Lucy McBath

Lucy McBath
Born	Lucia Kay Holman 1 6, 1960
Birthplace	Joliet, Illinois, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Politician, gun control advocate
Known for	U.S. Representative from Georgia; gun violence prevention advocacy following the murder of her son Jordan Davis
Education	Virginia State University (BA)
Children	2, including Jordan Davis
Awards	Mothers of the Movement spokesperson

Lucia Kay McBath (née Holman; born June 1, 1960) is an American politician and gun control advocate serving as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Georgia. A member of the Democratic Party, McBath has represented Georgia's suburbs of Atlanta since January 2019, serving Georgia's 6th congressional district from 2019 to 2023 and again from 2025, and Georgia's 7th congressional district from 2023 to 2025. McBath's entry into political life was shaped by personal tragedy: her son, Jordan Davis, was shot and killed in November 2012 by a white man at a gas station in Jacksonville, Florida, in a dispute over loud music. Following her son's death, McBath became a prominent advocate for gun violence prevention, working with Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action, and joining other mothers of Black victims of gun violence to form the Mothers of the Movement, a group that spoke at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. In 2018, she ran for Congress and narrowly defeated Republican incumbent Karen Handel, becoming the first Democrat to represent the 6th district in decades. In 2025, McBath launched an exploratory committee for the 2026 Georgia gubernatorial race but suspended the effort in March 2025, citing her husband's cancer diagnosis.

Early Life

Lucy McBath was born Lucia Kay Holman on June 1, 1960, in Joliet, Illinois. She grew up in a family rooted in the civil rights movement; her father, Lucien Holman, served as president of the Illinois chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). This upbringing exposed McBath to activism and civic engagement from an early age.

McBath's life was profoundly altered on November 23, 2012, when her 17-year-old son, Jordan Davis, was shot and killed at a gas station in Jacksonville, Florida. Davis and three friends were sitting in a parked SUV when Michael Dunn, a 45-year-old white man, pulled into an adjacent parking space and complained about the loud music coming from the teenagers' vehicle. After a verbal confrontation, Dunn fired ten rounds into the SUV, striking Davis multiple times. Davis died at the scene.

Dunn claimed he acted in self-defense, asserting that he believed he saw a weapon in the teenagers' vehicle. No weapon was found. Dunn's first trial in February 2014 ended in a mistrial on the first-degree murder charge, though jurors convicted him on three counts of attempted second-degree murder for firing at the other passengers. McBath and Jordan's father, Ron Davis, expressed anguish at the partial verdict and pledged to continue fighting for justice and against Florida's stand-your-ground law. In a retrial in October 2014, Dunn was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The case drew national attention and was the subject of the 2015 documentary film 3½ Minutes, Ten Bullets, directed by Marc Silver, which chronicled the shooting, the trial, and the impact on the Davis family. McBath's experience of losing her son to gun violence became the defining catalyst for her subsequent career in advocacy and politics.

Education

McBath attended Virginia State University, a historically black university in Petersburg, Virginia, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree. Before entering public life, McBath worked as a flight attendant for Delta Air Lines for more than 30 years.

Career

Gun Violence Prevention Advocacy

Following Jordan Davis's death in 2012, McBath channeled her grief into activism, becoming a national spokesperson for Everytown for Gun Safety and its grassroots arm, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. In this capacity, McBath traveled the country to speak about the impact of gun violence on families and to advocate for policy reforms including universal background checks and the repeal of stand-your-ground laws.

McBath also joined with other mothers who had lost their children to gun violence or police shootings, including Sybrina Fulton (mother of Trayvon Martin), Gwen Carr (mother of Eric Garner), and Geneva Reed-Veal (mother of Sandra Bland), forming the group known as the Mothers of the Movement. The group was invited to speak at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, where McBath and the other mothers shared their stories and urged political action on gun violence and racial justice.

In a 2017 essay for The Huffington Post, McBath wrote about the continued personal toll of her son's murder and the urgency she felt to pursue systemic change. She wrote about her experience at length in a 2018 essay for Vanity Fair, titled "How My Son's Murder Inspired Me to Run for Congress," in which she detailed the personal transformation that led her from advocacy to seeking elected office.

2018 Congressional Campaign

McBath entered the race for Georgia's 6th congressional district in 2018, a suburban Atlanta seat that had been held by Republicans for decades. The district had gained national attention in a 2017 special election won by Republican Karen Handel over Democrat Jon Ossoff in what was then the most expensive U.S. House race in history.

McBath announced her candidacy in the wake of the February 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which she said reinforced her commitment to run. Her campaign centered on gun violence prevention, healthcare access, and economic opportunity.

In the Democratic primary, McBath faced businessman Kevin Abel. The race went to a runoff election, which McBath won, advancing to the general election against Handel. During the campaign, McBath was profiled as part of a wave of Black women candidates running for office across the country in 2018.

McBath narrowly defeated Handel in the November 2018 general election, winning by approximately one percentage point. Her victory made her the first Democrat to represent the 6th district in years and was considered one of the signature Democratic gains of the 2018 midterm elections.

U.S. House of Representatives

116th and 117th Congresses (2019–2023)

McBath took office on January 3, 2019, succeeding Karen Handel as the representative for Georgia's 6th congressional district. In Congress, McBath focused on gun violence prevention legislation, healthcare, and education. She was assigned to committees reflecting these priorities.

