Michael Thurmond

Michael L. Thurmond (born January 5, 1953) is an American author, attorney, and politician. A Democrat, he was previously the Chief Executive Officer of DeKalb County and a representative in the Georgia Assembly.

Thurmond served as the interim superintendent of the DeKalb County School District, the third largest district in the state of Georgia from 2013 to 2015. The district serves nearly 99,000 students with over 13,400 employees. Thurmond was the Democratic Party's nominee for United States Senate in 2010. He was also one of the last Democrats to win statewide in Georgia until 2020, when Joe Biden won the state in the 2020 presidential election.

Prior to becoming DeKalb's Schools Superintendent, Thurmond was an attorney at Butler Wooten Cheeley & Peak LLP, a nationally known civil trial practice that has four times set the record civil jury verdict in the State of Georgia and also obtained for its client the largest collected judgment in U.S. history.

Early life

Thurmond was raised as a sharecropper's son in Clarke County, Georgia. He graduated ''cum laude'' with a B.A. in Philosophy and Religion from Paine College and later earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law. He also completed the Political Executives program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Political career

In 1986, he became the first African-American elected to the Georgia General Assembly from Clarke County since Reconstruction. During his legislative tenure, Thurmond authored major legislation that has provided more than $250 million in tax relief to Georgia's senior citizens and working families.

Following his legislative service, he led the state Division of Family and Children's Services and directed Georgia's historic transition from welfare to work. He created the innovative Work First program, which helped over 90,000 welfare-dependent Georgia families move from dependence into the workforce.

In 1997, Thurmond became a distinguished lecturer at the University of Georgia Carl Vinson Institute of Government. The following year in November, he was elected Georgia Labor Commissioner, becoming the first non-incumbent African American to be elected to statewide office in Georgia.

During his three terms as commissioner, the Georgia Labor Department underwent a major transformation in customer service and efficiency. His Georgia Works program has earned national praise and bi-partisan support. President Barack Obama based part of the American Jobs Act after the Georgia Works model. Thurmond's most gratifying accomplishment as a public official was the construction of a $20 million school for young people with disabilities at the historic Roosevelt Institute in Warm Springs, Georgia.

In 2016, Thurmond decided to run for the open DeKalb County C.E.O.'s office being vacated by term-limited incumbent Democrat Burrell Ellis. He won overwhelmingly in the Democratic Primary, and went on to win by a significant margin over his Republican opponent in the November 2016 General Election. Thurmond began his four-year term on January 1, 2017.

He is the recipient of two honorary doctorate degrees from Clark Atlanta University and LaGrange College. Thurmond has also served as a motivational speaker to state school board associations in nine Southern states on issues regarding leadership, diversity, and public education advocacy in the 21st century.

He presently serves on the Board of Curators of the Georgia Historical Society.

U.S. Senate campaign

In April 2010, Thurmond announced his intention to run for the United States Senate, challenging incumbent Republican Johnny Isakson.AJC: Emotional Thurmond announces run for U.S. Senate
/ref> He easily defeated his opponent in the Democratic primary, county employee RJ Hadley, on July 20. He lost the general election to Isakson and was succeeded as Commissioner of Labor by former state representative Mark Butler, a member of the Republican Party.

Publications

Thurmond's book, ''Freedom: Georgia's Antislavery Heritage, 1733-1865,'' was awarded the Georgia Historical Society's Lilla Hawes Award. The Georgia Center for the Book listed ''Freedom'' on its 2005 list of The 25 Books All Georgians Should Read.

Personal life

He is married to Zola Fletcher Thurmond, and they have one daughter, Mikaya Thurmond.

See also

* List of African-American United States Senate candidates

Notes

References

Michael L. Thurmond – Superintendent, DeKalb County School DistrictThe History Makers

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Thurmond, Michael L.
1953 births
20th-century African-American politicians
21st-century African-American politicians
African-American state legislators in Georgia (U.S. state)
Democratic Party members of the Georgia House of Representatives
Living people
Paine College alumni
Georgia (U.S. state) labor commissioners
University of South Carolina School of Law alumni
African-American candidates for the United States Senate
20th-century members of the Georgia General Assembly