Yvette M. Alexander (born October 1, 1961, in the

District of Columbia Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

) is a Democratic

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

She represented Ward 7 on the

Council of the District of Columbia The Council of the District of Columbia (or simply D.C. Council) is the legislative branch of the government of the District of Columbia. As permitted in the United States Constitution, the district is not part of any U.S. state and is overseen ...

from 2007 to 2017.

Education

Alexander has a

Bachelor of Business Administration A Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is an undergraduate degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of four years and typically 120 credits of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of busine ...

from

Howard University Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...

, and did graduate work at

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

Political career

On May 1, 2007, Alexander won the

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

to succeed her political mentor Vincent C. Gray. Gray had represented Ward 7 before he became council chairman in January. She received 34 percent of the vote, beating 17 other candidates (14 Democrats and 4 independents). She faced a Democratic

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Work ...

for re-election on September 9, 2008. Notable opponents in that Democratic primary were John Campbell and Robin Hammond Marlin. No individuals filed to appear on the ballot for the Republican or Statehood-Green parties. Alexander won the primary and general election. Alexander lobbied other state delegations for DC voting rights at the

2004 Democratic Convention The 2004 Democratic National Convention convened from July 26 to 29, 2004 at the FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston, Massachusetts, and nominated United States Senate, Senator John Kerry from Massachusetts for President of the United St ...

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. She was an Obama

superdelegate In American politics, a superdelegate is a delegate to a presidential nominating convention who is seated automatically. In Democratic National Conventions, superdelegates—described in formal party rules as the party leaders and electe ...

(though formally unpledged) to the

2008 Democratic National Convention The 2008 Democratic National Convention was a quadrennial United States presidential nominating convention, presidential nominating convention of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party where it adopted its national platform an ...

, although she had endorsed

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

before

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

conceded the race. After losing her council seat in 2017, Alexander started a health care consulting practice.

Political positions

Alexander was one of two DC council members to reject gay marriage when it was put to vote November 10, 2009, by the Council of the District of Columbia. Alexander opposed DC's Death with Dignity legislation that would allow terminally ill patients to end their suffering. Alexander was active in the campaign to have a DC-based barbershop properly replace its lighting. She insisted the responsible government agency, DCRA, use its oversight to get the business to correct the sign from "Sex Barbershop" to "Unisex Barbershop".

Personal life

Alexander is

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

References

External links

* (campaign website)
Councilmember Yvette M. Alexander Biography
(official website) 1961 births Living people 20th-century African-American women politicians 20th-century Roman Catholics 21st-century African-American women politicians 21st-century Roman Catholics 21st-century Washington, D.C., politicians African-American Catholics African-American city council members African-American people in Washington, D.C., politics American Roman Catholics Howard University alumni Members of the Council of the District of Columbia Washington, D.C., Democrats Women city councillors in the District of Columbia {{WashingtonDC-politician-stub