Karla Lea Drenner (born September 10, 1961) is an American academic and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

from

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. A Democrat, she is a member of the

Georgia House of Representatives The Georgia House of Representatives is the lower house of the Georgia General Assembly (the state legislature) of the U.S. state of Georgia. There are currently 180 elected members. Republicans have had a majority in the chamber since 2005. ...

representing the state's 85th district in

Avondale Estates Avondale Estates is a city in DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The population was 2,960 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area and is near Decatur. History In the 1890s, lots were sold in the area, which was kno ...

, DeKalb County. Drenner has four degrees from four different universities. She obtained a

Bachelor of Science 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 o ...

from

West Virginia State College West Virginia State University (WVSU) is a public historically black, land-grant university in Institute, West Virginia. Founded in 1891 as the West Virginia Colored Institute, it is one of the original 19 land-grant colleges and universities ...

, an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

from Fontbonne College, a

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast t ...

from

Southern Illinois University Southern Illinois University is a system of public universities in the southern region of the U.S. state of Illinois. Its headquarters is in Carbondale, Illinois. Board of trustees The university is governed by the nine member SIU Board of Tr ...

and a PhD from La Salle University. In 2011, Drenner completed Harvard University's

John F. Kennedy School of Government The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...

program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government as a David Bohnett LGBTQ Victory Institute Leadership Fellow. Drenner is an adjunct Professor at

DeVry University DeVry University () is a private for-profit university with its headquarters in Naperville, Illinois. It was founded in 1931 by Herman A. DeVry and is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. DeVry is predominantly an online educator but ...

where she teaches Environmental Science, Principles of Ethics and Leadership and Motivation. Drenner is also the owner and President of an environmental safety and health consulting firm. A lesbian, Drenner was the first ever openly gay member of the Georgia General Assembly. Today, she is one of six

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

members, alongside Democratic Representatives Park Cannon, Sam Park, Renitta Shannon,

Keisha Waites Keisha Sean Waites (born October 30, 1972) is an American politician from the state of Georgia. A Democrat, she served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 2012 to 2017, representing southeast Atlanta, College Park, East Point, Hapevil ...

, and

Matthew Wilson Matthew Wilson (born 29 January 1987) is a British rally driver from Cockermouth in Cumbria. He is the son of M-Sport boss and former World Rally Championship driver Malcolm Wilson. Wilson competed in the WRC for the Stobart M-Sport Ford team. ...

. Her campaigns have won the backing of the

Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund The LGBTQ Victory Fund (formerly the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund), commonly shortened to Victory Fund, is an American political action committee dedicated to increasing the number of openly LGBTQ public officials in the United States. Victory F ...

. A resident of

, Drenner was first elected to the state house in 2000, defeating a four-term incumbent in what was then the 66th district. In this heavily Democratic district, the primary election was the key contest and she won it by just 68 votes — 52% to 48%. No

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

had filed for the seat so she won the general election unopposed. Due to redistricting, the seat was renumbered the 57th district in 2002 and the 85th in 2004 but she won re-election unopposed on both occasions. The 85th district is 66%

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 ...

according to figures from the 2000 census.Census 2000: Population by Georgia House district (PDF)
There have therefore been moves by some black leaders to replace Drenner with an African American. Indeed, in 2006, she faced an aggressive primary challenge from Cynthia Tucker, a black medical professor. Drenner survived, winning the primary by 62% to 38% and going on to win the general election unopposed. She faced no opposition in 2008 or 2010.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Drenner, Karla 1961 births Living people Politicians from Charleston, West Virginia Fontbonne University alumni Southern Illinois University alumni Democratic Party members of the Georgia House of Representatives Lesbian politicians LGBT state legislators in Georgia (U.S. state) LGBT people from West Virginia La Salle University alumni Women state legislators in Georgia (U.S. state) People from Avondale Estates, Georgia 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians