Simone Bell | |
---|---|
Member of the GeorgiaHouseofRepresentatives from the 58th district | |
In office December 22, 2009 –November 13, 2015 | |
Preceded by | Robbin Shipp |
Succeeded by | Park Cannon |
Personal details | |
Born | Detroit,Michigan |
Political party | Democratic |
Domestic partner | Valerie Acree |
Residence | Atlanta,Georgia |
Simone Bell is a community organizer and former politician from Atlanta,Georgia. A Democrat,she was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in December 2009 from the state's 58th district in DeKalb and Fulton counties,and served until November 2015.
The district lies in eastern Atlanta and includes the following neighborhoods:East Atlanta,Cabbagetown,Reynoldstown,Edgewood,Gresham Park,Grant Park,Kirkwood,Ormewood Park and Boulevard Heights.
The seat had been held by Rep. Robbin Shipp (D–Atlanta) from 2007 to 2009 but Shipp resigned in 2009 due to conflicts with her job as a Fulton County prosecutor,triggering a special election. [1] In the election held on November 3,2009,Bell won 24% of the vote in a five-candidate field,placing second behind attorney and fellow Democrat Asha Jackson. [2] In the runoff,Bell defeated Jackson by 56% to 44%. [3] She was sworn into office by Chief Justice Carol Hunstein of the Georgia Supreme Court on December 22,2009. [4] She ran unopposed for re-election in 2010;defeated primary opponent Ralph Long in 2012 and 2014. On October 29,2015,Bell announced her resignation from office to join Lambda Legal as Southern Regional Director;her resignation took effect November 13,2015. She was succeeded by Park Cannon.
Born and raised in Detroit,Michigan,Bell came to Georgia to attend Agnes Scott College in Decatur. She works in the Southern regional office of Lambda Legal,a national non-profit legal group that focuses on LGBT and HIV issues. [5]
Openly gay,Bell is the first African-American lesbian to serve in a U.S. state legislature. [6] Her partner is Valerie Acree.
DeKalb County is located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census,the population was 764,382,making it Georgia's fourth-most populous county. Its county seat is Decatur.
Denise Lorraine Majette is an American politician from the state of Georgia. A Democrat,she represented Georgia's 4th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 2003 to 2005.
Mike Jacobs is an American trial judge and former Republican politician from Georgia. Jacobs was appointed to the fifth district of the State Court of DeKalb County by Governor Nathan Deal in 2015 district five,and was unopposed for reelection in 2016 and 2020. In 2018,Jacobs became the first sitting judge in the United States to come out as bisexual. He is also the first openly LGBTQ countywide elected official in DeKalb County history.
David James Shafer is an American politician who is a former chairman of the Georgia Republican Party. From 2002 to 2019,Shafer was a Republican member of the Georgia State Senate from Senate District 48,a suburban district located north of Atlanta that includes portions of Fulton County and Gwinnett County.
Karen Christine Handel is an American businesswoman and former politician. A member of the Republican Party,Handel served as chair of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners from 2003 to 2006,as Secretary of State of Georgia from 2007 to 2010,and in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2017 to 2019.
Karla Lea Drenner is an American academic and politician from Georgia. A Democrat,she is a member of the Georgia House of Representatives representing the state's 85th district in Avondale Estates,DeKalb County.
Helen Douglas Mankin was a 20th-century American lawyer and politician. She was the second woman to represent Georgia in the United States House of Representatives,serving part of one term from 1946 to 1947 after winning a special election to fill the seat of a predecessor who had resigned.
Vernon Angus Jones is an American politician who served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 1993 to 2001 and from 2017 to 2021.
Mohammed Kasim Reed is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 59th mayor of Atlanta,Georgia's state capital and largest city,from 2010 to 2018. A Democrat,Reed was a member of the Georgia House of Representatives from 1998 to 2002 and represented the 35th District in the Georgia State Senate from 2003 to 2009. He served as campaign manager for Shirley Franklin's successful Atlanta mayoral campaign in 2001. After Franklin was term limited from the mayor's office,Reed successfully ran for the position in 2009. Inaugurated on January 4,2010,Reed was elected to a second term in 2013.
A municipal election in the City of Atlanta was held on Tuesday,November 3,2009. Atlanta is the capital of the state of Georgia and is the largest city in Georgia and is the center of the Atlanta metropolitan area,the largest metropolitan area in the South.
Laura Marie Ricketts is an American political activist and former attorney who is co-owner of the Chicago Cubs and the Chicago Red Stars. Ricketts is also a board member of Lambda Legal and the Housing Opportunities for Women organization. Ricketts' ownership stake in the Cubs makes her the first openly gay owner of a major-league sports franchise.
Lesbian,gay,bisexual,transgender,and queer (LGBTQ) people in the U.S. state of Georgia enjoy most of the same rights as non-LGBTQ people. LGBTQ rights in the state have been a recent occurrence,with most improvements occurring from the 2010s onward. Same-sex sexual activity has been legal since 1998,although the state legislature has not repealed its sodomy law. Same-sex marriage has been legal in the state since 2015,in accordance with Obergefell v. Hodges. In addition,the state's largest city Atlanta,has a vibrant LGBTQ community and holds the biggest Pride parade in the Southeast. The state's hate crime laws,effective since June 26,2020,explicitly include sexual orientation.
The state of Georgia mostly improved in its treatment of lesbian,gay,bisexual and transgender residents in the years after 1970,when LGBT residents began to openly establish events,organizations and outlets for fellow LGBT residents and increase in political empowerment.
Keisha Sean Waites 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.
A general election was held in the U.S. state of Georgia on November 4,2014. All of Georgia's executive officers were up for election as well as a United States Senate seat,all of Georgia's fourteen seats in the United States House of Representatives and all seats in both houses of the Georgia General Assembly. Primary elections were held on May 20,2014. Primary runoffs,necessary if no candidate wins a majority of the vote,were held on July 22,2014.
The 2017 Atlanta mayoral election occurred on November 7,2017,with a runoff election held on December 5,2017. Incumbent mayor Kasim Reed,a member of the Democratic Party who had been in office since 2010,was ineligible to run for reelection due to term limits.
Robbin Shipp is an American attorney and former member of the Georgia House of Representatives. She was the Democratic nominee for state Commissioner of Labor in the 2014 election.
Carolyn Jordan Bourdeaux is an American politician and educator who served as the U.S. representative from Georgia's 7th congressional district from 2021 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party,she was a professor at the Andrew Young School of Public Policy at Georgia State University from 2003 to 2021.
The 2021 Atlanta mayoral election occurred on November 2,2021,with a runoff between the top two candidates taking place on November 30. Incumbent mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms did not seek reelection. City council member Andre Dickens defeated council president Felicia Moore in the runoff by a margin of more than 20%. Candidates eliminated in the general election included former mayor Kasim Reed and attorney Sharon Gay.
Several elections took place in the U.S. state of Georgia in 2022. The general election was held on November 8,2022. A runoff election for one of Georgia's seats in the United States Senate was held on December 6,2022. The runoff was scheduled because none of the candidates for Senate received 50% of the statewide vote in the general election. In addition to the Senate seat,all of Georgia's seats in the United States House of Representatives were up for election. Also up for election were all of Georgia's executive officers and legislative seats,as well as one seat on the Georgia Public Service Commission. The Republican Party decisively won every single statewide office in Georgia except for the Federal Senate race which narrowly went Democratic in 2022.