Bakari T. Sellers (born September 18, 1984) is an American attorney,

political commentator A pundit is a person who offers mass media opinion or commentary on a particular subject area (most typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport). Origins The term originates from the Sanskrit term ('' '' ), meaning "knowledg ...

, 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 ...

. He served in the

South Carolina House of Representatives The South Carolina House of Representatives is the lower house of the South Carolina General Assembly. It consists of 124 representatives elected to two-year terms at the same time as U.S. congressional elections. Unlike many legislatures, seati ...

for the 90th District from 2006-2014. Sellers represented

South Carolina )'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

's 90th district in the lower house of the state legislature from 2006 to 2014, becoming the youngest

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 ...

elected official in the country at age 22. He vacated his seat in the

to run for Lieutenant Governor in 2014, but lost to

Henry McMaster Henry Dargan McMaster (born May 27, 1947) is an American politician and attorney serving as the 117th governor of South Carolina since January 24, 2017. He is a member of the Republican Party. McMaster worked for U.S. senator Strom Thurmond, in ...

. He was succeeded in the House by Justin T. Bamberg. Sellers is currently a political analyst on

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

. He is also a paid lobbyist for the government of Liberia.

Early life and education

Sellers was born on September 18, 1984, and is the son of Gwendolyn Sellers and civil rights activist and professor

Cleveland Sellers Cleveland “Cleve” Sellers Jr. (born November 8, 1944) is an American educator and civil rights activist. During the Civil Rights Movement, Sellers helped lead the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. He was the only person convicted an ...

. He grew up in

Bamberg County, South Carolina Bamberg County is a county located in the southwestern portion of U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 13,311, making the rural county the fourth-least populous of any in South Carolina. Its county seat is Ba ...

, and was educated at

Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School is located in Orangeburg, South Carolina. It is a part of the Orangeburg County School District. It is home to the Mighty Bruins/Bruinettes and also an International Baccalaureate World School. History Delano Mi ...

, a public high school in Orangeburg, South Carolina. In 2005, Sellers earned a bachelor's degree in African-American Studies from Morehouse College, a private all-male and historically black, liberal arts college, in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, Georgia. In 2008, he earned a juris doctor from the

University of South Carolina School of Law The University of South Carolina School of Law, also known as South Carolina Law School, is a professional school within the University of South Carolina. The school of law was founded in 1867, and remains the only public and non-profit law scho ...

. Sellers has worked for Congressman

James Clyburn James Enos Clyburn (born July 21, 1940) is an American politician and retired educator serving as a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from South Carolina. He has served as House Majority Whip since 2019. He is a two-time ma ...

and former Atlanta Mayor

Shirley Franklin Shirley Clarke Franklin (born May 10, 1945) is an American politician, a member of the Democratic Party who served as the 58th mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, from 2002 to 2010. She currently serves as a member on the board of directors for both Delt ...

Career

Legal career

Sellers has been an attorney with the Strom Law Firm, L.L.C. in Columbia, South Carolina since 2007, He is also currently on the board of directors of Level Brands (a

brand management In marketing, brand management begins with an analysis on how a brand is currently perceived in the market, proceeds to planning how the brand should be perceived if it is to achieve its objectives and continues with ensuring that the brand is pe ...

firm) and

Let America Vote Let America Vote is a political action organization founded by former Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander in February 2017. Its mission is to end voter suppression across the country. Overview Kander first became concerned about voter suppr ...

(a voting rights organization founded by former

Missouri Secretary of State The people below have served as the Secretary of State of the U.S. state of Missouri. List Gallery File:Warren E. Hearnes.jpg, Warren E. Hearnes File:James C. Kirkpatrick.jpg, James C. Kirkpatrick File:Rep Roy Blunt.jpg, Roy Blunt File:Mattb ...

Jason Kander Jason David Kander (born May 4, 1981) is an American attorney, author, veteran, and politician. A Democrat, he served as the 39th secretary of state of Missouri, from 2013 to 2017. He had previously served as a member of the Missouri House of R ...

Zionist advocacy

Sellers first attended the annual AIPAC conference while serving as a student body president at Morehouse College. He has since become a prominent African-American

Zionist Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after '' Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...

. In 2016, he authored a letter signed by 60 fellow African-American politicians urging the

Democratic Platform Committee Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

to keep the same language, refusing to include the statement that Israel is engaging in an "occupation" of Palestine that appeared in previous Democratic platforms.

2019 Lincoln Memorial tweet

In response to an incident between a teenager, Nicholas Sandmann, and Native American activist Nathan Phillips at the Lincoln Memorial, Sellers tweeted about the teen: "He is a deplorable. Some ppl can also be punched in the face." Sellers deleted the tweet, claiming his comment was "metaphoric" and "taken out of context" though he still claimed that the students "displayed xenophobic, racist behavior." Sellers was later included in a lawsuit brought by the teen's parents against

, where Sellers worked as an analyst. CNN settled the lawsuit, rather than face a court trial.

Honors, awards, and books

In 2010, ''Time'' magazine featured Sellers on its 40 Under 40 list. In 2012, ''

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 ...

'' named Sellers on its "50 politicos to watch" list. Sellers was named HBCU Top 30 Under 30 in July 2014. In May 2020, Sellers released an autobiography, ''My Vanishing Country'', that centers on the forgotten lives of African-American working-class people in the rural U.S. South.

Personal life

In the summer of 2015, he married Ellen Rucker Carter, chiropractor and co-owner of Rucker Roots haircare products. He has twins, a boy and a girl, born in 2018.

References

External links

South Carolina Legislature - Representative Bakari T. Sellers
official SC House website
Project Vote Smart - Representative Bakari Sellers (SC)
profile *''Follow the Money'' - Bakari Sellers
2006
campaign contributions * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sellers, Bakari 1984 births African-American lawyers African-American state legislators in South Carolina CNN people Living people Democratic Party members of the South Carolina House of Representatives Morehouse College alumni People from Denmark, South Carolina South Carolina lawyers University of South Carolina School of Law alumni Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School alumni 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people