Gary Chambers Jr. (born August 5, 1985) is an American civil rights activist and

perennial candidate A perennial candidate is a political candidate who frequently runs for elected office and rarely, if ever, wins. Perennial candidates' existence lies in the fact that in some countries, there are no laws that limit a number of times a person can ...

from

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of counties i ...

. A

progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...

member of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

, Chambers ran unsuccessfully in the

2022 United States Senate election in Louisiana The 2022 United States Senate election in Louisiana was held on November 8, 2022, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Louisiana. Incumbent Republican U.S. senator John Kennedy was first elected in 2016. He ra ...

, the

2021 Louisiana's 2nd congressional district special election 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...

, and, in 2019, for

Louisiana's 15th State Senate district Louisiana's 15th State Senate district is one of 39 districts in the Louisiana State Senate. It has been represented by Democrat Regina Barrow since 2016, succeeding fellow Democrat Sharon Weston Broome. Geography District 15 covers northern Eas ...

Early life and education

Chambers was born and raised in northern Baton Rouge, Louisiana in a middle-class, predominantly Black neighborhood. Chambers's mother, Sharon, died by suicide when he was two months old. He was raised by his aunt and uncle, Ivon Johnson, a public school teacher, and William Johnson, a janitor, whom he calls "mom" and "dad." At age 13, Chambers's biological father regained his sobriety and Chambers moved to

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...

, later returning to Baton Rouge and graduating from

Glen Oaks High School Glen Oaks High School (GOHS) is located in Merrydale, unincorporated East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, United States, near the city of Baton Rouge.

Career

After high school, Chambers lived with his cousins in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, where he worked as a manager to reopen a

Home Depot The Home Depot, Inc., is an American multinational corporation, multinational home improvement retail corporation that sells tools, construction products, appliances, and services, including fuel and transportation rentals. Home Depot is the l ...

location in

New Orleans East New Orleans East is the eastern section of New Orleans, the newest section of the city. It is bounded by the Industrial Canal, the Intracoastal Waterway and Lake Pontchartrain. Developed extensively from the 1950s onward, its numerous residential ...

following

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

. He later returned again to Baton Rouge to manage a car dealership. Chambers is also an ordained minister. In 2012, Chambers launched ''The Rouge Collection'', a publication focusing on the Black community in northern Baton Rouge. By 2016, Chambers had become an outspoken civil rights advocate in north Baton Rouge. He led protests against the

killing of Alton Sterling On July 5, 2016, Alton Sterling, a 37-year-old black man, was shot and killed by two Baton Rouge Police Department officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The officers, who were attempting to control Sterling's arms, shot Sterling while Sterling a ...

, and served as a spokesperson for the Sterling family and master of ceremonies at Sterling's funeral. In 2019, Chambers ran unsuccessfully against State Senator

Regina Barrow Regina Ashford Barrow is an American politician serving as a member of the Louisiana State Senate from the 15th district. Elected in November 2015, she assumed office on January 11, 2016. Barrow previously represented the 29th district in the ...

for

, winning 26% of the vote. In 2020, Chambers led street protests following the

murder of George Floyd On , George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was murdered in the U.S. city of Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old white police officer. Floyd had been arrested on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill. Chauvin knelt on Floyd's n ...

2020 school board meeting

In June 2020, Chambers, who has a daughter who attends public schools in Baton Rouge, attended a meeting of the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board, which was debating whether to rename Lee High School, named for

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

general

Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, towards the end of which he was appointed the overall commander of the Confederate States Army. He led the Army of Nort ...

. Chambers and others had unsuccessfully attempted to convince the school board to change the name of the school since 2016. During the public comments portion of the 2020 school board meeting, Chambers displayed a photograph showing a member of the school board shopping online during the meeting, and said this showed that the school board member did not care about racial justice. A video clip of Chambers' public testimony at the school board meeting received millions of views online. The school is now named

Liberty Magnet High School Liberty Magnet High School (also known as LMHS, Liberty High) is a public magnet school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States, founded in the 1950s but was closed in 2009. The school was subsequently reopened in 2011 as a magnet school. It is p ...

. After the school board meeting, Chambers called for the removal of other Confederacy symbols in Louisiana, such as the statue of Confederate general

Francis T. Nicholls Francis Redding Tillou Nicholls (August 20, 1834January 4, 1912) was an American attorney, politician, judge, and a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He served two terms as the 28th Governor of L ...

Nicholls State University Nicholls State University is a public university in Thibodaux, Louisiana. Founded in 1948, Nicholls is part of the University of Louisiana System. Originally named Francis T. Nicholls Junior College, the university is named for Francis T. Nicholl ...

. In November 2020, Chambers preserved and circulated a deleted social media post by GoAuto founder and CEO Greg Tramontin in which Tramontin referred to

Kamala Harris Kamala Devi Harris ( ; born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who is the 49th vice president of the United States. She is the first female vice president and the highest-ranking female official in U.S. history, as well ...

as a "hoe". Tramontin apologized, and Chambers called on Tramontin to resign.

