Dora Elizabeth Drake (born March 1993) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

politician and community advocate. A

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

, she represents the 11th assembly district in the Wisconsin State Assembly. The 11th district comprises northern neighborhoods within the city of Milwaukee. She was elected to her first term in November 2020.

Early life and education

Dora Drake was born and raised in the Graceland neighborhood of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She was accepted into Marquette University's Educational Opportunities Program and graduated with her bachelor's degree in Social Welfare and Justice in 2015. Shortly after graduating, she was employed by JusticePoint, a nonprofit organization promoting reforms to the criminal justice system and supporting people through their interactions with the justice system.

Political career

Through her involvement in her community, she became involved in local politics and was employed as

campaign manager {{Political campaigning A campaign manager, campaign chairman, or campaign director is a paid or volunteer individual whose role is to coordinate a political campaign's operations such as fundraising, advertising, polling, getting out the vote ( ...

for the 2019 school board campaign of Shyla Deacon. Deacon ultimately fell 27 votes short of her opponent in the spring election. Following the campaign, Drake was employed at the Center for Self Sufficiency, which assists formerly incarcerated people with family support and reentry services. But a year after the end of the Deacon campaign, Drake announced her own candidacy for Wisconsin State Assembly in the 11th district with the support of Emerge Wisconsin, an organization which recruits, trains, and supports Democratic women running for office in Wisconsin. The 11th district had been represented by Democrat

Jason Fields Jason M. Fields (born January 29, 1974) is an American politician, and a former stockbroker, financial advisor, and banker from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was a Democratic member of the Wisconsin State Assembly for six terms (2005–2013 & 201 ...

, who had run for Milwaukee city comptroller in the spring election. He announced after losing that election that he would not run for re-election in the Assembly. Three other candidates ultimately also ran in the Democratic

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Works * ...

for this seat, with Drake prevailing with 47% of the vote. Drake prevailed by a wide margin in the

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

over Republican candidate Orlando Owens. She is one of 16 new assemblymembers elected in the 2020 election.

Personal life and family

Dora Drake is the oldest of eight children. She is a worship singer at Milwaukee's New Horizons Integrated Ministries.

Electoral history

Wisconsin Assembly (2020)

, colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;", Democratic Primary, August 11, 2020 , colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;", General Election, November 3, 2020

References

External links

* *
Campaign website

JusticePoint

Center for Self Sufficiency

New Horizons Integrated Ministries

Emerge Wisconsin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Drake, Dora 1993 births Living people Politicians from Milwaukee Women state legislators in Wisconsin Democratic Party members of the Wisconsin State Assembly 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians Marquette University alumni African-American women in politics African-American state legislators in Wisconsin 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American politicians