In the 2020 election, McBath again faced Karen Handel, who sought to reclaim the seat. McBath defeated Handel a second time, securing reelection.

Following the 2020 census, Georgia underwent redistricting. The Republican-controlled state legislature redrew the congressional map in a manner that made the 6th district significantly more favorable to Republican candidates. Rather than compete in the redrawn 6th district, McBath chose to run in the neighboring 7th congressional district, which had been made more favorable to Democrats under the new lines.

118th Congress (2023–2025): Georgia's 7th District

In the 2022 Democratic primary for the 7th district, McBath defeated the incumbent representative, Carolyn Bourdeaux, who had been elected in 2020. McBath went on to win the general election and began representing the 7th district in January 2023.

119th Congress (2025–present): Return to the 6th District

Following further redistricting changes, McBath returned to representing Georgia's 6th congressional district beginning in January 2025. In Congress, McBath has continued to focus on gun violence prevention, education policy, and healthcare access.

In her legislative work during 2025 and into 2026, McBath has been active on multiple fronts. She joined Representatives Mark DeSaulnier and Lateefah Simon in leading 117 House Democrats in opposing the Trump administration's policies affecting special education programs. She also led Judiciary Committee Democrats in urging the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to address staffing shortages and safety failures in federal prisons.

McBath has also engaged in bipartisan legislative efforts. In June 2025, she worked alongside Republican Representative Rick Allen of Georgia on legislation aimed at increasing access to healthcare for energy workers.

In February 2026, during a congressional hearing, McBath recalled her son's death while pressing Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Trump administration to demonstrate compassion toward families affected by shootings involving immigration enforcement, drawing a direct connection between her personal experience and ongoing policy debates.

2026 Georgia Gubernatorial Exploratory Campaign

In early 2025, McBath launched an exploratory committee for the 2026 Georgia gubernatorial race, positioning herself as a potential Democratic candidate to succeed term-limited Republican Governor Brian Kemp. The move drew attention as McBath was considered one of the higher-profile Democrats in the state.

On March 31, 2025, McBath announced that she was suspending the exploratory effort. She told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the decision was directly tied to her husband's recent cancer diagnosis and that she needed to focus on her family. McBath did not rule out a future gubernatorial bid entirely, but her suspension cast uncertainty on the Democratic field for the 2026 race.

Personal Life

McBath was born and raised in Joliet, Illinois. Before entering politics, she worked as a flight attendant for Delta Air Lines for more than three decades. She is a breast cancer survivor, a fact she has discussed publicly during her advocacy and political career.

McBath has two children, including Jordan Davis, who was murdered in 2012 at the age of 17. The loss of her son was the transformative event that led her into public advocacy and eventually into electoral politics.

McBath resides in the Atlanta metropolitan area. In March 2025, she disclosed that her husband had been diagnosed with cancer, which prompted her to suspend her exploratory campaign for governor to focus on his care.

McBath has spoken publicly about her faith and its role in sustaining her through personal tragedies, including her son's murder and her own cancer diagnosis.

Recognition

McBath's advocacy following her son's death brought her national recognition. Her appearance alongside other members of the Mothers of the Movement at the 2016 Democratic National Convention was a high-profile moment that placed her on the national stage.

The 2015 documentary film 3½ Minutes, Ten Bullets, which chronicled the shooting of Jordan Davis and its aftermath, featured McBath prominently. The film received critical attention and was reviewed in outlets including Rolling Stone.

McBath's 2018 congressional victory was covered extensively by national media as one of the most significant Democratic gains of the midterm elections, and her story was profiled in publications including The Washington Post, CNN, Mother Jones, Vanity Fair, ABC News, and The Atlantic.

Her personal narrative — transitioning from a grieving mother to a national advocate and then to an elected member of Congress — has been cited in media coverage as emblematic of a broader movement of activist candidates who entered politics following personal experiences with gun violence.

Legacy

McBath's career in public life has been defined by the intersection of personal tragedy and political action. Her transformation from a Delta Air Lines flight attendant to a gun violence prevention advocate to a member of Congress has been documented in numerous media profiles and a major documentary film. The murder of her son Jordan Davis, the subsequent trials of his killer, and McBath's public response to that loss placed her at the center of national conversations about gun violence, racial justice, and stand-your-ground laws in the United States.

As a member of Congress, McBath has represented suburban Atlanta districts that were historically Republican-leaning, and her initial 2018 victory in the 6th district was viewed as a significant shift in the political landscape of the Atlanta suburbs. Her willingness to switch districts in response to redistricting and her continued electoral success demonstrated political resilience in a competitive electoral environment.

McBath's involvement with the Mothers of the Movement helped elevate the voices of Black mothers who had lost children to gun violence, connecting individual stories of loss to broader policy demands. Her work with Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action contributed to the growth of the gun violence prevention movement in the years following the Sandy Hook and Parkland school shootings.

Her 2025 consideration of a gubernatorial bid, though suspended, signaled her continued ambition and standing within Georgia Democratic politics. As of early 2026, McBath continues to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives, where she remains active on issues including gun violence prevention, education, healthcare, and criminal justice.