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Mary D. Waters
8R4A6966 (52423230595) (Cropped).jpg
Waters in 2022
Member of the Detroit City Council At-Large
Assumed office
January 1, 2022
Preceded by Janeé Ayers
Member of the Michigan House of Representatives
from the 4th district
In office
January 1, 2001 – 2006
Preceded by Edward Vaughn
Succeeded by Coleman A. Young II
Personal details
Born (1955-08-27) August 27, 1955 (age 68)
Alabama
Political party Democratic
Education University of Michigan (BA)

Mary D. Waters (born August 27, 1955) is an American politician from Detroit, Michigan. She is a member of the Detroit City Council. Previously she served for three terms as a member of the Michigan House of Representatives, where she was Michigan's first African American minority floor leader from 2003 to 2006.

Early life and education

Waters was born in Alabama on August 27, 1955. While in grade school, she picked cotton in Greenville, Alabama, but moved to Detroit as a teen, when her father found work with the auto industry. Waters attended the Detroit Business Institute. She earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan, where she studied communications and behavioral sciences.

Career

On November 7, 2000, Waters was elected to the Michigan House of Representatives where she represented the 4th district from January 10, 2001, to 2006. Waters served as the Minority Floor Leader for the state House from 2003 to 2006, being the first African-American woman to serve as Democratic floor leader in the chamber. Waters left office in 2006 due to term limits.

While in the Michigan legislature, Waters worked with Gretchen Whitmer who later became Michigan's governor. She often reminded her former colleague to take poverty-related issues like job training, insurance redlining and other maters related to Detroit seriously. She also backed candidate Whitmer by introducing her to Black church congregations in Detroit.

In 2010 Waters ran unsuccessfully for District 1 State Senator in the Democratic Primary.

2010 Michigan 1st Senate District Democratic Primary Election
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic 'Coleman Young II' 8,138 41.2
Democratic Lisa Nuszkowski 5,701 28.9
Democratic LaMar Lemmons 3,812 19.3
Democratic Mary D. Waters 1,911 9.7
Democratic Dobey Gavin 179 0.9

In 2021, Waters won an at-large seat on the Detroit City Council. While on the City Council she proposed establishing gun-free zones in the city's downtown area. She also opposed the sale of occupied, city-owned houses, calling it "Putting profit ahead of people." In October 2023 she proposed eliminating all property taxes in Detroit.

Legal Challenges

In October 2010, Waters pleaded guilty along with her former campaign manager, Sam Riddle, for their roles following allegations they conspired to bribe a Southfield, Michigan City Councilman, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Michigan. In May 2010, Waters pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of filing a false tax return. Later that year, she was sentenced to one year of probation on claims she received a $6,000 Rolex watch from a Southfield jewelry store. She later attempted unsuccessfully to withdraw her plea, and has since said that she was railroaded by "overzealous federal prosecutors" who really wanted Sam Riddle, her campaign manager. Riddle also pleaded guilty to conspiring with, then, Councilmember Monica Conyers, and other individuals, to disrupt commerce by extortion.

Congressional campaign

On February 8, 2024, Waters announced that she would be running for United States Congress in Michigan's 13th Congressional District. On the campaign trail, she has called for a ceasefire in Gaza.

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