Danielle Walker (politician)

Danielle Walker (born August 18, 1976) is an American politician and community activist, currently serving as a Democratic member of the West Virginia House of Delegates, representing the 51st district, which covers Morgantown and the majority of Monongalia County. As of 2021, Walker is the only Black woman serving in the West Virginia Legislature. In June 2022, Walker was elected vice chair of the West Virginia Democratic Party.

Career

Political career

In response to the terrorist attack perpetrated on counter-protesters of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, Walker attended a vigil with her oldest son, which was held on the campus of West Virginia University. Her son, then a student of WVU, had previously considered attending the University of Virginia, located in Charlottesville. Walker has stated that she felt compelled to speak out against the alt-right movement at the vigil, after thinking of the potential that her son could have been a victim of the attack, should he have chosen to ultimately attend UVA. Members of the local Democratic Party, impressed by Walker's speech, later recruited her to run as a candidate for the West Virginia House of Delegates' 51st district. Walker accepted the proposition and won election in November 2018. She was re-elected to a second term in November 2020.

In 2018, Democrats — including Walker — swept all five seats in the 51st district, the largest multi-member district in the House. As a result, the Monongalia County delegates, all Democrats, called themselves “The Fab Five” and frequently voted and worked together on bills. This was especially notable given that there was only one Democratic member of the delegation just four years earlier, after the 2014 elections. In 2020, fellow Delegate Rodney Pyles was defeated for re-election by former Republican Delegate Joe Statler, breaking the all-Democratic delegation.

Online harassment

In February 2022, the group Berkeley County West Virginians for Life posted a meme with the image of a hooded-Klansman on their Facebook page, directly addressing Delegate Walker in the post. The same image and message were sent to her email the same day, February 1, the first day of Black History Month and the day after she introduced a bill meant to ensure abortion rights. Walker said, "For a Black woman, the only Black woman currently in both houses in the state of West Virginia, on the first day of Black history month to receive this hate mail is beyond my understanding," adding, "I am not ally to any white supremacist. But in that same breath, I do love all my neighbors. No one shall place hate in my heart. That is not who I am." Berkeley County WVFL president Richard Demoske resigned following backlash to the incident.

Comparing the incident to a "modern-day digital version of burning a cross in erfront yard," Delegate Walker filed a civil lawsuit in Kanawha County Circuit Court against Desmoske and WVFL on February 15, 2022. On September 19, 2022, Walker refiled suit in Monongalia County Circuit Court after her case in Kanawha County was dismissed due to improper venue.

Community involvement

Walker is a member and supporter of several organizations, including Black Lives Matter; the NAACP; Mountaineers for Progress, an organization promoting progressive values throughout the state; the National Organization for Women; Moms Clean Air Force, an environmental protection organization; Planned Parenthood; the Working Families Party; Our Future West Virginia, a statewide organization focused on economic justice, educational justice, racial justice, and civic engagement; Mon County Read Aloud, an organization focused on improving childhood literacy; Mountain Mamas, a women's climate change advocacy and environmental protection organization; MoveOn; and the Sierra Club.

Personal life

Walker was born on August 18, 1976, in New Iberia, Louisiana, to Oscar Walker, Sr. and Derbie Bernard. After graduating from New Iberia Senior High School, Walker attended Teche Area Technical Institute, where she obtained a certificate in accounting; she also completed undergraduate coursework at the University of Southwestern Louisiana, however, did not obtain a degree.

Widowed at just 29-years-old, Walker remarried and moved with her two sons to Morgantown, West Virginia, after her husband was relocated for his job. After the move, the two divorced, although Walker would choose to remain in Morgantown with her children. As a single mother raising two disabled children, Walker was chosen to receive her own universal-designed home through Habitat for Humanity in 2015; she has remained an advocate of the organization since. In June 2021, just shy of his 24th birthday, Walker's eldest son, Demetry, passed away from leukemia.

In February 2021, Walker came out as queer during a press conference in support of the Fairness Act, which would add sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes in West Virginia’s Human Rights Act and the Fair Housing Act. Walker is the second openly LGBTQ+ woman to serve in the Legislature after former delegate Amanda Estep-Burton.

Electoral history

2020 election

Primary election

General election

2018 election

Primary election

General election

References

External links

Official websiteDanielle Walker
at West Virginia Legislature
Danielle Walker
at Ballotpedia
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Danielle
Democratic Party members of the West Virginia House of Delegates
Women state legislators in West Virginia
1976 births
21st-century American women politicians
American LGBT rights activists
LGBT state legislators in West Virginia
Living people
Black Lives Matter people
African-American state legislators in West Virginia
21st-century American politicians
Women civil rights activists
21st-century African-American women
21st-century African-American politicians
20th-century African-American people
21st-century American LGBT people
20th-century African-American women