Letitia Plummer is a

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

politician who currently represents At-Large Position 4 of

Houston City Council The Houston City Council is a city council for the city of Houston in the U.S. state of Texas. Currently, there are sixteen members, 11 elected from council districts and five at-large. The members of the Council are elected every four years, w ...

. She is the first

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

to be elected to the council.

Personal life

Plummer was born in Boston, Massachusetts to a Yemeni-Indian mother and an

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

father. The family moved to

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

in 1973, and Plummer attended

Houston Independent School District The Houston Independent School District (HISD) is the largest public school system in Texas, and the eighth-largest in the United States. Houston ISD serves as a community school district for most of the city of Houston and several nearby and ...

where she graduated from

DeBakey High School for Health Professions Michael E. DeBakey High School for Health Professions is a medical secondary school located in the Medical Center area of Houston, Texas, United States. It is a part of the Houston Independent School District. It has been named the number one ...

, formerly known as The High School for Health Professionals. After high school, she attended the historically black college

Spelman College Spelman College is a private, historically black, women's liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia. It is part of the Atlanta University Center academic consortium in Atlanta. Founded in 1881 as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, Spelman re ...

where she was a member of the

Alpha Kappa Alpha Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. () is the first intercollegiate historically African American sorority. The sorority was founded on January 15, 1908, at the historically black Howard University in Washington, D.C., by a group of sixteen stud ...

sorority. She then returned to Texas and attended Baylor College of Dentistry and became a practicing

dentist A dentist, also known as a dental surgeon, is a health care professional who specializes in dentistry (the diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases and conditions of the mouth, oral cavity and other aspects of the craniofaci ...

. She owns 2 dental practices in the

Houston Metropolitan area Greater Houston, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land, is the fifth-most populous metropolitan statistical area in the United States, encompassing nine counties along the Gulf Co ...

, and has been recognized with the “Top Professionals on the Fast Track” and “Houston’s Top Dentist” awards. Plummer has 3 sons and is a practicing Muslim.

Political career

Plummer first ran for political office in

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

, competing for the Democratic nomination to represent the 22nd congressional district of Texas. She was defeated in the primary by former diplomat

Sri Preston Kulkarni Srinivas Rao Preston Kulkarni (born October 8, 1978) is an American diplomat and politician who was the Democratic nominee for in both 2020 and in 2018. In 2018, he lost to incumbent Congressman Pete Olson. In 2020, Kulkarni was defeated by For ...

. Plummer was first elected to political office,

, in December 2019. She won 51.9% of the vote against her opponent Anthony Dolcefino and is the first Muslim to be elected to Houston City Council. She was sworn in on January 2, 2020 to represent At-Large Position 4 of Houston City Council succeeding Amanda Edwards, who

ran Ran, RaN and ran may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Ran'' (film), a 1985 film directed by Akira Kurosawa * "Ran" (song), a 2013 Japanese song by Luna Sea * '' Ran Online'', a 2004 MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role playing game) * ...

for

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. Plummer is affiliated with 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 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Plummer, Letitia Houston City Council members Living people Texas Democrats American Muslims Politicians from Boston American dentists Spelman College alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Women city councillors in Texas African-American city council members in Texas American people of Yemeni descent