Gloria Bromell Tinubu (born February 22, 1953) is an applied economist, educator, and political figure. She served on the
Atlanta City Council and as a member of the Georgia State Assembly, as well as running as a candidate for Mayor of Atlanta.
Early life and education
Gloria Bromell Tinubu was born in Brookgreen Gardens
Georgetown County, South Carolina near
Murrells Inlet
Murrells Inlet is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Georgetown County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 7,547 at the 2010 census. It is about 13 miles south of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and 21 miles north ...
, South Carolina. She is the seventh of eight children born to Beatrice and Charlie Bromell, who were determined that their children would receive the high school education they never had. When she was four, her family moved to her parents' hometown,
Plantersville, located in
Georgetown County
Georgetown County is a county located in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 63,404. Its county seat is Georgetown. The county was founded in 1769. It is named for George III of the United Kingdom.
Georg ...
,
South Carolina. She graduated from Choppee High School in 1971. She was salutatorian and president of her graduating class. The first in her family to go to college, she attended the
University of South Carolina in Columbia for her freshman year as a Herbert Lehman Scholar. She transferred to
Howard University, where she earned a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts with honors in 1974. In 1976, she married Soji Tinubu, a
Nigerian-born U.S. citizen who has a master's degree in civil engineering from
Clemson University. They have four children and six grandchildren.
Academia
Bromell decided on graduate studies, becoming the first African-American woman to earn an MS in Agricultural Economics (December 1977) from
Clemson University.
Her master's thesis addressed the problems associated with clouded title property, known as "heirs property". Her study was the first scientific documentation and measurement of the problem in South Carolina. Her findings were published in ''
Progressive Farmer Magazine'' (1978), carried by many local newspapers throughout the State, presented at the American Agricultural Economics Association's annual meeting, and submitted to the South Carolina Legislature. State Rep.
Herbert Fielding
Herbert Ulysses Gaillard Fielding (July 6, 1923 – August 10, 2015) was an American politician who became the first African-American elected as a Democrat to the South Carolina General Assembly.
Family and early years
Herbert Ulysses Fieldin ...
submitted a bill to correct problems identified by Bromell Tinubu.
Briefly,
freedmen after the
American Civil War acquired parcels of property in coastal areas of the state, sometimes passing it on to heirs without much documentation. Parcels became divided with interests split among many heirs. Developers have sometimes persuaded an heir to seek
a buyout of his or her share of the property ... Court action often followed to allow the individual to realize his or her share. Unfortunately, other family members were left out in the cold as the land was sold at sheriff's sales for pennies on the dollar. Through the years, millions of acres of heirs property have been lost by families that couldn't intervene.
In 2006 the state passed its first law to provide more protection to families owning heirs property and who want to keep the family interest in the property. They have been given 10 days to inform courts that they need more time to contact family members and have a chance to buy out the person wanting to sell, and 45 days to raise the purchase price. Commentators believe these time periods need to be lengthened, given the complexity of many cases.
Bromell Tinubu continued with graduate work at Clemson, in August 1986 becoming the first African American to earn a Ph.D. in Applied Economics there. Her Ph.D. dissertation studied the financial stability of South Carolina's public water systems.
She had started her college academic career as an assistant professor of economics in 1986 at
Spelman College (Atlanta, Georgia); she became chair of the economics department and earned tenure as associate professor in 1992. Since her move to South Carolina, Bromell Tinubu has worked as a teaching associate in the College of Business Administration at
Coastal Carolina University in
Conway.
From 2001 to 2004, she was founder and CEO of Atlanta Cooperative Development Corporation, a community economic development corporation for the development of cooperative entities such as credit unions, cooperative housing and businesses. Beginning in July 2004, she served as the president of
Barber–Scotia College
Barber–Scotia College is a private unaccredited historically black college in Concord, North Carolina. It is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA).
History
Scotia Seminary
Barber–Scotia began as a female seminary in 1867. Scotia ...
, a
historically black college in North Carolina.
