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Maxine Waters

Maxine Waters

  • California
  • Democratic
Career

U.S. House of Representatives, 1991-present
California State Assembly, 1977-1991

Education

B.A., California State University

Details

Born: Aug 15, 1938

State Representative U.S. Representative

Biography

Maxine Waters assumed office in the United States House of Representatives in January 1991. Waters represented the 29th District from 1991-1993 and the 35th District from 1993-2013. She has represented the 43rd District since 2013.

Waters was born August 15, 1938, in St. Louis, Missouri. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from California State University, in Los Angeles, California, in 1970. Prior to serving in Congress, Waters worked as a teacher, served as the head start volunteer coordinator, and from 1972 to 1988, worked as a delegate for the Democratic National Conventions. Waters is also the co-founder of Black Women's Forum, a nonprofit organization of over 1,200 African American women in the Los Angeles, California area. In the mid-80s, she also founded Project Build, a organization working with young people in the Los Angeles housing developments on job training and placement. From 1977 to 1991, Waters served as a member of the California State Assembly.

Waters is responsible for some of the boldest legislation California has seen, including the nation's first statewide Child Abuse Prevention Training Program, prohibition of policy strip searches for nonviolent misdemeanors and the introduction of the nation's first plant closure law.

For information on Waters' policy subject areas, committee appointments and sponsored/co-sponsored legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives, please visit her profile on https://www.congress.gov.

Speeches