience has allowed Rep. Waites to make an immediate and significant impact for small business owners and Georgia families.

Rep. Waites also has extensive experience and knowledge of emergency management and homeland security at the local, state, and federal levels of government. In 2005, Waites was tapped to travel to New Orleans and participate in the Long-Term Recovery Response and Operations for Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Waites helped to coordinate disaster assistance to more than 25,000 evacuees from the coastal communities that fled to neighboring states. She gained hands on experience of FEMA’s programs, response and recovery operations, and technical expertise to make recommendations and improve the capacity to build disaster resilient communities.

Prior to being elected to the Georgia House of Representatives, Waites joined the Legislative and External Affairs Division of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Waites has served in numerous leadership positions within the Legislative and External Affairs Division including: Congressional Affairs Officer, Intergovernmental Affairs Officer, Community Relations and Long-Term Recovery with FEMA supporting the 8 Southeastern states and continental United States. Rep. Waites has served as a liaison to Members of Congress during numerous large-scale, presidential declared federal disasters and international incidents like Hurricane Sandy, BP Oil Spill, Haiti Earthquake, H1N1 Pandemic, Hurricane IKE, and Hurricane Katrina. Rep. Waites has a proven background in crisis management and problem solving. Her primary duties entailed acting as a liaison to member of the United States Congress, ensuring prompt and effective situational awareness and communicating to elected officials, engaging and communicating with Members of Congress and their staffs to build strong working relationships that enhanced the agency’s legislative priorities and FEMA’s ability to respond to the needs of disaster survivors. In 2010 following the Haiti Earthquake, Waites was selected by FEMA Headquarters to travel to Washington, DC to assist USAID’s External Affairs and Public Affairs Team. Waites worked on-site to disseminate information to Members of Congress and the FEMA Emergency Response Team deployed to help coordinate international US response and recovery assistance.

In the summer of 2014, Waites was selected by the American Turkish Federation as an international delegate to travel to Turkey for a political exchange program. The diplomatic and educational mission provided Waites with the opportunity to travel within the country, engage in dialogue regarding international issues, forge professional relationships, and interact with local, national leaders, and global businesses. Waites joined an international group of elected and political leaders to participate in the exchange with peer legislators from Turkey. Most recently, Waites selected from a global pool of candidates and is a proud alumnus of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government: Senior Executives in State and Local Government Leadership Program and is a 2014 David Bohnett Fellowship recipient.[5]

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.[6]

Her 2011 run for the Fulton County Commission pitted her against Joan Garner, also an openly-lesbian African-American. In the primary election, Waites finished first but failed to win an absolute majority, forcing her into a runoff with Garner.[7] Garner won the runoff[8] and was elected unopposed in the general election.[9]

Waites's qualified for the District 60 House seat on January 9, 2012.[10][11] 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.[12]

Waites ran unopposed in the 2014 general election, maintaining her seat for another two years until the 2016 elections, when all 180 seats will be up for contest.

Personal

Waites is one of three openly gay members of the Georgia General Assembly, alongside Representatives Karla Drenner (D–Avondale Estates), and Simone Bell (D–Atlanta).[12]

References

  1. ↑ "Keisha Waites sworn in as fourth openly gay Ga. representative". Georgia Voice. February 13, 2012.
  2. ↑ Matthew Cardinale (2012-01-23). "APN Chat with HD60 Candidates, Middlebrooks and Waites". Atlanta Progressive News.
  3. ↑ Matthew Cardinale (2010-06-02). "APN Chat with Keisha Waites, Candidate for Fulton Commission District 6 (Update 1)". Atlanta Progressive News.
  4. ↑ "BizNik: Keisha Waites".
  5. ↑ http://www.house.ga.gov/Documents/Biographies/waitesKeisha.pdf
  6. ↑ Atlanta City Council: Submission Applications, May 13, 2004, accessed February 8, 2012
  7. ↑ Laura Douglas Brown & Dyana Bagby (July 23, 2010). "Election: Lesbian candidates headed for runoff in Fulton". The GA Voice.
  8. ↑ Dyana Bagby (August 20, 2010). "Garner becomes first out Fulton commissioner". The GA Voice.
  9. ↑ Dyana Bagby (January 5, 2011). "Joan Garner takes oath of office as first openly gay Fulton Co. Commissioner". The GA Voice.
  10. ↑ Dyana Bagby (January 11, 2012). "Atlanta lesbian Keisha Waites running for public office — for ninth time". The GA Voice.
  11. ↑ "List of Candidates on the February 07, 2012 Special Election Ballot". Georgia Secretary of State.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 February 07, 2012 20:57. "Election results: Keisha Waites to become fourth openly gay Ga. state legislator". The GA Voice.