Crystal Davis Peoples-Stokes (born December 22, 1951) is an American politician serving as Majority Leader of the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Assem ...

representing Assembly District 141, which includes the city of Buffalo within

Erie County, New York Erie County is a county along the shore of Lake Erie in western New York State. As of the 2020 census, the population was 954,236. The county seat is Buffalo, which makes up about 28% of the county's population. Both the county and Lake Erie w ...

Education

Peoples-Stokes attended

Buffalo State College The State University of New York College at Buffalo (colloquially referred to as Buffalo State College, SUNY Buffalo State, Buffalo State, or simply Buff State) is a public college in Buffalo, New York. It is part of the State University of Ne ...

, where she earned her

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

degree in elementary education and

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in student personnel administration.

Career

She worked as a member of the Erie County Legislature representing the 7th District from 1993 to 2002. In 2000, Peoples-Stokes, a member of

Grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or economic movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from the local level to effect change at t ...

and the majority leader of the Erie County Legislature, ran against incumbent Assemblyman

Arthur O. Eve Arthur O. Eve (born March 23, 1933) is a retired United States, American politician who served as a United States Democratic Party, Democratic member of the New York State Assembly (1967–2002) and Deputy Speaker of the Assembly (1979–2002) ...

. The race was described by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' as the toughest election contest of Eve's political career. Peoples-Stokes's Democratic

primary election Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...

challenge was almost successful, and it was credited with energizing minority voters to elect

Byron Brown Byron William Brown II (born September 24, 1958) is an American politician who is the current mayor of Buffalo, New York. He has served as Buffalo's 62nd mayor since January 2006, the City's first African-American mayor and longest serving ...

as a

New York State Senator The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. Partisan compo ...

. Peoples-Stokes was elected to the State Assembly in November 2002, after Eve's retirement. She ran uncontested in the November 2008 and November 2010

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 ( ...

s. On December 17, 2018, Peoples-Stokes was appointed Majority Leader of the New York State Assembly, becoming the first woman and first African American to serve in the role. In the

2020 Presidential Election This national electoral calendar for 2020 lists the national/federal elections held in 2020 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *5 January: **C ...

, People-Stokes served as an alternate

elector Elector may refer to: * Prince-elector or elector, a member of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of electing the Holy Roman Emperors * Elector, a member of an electoral college ** Confederate elector, a member of ...

, replacing Lovely A. Warren.

Personal life

Peoples-Stokes lives in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

, with her daughter Rashaun and grandson Kaleb Malik.

References

External links

New York State Assembly Member Website
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Peoples-Stokes, Crystal 1951 births 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American politicians 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians African-American state legislators in New York (state) African-American women in politics Buffalo State College alumni County legislators in New York (state) Living people Democratic Party members of the New York State Assembly Politicians from Buffalo, New York Women state legislators in New York (state) 20th-century African-American women