Political career
Entering politics in Georgia, Bromell Tinubu was elected in 1993 to a four-year term on the Atlanta City Council representing Council District 12. She was appointed to the Georgia Board of Education by Governor Roy Barnes in 2000. She was later elected as a Democrat to the Georgia General Assembly (HD-60 Georgia General Assembly), where she served on its committees for intra-governmental relations, interstate cooperation, and small business/job creation. Previously she was a candidate for Atlanta mayor in
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...
and
2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
. In 2021, she co-authored ''The Georgia Way: How to Win Elections'' with Ray McClendon, Steven Rosenfeld, and Mike Hersh.
2012 congressional campaign
Having joined the Democratic Party in South Carolina, in 2012 Bromell Tinubu ran for the Democratic nomination in the newly created
7th congressional district.
Having returned to South Carolina, she entered state politics. In
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
, she ran as a
Democrat for Congress in South Carolina's newly established
7th congressional district against state representative
Ted Vick and Myrtle Beach attorney Preston Brittain. Vick dropped out of the race prior to the primary. She had won the Democratic primary for the district seat with 73% of the votes. She is the first African-American woman in South Carolina to win her party's nomination for Congress.
The South Carolina Election Commission declared Bromell Tinubu as the primary winner, but a judge ruled that the votes cast for Vick had to be counted. That dropped her percentage of the vote total below the 50 percent threshold needed to win the primary. Two weeks later, she beat Brittain in a primary runoff with 73 percent of the vote. Brittain had the endorsement of key Democratic leaders, including U.S. Rep.
Jim Clyburn and former Gov.
Jim Hodges.
Bromell Tinubu lost the election to Republican
Tom Rice
Hugh Thompson Rice Jr. (born August 4, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for . The district serves most of the northeastern corner of the state and includes Myrtle Beach, the Grand Strand, Florence ...
; he carried 56 percent of the votes to her 44 percent.
2014 congressional campaign
In 2014, she ran against Rice again, but she lost by bigger margins than in 2012. Rice won with 60% or 102,576 votes; Bromell Tinubu had 40% and 68,412 votes.
[Summary of 2014 elections](_blank)
South Carolina Elections commission, accessed 8 November 2014
2018 Gubernatorial Race
See also:
2018 South Carolina Gubernatorial Election
The 2018 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 2018, to elect the Governor of South Carolina. Incumbent Republican Governor Henry McMaster, who took office after Nikki Haley resigned to become U.S. Ambassador to the Uni ...
In 2018, Tinubu was selected by Democratic Gubernatorial candidate
Phil Noble to be his Lt. Governor running mate.
James Smith ultimately won the Democratic Nomination
2019 United States Senate Race
See also:
2020 United States Senate Elections
The 2020 United States Senate elections were held on November 3, 2020, with the 33 class 2 seats of the Senate contested in regular elections. Of these, 21 were held by Republicans, and 12 by Democrats. The winners were elected to six-year te ...
In May of 2019, Tinubu announced a run for United States Senate, challenging Republican incumbent
Lindsey Graham. She campaigned on the theme, 'Reshaping America: Economic Justice Tour'. Tinubu joined Democrat
Jaime Harrison in competing for the nomination. In January 2020, Tinubu dropped out of the race, endorsing Harrison.
References
External links
Campaign site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tinubu, Gloria Bromell
1953 births
Living people
American women economists
American educators
Members of the Georgia House of Representatives
Women state legislators in Georgia (U.S. state)
African-American state legislators in Georgia (U.S. state)
African-American women in politics
Howard University alumni
Clemson University alumni
21st-century American politicians
21st-century American women politicians
People from Murrells Inlet, South Carolina
Economists from South Carolina
21st-century American economists
20th-century American economists
Candidates in the 2012 United States elections
South Carolina Democrats
Candidates in the 2014 United States elections
Candidates in the 2020 United States elections
20th-century African-American women
20th-century African-American people
21st-century African-American women
21st-century African-American politicians