Ian Kyle Conyers (born October 28, 1988) is an American politician and businessman who represented the 4th District of

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

in the

Michigan Senate The Michigan Senate is the upper house of the Michigan Legislature. Along with the Michigan House of Representatives, it composes the state legislature, which has powers, roles and duties defined by Article IV of the Michigan Constitution, ado ...

for one term. Conyers sat on the Economic Development & International Investment, Energy & Technology, and Banking & Financial Services Committees in the State Senate. He was minority vice chair of the Transportation Committee.

Early life and education

Conyers was born in 1988 and raised in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

. His father's family has lived there since his great-grandfather, John Conyers Sr. moved there from rural

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

as part of the Great Migration. His grandfather, William Conyers, was the younger brother of Congressman John Conyers Jr., who retired in 2017 after setting a record for longevity in Congress. Ian Conyers attended University of Detroit Jesuit High School. He graduated from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

, where he obtained a B.A. in government. While at Georgetown, Conyers played football and joined the Kappa Chi chapter of

Kappa Alpha Psi Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. () is a List of African-American fraternities, historically African American Fraternities and sororities, fraternity. Since the fraternity's founding on January 5, 1911, at Indiana University Bloomington, it has n ...

fraternity. Conyers also earned a Master's degree in urban and regional planning from Georgetown. While in Washington, DC, he worked on the Anacostia waterfront redevelopment, a multi-year, public-private effort.

Political career

2016 election

On January 27, 2016, Conyers filed to run in the Democratic Party primary election for Michigan's 3rd State House District. On April 13, 2016, Conyers filed to run in the Democratic primary election to fill the remainder of the term for the vacancy in Michigan's 4th State Senate District. Candidates were running to replace Virgil Smith Jr., who had resigned from office amid a domestic violence scandal. In the primary, Conyers won a nine-candidate race with 34.52% of the vote. In the General Election, Conyers defeated Republican Keith Franklin with 76.55% of the vote. He entered office in November 2016 for the remainder of the term; at 28 years of age, he was the youngest state senator in Michigan's history to that date. Conyers was assigned to the Economic Development & International Investment, Energy & Technology, and Banking & Financial Services committees in the State Senate. He served as minority vice chair of the Transportation Committee. His term ended December 31, 2018.

2018 Congressional special election

In late 2017 his great-uncle, Congressman John Conyers Jr., was the subject of several allegations of sexual harassment by former staffers. In November, the House Ethics Committee initiated an investigation into the allegations and John resigned on December 5, 2017. He endorsed his son, John Conyers III, as a potential successor. Ian Conyers announced his intention to run for the seat on the same day, saying that John had encouraged him to run privately. Conyers later tweeted, then deleted, pictures of John Conyers III, then underage, with alcohol. Conyers added the caption asking the media to take "a thorough look at all candidates". On January 19, 2018, Ian Conyers formally announced his candidacy for the 13th Congressional District vacancy. After Republican Governor

Rick Snyder Richard Dale Snyder (born August 19, 1958) is an American business executive, venture capitalist, attorney, accountant, and politician who served as the 48th governor of Michigan from 2011 to 2019. Snyder, who was born in Battle Creek, Michigan, ...

held the seat vacant for over one year the election was announced as a double primary in which one contest was to finish the unexpired term of John Conyers Jr. and a second concurrent election was to hold the office from 2018 until 2020. Detroit city council president Brenda Jones won the partial election,

Rashida Tlaib Rashida Harbi Tlaib ( ; born July 24, 1976) is an American lawyer and politician serving as a U.S. representative from Michigan since 2019, representing the state's 12th congressional district since 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, sh ...

narrowly won the full term by 800 votes.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conyers, Ian 1988 births 20th-century African-American politicians 21st-century African-American politicians 21st-century members of the Michigan Legislature African-American state legislators in Michigan Candidates in the 2018 United States House of Representatives elections Democratic Party Michigan state senators Georgetown University College of Arts & Sciences alumni John Conyers Living people Politicians from Detroit