Dora Drake

Dora Drake (born 1992/1993) is an American politician and community advocate. A Democrat, she represents the 11th assembly district in the Wisconsin State Assembly. The 11th district comprises northern neighborhoods within the city of Milwaukee. She was elected to her first term in November 2020.

Dora Drake
Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly
from the 11th district
Assumed office
January 4, 2021
Preceded byJason Fields
Personal details
Born1992/1993 (age 27–28)
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Political partyDemocratic
ResidenceMilwaukee, Wisconsin
Alma mater
Occupationpolitician
Website

Early life and education

Dora Drake was born and raised in the Graceland neighborhood of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She was accepted into Marquette University's Educational Opportunities Program and graduated with her bachelor's degree in Social Welfare and Justice in 2015.[1] Shortly after graduating, she was employed by JusticePoint, a nonprofit organization promoting reforms to the criminal justice system and supporting people through their interactions with the justice system.[2]

Political career

Through her involvement in her community, she became involved in local politics and was employed as campaign manager for the 2019 school board campaign of Shyla Deacon.[1] Deacon ultimately fell 27 votes short of her opponent in the spring election.[1][3]

Following the campaign, Drake was employed at the Center for Self Sufficiency, which assists formerly incarcerated people with family support and reentry services.[1] But a year after the end of the Deacon campaign, Drake announced her own candidacy for Wisconsin State Assembly in the 11th district with the support of Emerge Wisconsin, an organization which recruits, trains, and supports Democratic women running for office in Wisconsin.[4][5] The 11th district had been represented by Democrat Jason Fields, who had run for Milwaukee city comptroller in the spring election. He announced after losing that election that he would not run for re-election in the Assembly.[6][7] Three other candidates ultimately also ran in the Democratic primary for this seat, with Drake prevailing with 47% of the vote.[8][9] Drake prevailed by a wide margin in the general election over Republican candidate Orlando Owens.[10] She is one of 16 new assemblymembers elected in the 2020 election.[11]

Personal life and family

Dora Drake is the oldest of eight children. She is a worship singer at Milwaukee's New Horizons Integrated Ministries.[1]

Electoral history

Wisconsin Assembly (2020)
Wisconsin Assembly, 11th District Election, 2020[9][10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Primary, August 11, 2020
Democratic Dora Drake 2,471 47.32%
Democratic Tomika S. Vukovic 1,632 31.25%
Democratic Curtis Cook II 824 15.78%
Democratic Carl Gates 287 5.50%
Scattering 8 0.15%
Plurality 839 16.07%
Total votes 5,222 100.0%
General Election, November 3, 2020
Democratic Dora Drake 18,329 84.64% -14.10%
Republican Orlando Owens 3,299 15.24%
Scattering 26 0.12%
Plurality 15,030 69.41% -28.08%
Total votes 21,654 100.0% +24.59%
Democratic hold

References
  1. "Meet Dora Drake". Dora Drake for State Assembly. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
  2. "Applying Evidence - Achieving Justice". JusticePoint. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
  3. City of Milwaukee - April 2, 2019 - Spring Election. City of Milwaukee (Report). Retrieved December 14, 2020.
  4. "Dora Drake Announces Her Candidacy for the 11th Wisconsin State Assembly District". Dora Drake for Assembly (Press release). Milwaukee. April 21, 2020. Retrieved December 14, 2020 – via Urban Milwaukee.
  5. "Meet the 30 women of the class of 2020". Emerge Wisconsin. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
  6. Conklin, Melanie (April 25, 2020). "Many Democratic Legislators Resigning". Wisconsin Examiner. Retrieved December 14, 2020 – via Urban Milwaukee.
  7. "Rep. Fields: Not seeking re-election to State Legislature in 2020". Office of Representative Jason Fields (Press release). Madison, Wisconsin. Retrieved December 14, 2020 – via Wispolitics.com.
  8. Garfield, Allison (August 3, 2020). "Four Democrats face off in August primary for Rep. Jason Fields' Assembly seat". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
  9. Canvass Results for 2020 Partisan Primary - 8/11/2020 (PDF) (Report). Wisconsin Elections Commission. August 26, 2020. pp. 16–17. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
  10. Canvass Results for 2020 General Election - 11/3/2020 (PDF) (Report). Wisconsin Elections Commission. November 18, 2020. p. 10. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
  11. "Assembly welcomes 16 new members, while Senate welcomes 8". Wispolitics.com. December 11, 2020. Retrieved December 14, 2020.


Wisconsin State Assembly
Preceded by
Jason Fields		 Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly from the 11th district
January 4, 2021 – present		 Incumbent
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