Tonya Peterson Anderson (born July 16, 1969) is an American pastor and politician who serves in the

Georgia State Senate The Georgia State Senate is the upper house of the Georgia General Assembly, in the U.S. state of Georgia. The Georgia State Senate and the lower house of the General Assembly, the Georgia House of Representatives, comprise the bicameral leg ...

. She previously served in 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 (U.S. state), Georgia. There are currently 180 elected members. Republican Party (United States), Repu ...

, from 2013 to 2015. She is a member of the Democratic Party. She earned a Bachelor of Science, Business Administration and Management from

Alabama State University Alabama State University (ASU, Bama State, or Alabama State) is a public historically Black university in Montgomery, Alabama. Founded in 1867, during the Reconstruction era, it was one of about 180 " normal schools" established by state gove ...

in 1992 and a

Master of Divinity For graduate-level theological institutions, the Master of Divinity (MDiv, ''magister divinitatis'' in Latin) is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America. It is the most common academic degree in seminaries and ...

from

Luther Rice College & Seminary Luther Rice College & Seminary is a private Baptist college and seminary in Lithonia, Georgia. Through the college and seminary the institution offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in leadership, counseling, apologetics, Christian w ...

in 2008. Anderson was a candidate District 43 of the Georgia State Senate in the 2016 election. She advanced to a

runoff election The two-round system (TRS or 2RS), sometimes called ballotage, top-two runoff, or two-round plurality, is a single-winner electoral system which aims to elect a member who has support of the majority of voters. The two-round system involves one ...

against Dee Dawkins-Haigler. Anderson led Dawkins-Haigler in the official vote count by 0.12 percent (4,276 votes to 4,266 votes), leading to

Georgia Secretary of State The Secretary of state (U.S. state government), secretary of state of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia is an elected official with a wide variety of responsibilities, including supervising elections and maintaining public records. ...

Brian Kemp Brian Porter Kemp (born November 2, 1963) is an American politician serving as the 83rd governor of Georgia since 2019. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, Kemp served as the state's 27th Georgia Secretary of Sta ...

to order a

recount An election recount is a repeat tabulation of votes cast in an election that is used to determine the correctness of an initial count. Recounts will often take place if the initial vote tally during an election is extremely close. Election reco ...

. The recount confirmed Anderson's victory over Dawkins-Haigler by 10 votes. Anderson defeated Republican incumbent Janice Frey Van Ness. The two women faced off prior in a December 2015 run- off, resulting in a very narrow win for Van Ness. Anderson was sworn into the State Senate on January 9, 2017. Before serving in the legislature, Anderson served as the mayor of Lithonia. Anderson has served in the Air Force Reserves. She also served as Chair of the Georgia Women's Legislative Caucus.

References

External links

Profile
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Biography
at

Ballotpedia Ballotpedia is a nonprofit and nonpartisan online political encyclopedia that covers federal, state, and local politics, elections, and public policy in the United States. The website was founded in 2007. Ballotpedia is sponsored by the Lucy Bur ...

Profile
at the

Georgia General Assembly The Georgia General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is bicameral, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Each of the General Assembly's 236 members serve two-year terms and are directl ...

from the 2013-2014 Session {{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Tonya African-American female military personnel African-American mayors in Georgia (U.S. state) African-American state legislators in Georgia (U.S. state) 21st-century African-American women politicians Living people Mayors of places in Georgia (U.S. state) Democratic Party members of the Georgia House of Representatives People from Lithonia, Georgia Female United States Air Force personnel Women mayors of places in Georgia (U.S. state) 21st-century American women politicians African-American Christians 21st-century African-American politicians 1969 births African-American United States Air Force personnel 21st-century members of the Georgia General Assembly Women state legislators in Georgia (U.S. state)