Lucy McBath

Lucia Kay McBath (née Holman; born June 1, 1960) is an American politician who has served in the United States House of Representatives from a district in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia since 2019.

McBath was born in Joliet, Illinois, on June 1, 1960.

Her father, Lucien Holman, was a dentist who owned The Black Voice, an African-American newspaper, and served as president of the NAACP's Illinois chapter.

Her mother, Wilma, worked as a nurse.

Lucy has a sister, Lori.

A number of reports described McBath as the first Democrat to represent this district since Gingrich won it in 1978.

McBath attended Virginia State University and graduated with a bachelor's degree in political science in 1982.

After college, she worked as an intern for former Virginia governor Douglas Wilder.

In the 1990s, she became a flight attendant for Delta Air Lines and relocated to Atlanta, where Delta is headquartered.

But for his first seven terms, Gingrich represented a district that stretched across a swath of exurban and rural territory south and west of Atlanta; he transferred to the reconfigured 6th after the 1990 census.

She became the first Democrat to represent this district since it moved to Atlanta's northern suburbs in 1993.

Indeed, she was the first Democrat to garner even 40% of the vote in a general election for the district since Gingrich left office in 1999.

McBath's son, Jordan Davis, was murdered in November 2012.

In 2012, McBath's 17-year-old son, Jordan Davis, was shot and killed following an argument at a gas station in Florida about loud music.

The shooting and its aftermath received national attention, and prompted discussion about controversial self-defense laws, commonly known as stand-your-ground laws.

Her son's killer, Michael Dunn, was convicted of first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Following her son's death, McBath joined Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America as a national spokeswoman.

She attended a speech by President Barack Obama on gun violence at the White House and supported the My Brother's Keeper Challenge.

McBath also joined the gun control advocacy group Mothers of the Movement, which consists of African American women whose children have been killed by gun violence.

McBath opposed campus carry legislation in Florida.

McBath appeared in a 2015 documentary film, 3 1/2 Minutes, 10 Bullets, that explored her son's shooting.

She also appeared in the 2015 documentary film The Armor of Light, in which Rob Schenck, an anti-abortion Evangelical minister, discusses gun violence in America; The Armor of Light won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Social Issue Documentary.

McBath credits her decision to run for office to a meeting with State Representative Renitta Shannon, who urged her to run.

Several other factors contributed to her decision, including the election of Donald Trump and the undoing of previously enacted gun control measures.

She then became an advocate for gun control, joining other mothers of black murder victims to form the Mothers of the Movement, and spoke at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.

McBath campaigned actively for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election and spoke on her behalf at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.

McBath created a foundation, Champion In The Making Legacy, to help high school graduates continue their education and training.

Trump barely carried the district in 2016.

Handel defeated Jon Ossoff in a hotly contested 2017 special election that remains the most expensive U.S. House race in American history.

In the Democratic Party primary election on May 22, McBath led all challengers with 36% of the vote.

She defeated Kevin Abel, the second-place finisher, in the July 24 runoff election with 53.7% of the vote.

McBath faced Handel in the November general election and declared victory with 159,268 votes, surpassing Handel's 156,396 with 100% of precincts reporting.

McBath ran for the House of Representatives in 2018, defeating Republican incumbent Karen Handel and defeating her again in 2020.

After initially planning to run for the Georgia House of Representatives against incumbent Republican Sam Teasley in 2018, she decided after the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting to instead challenge Karen Handel, the incumbent Republican in the United States House of Representatives representing GA's 6th congressional district.

The district, which was once represented by House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Senator Johnny Isakson, included many of Atlanta's northern suburbs, such as Alpharetta, Roswell, Johns Creek, Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, Brookhaven, and parts of Tucker and Marietta.

Although the 6th has historically tilted Republican, Handel was thought to be vulnerable.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution called McBath's victory "the biggest Georgia Democratic upset of the 2018 midterms."

She represented GA's 6th congressional district from 2019 to 2023, and has represented the neighboring 7th district since 2023.

McBath is a member of the Democratic Party.

McBath switched to the 7th district after redistricting in 2020 made the 6th significantly more favorable to Republicans; she defeated the 7th's incumbent, Carolyn Bourdeaux, in the Democratic primary and won the general election.