2021 special election campaign

Chambers ran unsuccessfully as a Democrat for

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

to represent

Louisiana's 2nd congressional district Louisiana's 2nd congressional district contains nearly all of the city of New Orleans and stretches west and north to Baton Rouge. The district is currently represented by Democrat Troy Carter. With a Cook Partisan Voting Index rating of D+25, ...

in 2021. He was encouraged to run by

Shaun King Jeffery Shaun King (born September 17, 1979) is an American writer, civil rights activist and co-founder of Real Justice PAC. King uses social media to promote social justice causes, including the Black Lives Matter movement. King was raised ...

and other national progressive leaders. Chambers's progressive platform included paying for

Medicare for All Single-payer healthcare is a type of universal healthcare in which the costs of essential healthcare for all residents are covered by a single public system (hence "single-payer"). Single-payer systems may contract for healthcare services from p ...

by reducing defense spending. He supported the

Green New Deal Green New Deal (GND) proposals call for public policy to address climate change along with achieving other social aims like job creation and reducing economic inequality. The name refers back to the New Deal, a set of social and economic refo ...

, the

Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill and originally in the House as the INVEST in America ActH.R. 3684, is a United States federal statute enacted by the 117th United States Congress ...

, the

Build Back Better Plan The Build Back Better Plan or Build Back Better agenda was a legislative framework proposed by U.S. president Joe Biden between 2020 and 2021. Generally viewed as ambitious in size and scope, and even after it was reduced in size, it became the ...

, a $15

federal minimum wage A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation by the end of the 20th century. Bec ...

, and a moratorium on drilling in U.S. waters in the Gulf of Mexico. At a campaign debate, Chambers said he believed

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

incited the

January 6 United States Capitol attack On January 6, 2021, following the defeat of then-U.S. President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, a mob of his supporters attacked the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. The mob was seeking to keep Trump in pow ...

and that had Chambers been in Congress at the time, he would have voted to impeach Trump. During the campaign, Chambers was labeled a "firebrand" and "provacateur". Some of his old social media postings were recirculated, including a 2011 tweet using the word "homo", and a 2015 tweet referring to "white hoes." Chambers's campaign raised $400,000, almost as much as his opponents, and he had a larger social media presence, with hundreds of thousands of online followers. At the March 20, 2021, primary election, Chambers beat expectations, largely by capturing a larger-than-expected share of white votes. He won 21% of the vote, narrowly missing a runoff by 1,550 votes. Chambers endorsed second-place finisher

Karen Carter Peterson Karen Carter Peterson (born November 1, 1969) is an American lawyer and former politician who served as a member of the Louisiana State House from 1999 to 2010, then as the state senator from the 5th district until her resignation in 2022. She ...

in the April 24 runoff election. However, Peterson was unable to draw enough support from white liberals in New Orleans who voted for Chambers and lost the runoff to Troy Carter. In September 2021, Bigger Than Me, a nonprofit organization founded by Chambers that supports progressive candidates in the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

, distributed generators and gasoline donated by

Jrue Holiday Jrue Randall Holiday (; born June 12, 1990) is an American professional basketball player for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for one season with the UCLA Bruins before being selected ...

to people in southeast Louisiana following

Hurricane Ida Hurricane Ida was a deadly and extremely destructive Category 4 Atlantic hurricane in 2021 that became the second-most damaging and intense hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. state of Louisiana on record, behind Hurricane Katrina in 200 ...

2022 U.S. Senate campaign

On January 12, 2022, at age 36, Chambers announced his candidacy as a Democrat to run for the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

. Most analysts doubted that Chambers had any realistic prospects of winning the general election. On January 18, 2022, Chambers released his first advertisement of the campaign, showing him smoking marijuana in an open field while criticizing

marijuana prohibition The legality of cannabis for Medical cannabis, medical and Recreational drug use, recreational use varies by country, in terms of its possession, distribution, and cultivation, and (in regards to medical) how it can be consumed and what medi ...

. Chambers was the first US Senate candidate in history to openly smoke marijuana in a political advertisement. In the 37-second advertisement, Chambers cites

ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

statistics showing that someone is arrested in the United States for marijuana possession every 37 seconds on average, that US states spend $3.7 billion per year enforcing marijuana laws, and that Black Americans are four times more likely than white Americans to be arrested for marijuana possession. The ad, written and produced by New Orleans resident Erick Sanchez, founder of United Public Affairs, and directed and edited by Baton Rouge filmmaker Erwin Marionneaux, received millions of views on the internet within days. It was a direct appeal to Chambers's progressive base and sought to destigmatize marijuana use. Chambers has supported expunging criminal records of individuals convicted under marijuana laws. Nonetheless, Chambers' socially progressive platform failed to appeal to Louisiana's conservative electorate. Incumbent Republican John Kennedy won an overwhelming 61.6% of the vote in the state's nonpartisan

jungle primary A nonpartisan blanket primary is a primary election in which all candidates for the same elected office run against each other at once, regardless of the political party. Partisan elections are, on the other hand, segregated by political party. ...

, while Chambers won just 17.9% and fellow Democrat Luke Mixon took 13.2%. Kennedy's vote share was the highest for a Republican Senate candidate in Louisiana history.

References

External links

Gary Chambers Jr. (D) for Senate

Interview
with ''

Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American, German-owned political journalism newspaper company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and intern ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Chambers, Gary 1985 births 21st-century American politicians 21st-century African-American politicians Candidates in the 2022 United States Senate elections Living people Louisiana Democrats Politicians from Baton Rouge, Louisiana African-American people in Louisiana politics