Kwanza Hall

Kwanza Hall

Democratic Party

Prior offices

Atlanta City Council District 2

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U.S. House Georgia District 5

Successor: Nikema Williams

Predecessor: John Lewis

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Report an officeholder change

Elections and appointments

Last election

June 21, 2022

Contact

Campaign website

Personal Facebook

Personal LinkedIn

Kwanza Hall (Democratic Party) was a member of the U.S. House, representing Georgia's 5th Congressional District. He assumed office on December 3, 2020. He left office on January 3, 2021.

Hall (Democratic Party) ran for election for Lieutenant Governor of Georgia. He lost in the Democratic primary runoff on June 21, 2022.

Biography

Kwanza Hall graduated from Benjamin Elijah Mays High School in 1989.

Elections

2022

See also: Georgia lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2022

General election

General election for Lieutenant Governor of Georgia

Burt Jones defeated Charlie Bailey and Ryan Graham in the general election for Lieutenant Governor of Georgia on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Burt Jones (R)	51.4	2,009,617
		Charlie Bailey (D)	46.4	1,815,524
		Ryan Graham (L)	2.2	85,207

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 3,910,348
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary runoff election

Democratic primary runoff for Lieutenant Governor of Georgia

Charlie Bailey defeated Kwanza Hall in the Democratic primary runoff for Lieutenant Governor of Georgia on June 21, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Charlie Bailey	63.1	162,771
		Kwanza Hall	36.9	95,375

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 258,146
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Lieutenant Governor of Georgia

The following candidates ran in the Democratic primary for Lieutenant Governor of Georgia on May 24, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Kwanza Hall	30.2	208,249
✔		Charlie Bailey	17.6	121,750
		Renitta Shannon	14.5	99,877
		Tyrone Brooks Jr.	10.8	74,855
		Erick Allen	9.2	63,222
		Derrick Jackson	8.8	60,706
		Tony Brown	4.0	27,905
		Jason Hayes	3.1	21,415
		Rashid Malik	1.8	12,610

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 690,589
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Kolbey Gardner (D)
• Bryan Miller (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Lieutenant Governor of Georgia

Burt Jones defeated Butch Miller, Mack McGregor, and Jeanne Seaver in the Republican primary for Lieutenant Governor of Georgia on May 24, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Burt Jones	50.1	558,979
		Butch Miller	31.1	347,547
		Mack McGregor	11.3	125,916
		Jeanne Seaver	7.5	84,225

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,116,667
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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2020

See also: Georgia's 5th Congressional District special election, 2020

General runoff election

Special general runoff election for U.S. House Georgia District 5

Kwanza Hall defeated Robert Franklin in the special general runoff election for U.S. House Georgia District 5 on December 1, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Kwanza Hall (D)	54.3	13,450
		Robert Franklin (D)	45.7	11,332

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 24,782
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

General election

Special general election for U.S. House Georgia District 5

The following candidates ran in the special general election for U.S. House Georgia District 5 on September 29, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Kwanza Hall (D)	31.7	11,104
✔		Robert Franklin (D)	28.6	9,987
		Mable Thomas (D)	19.1	6,692
		Keisha Sean Waites (D)	12.2	4,255
		Barrington Martin II (D)	5.6	1,944
		Chase Oliver (L)	2.0	712
		Steven Muhammad (Independent)	0.8	282

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 34,976
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2017

See also: Municipal elections in Atlanta, Georgia (2017)

The city of Atlanta, Georgia, held a general election for mayor, city council president, three at large council members, 13 by district council members, and two city judges on November 7, 2017. The following candidates ran in the general election for mayor.

Mayor of Atlanta, General Election, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Keisha Bottoms	26.19%	25,347
Mary Norwood	20.81%	20,144
Cathy Woolard	16.67%	16,134
Peter Aman	11.29%	10,924
Vincent Fort	9.62%	9,310
Ceasar Mitchell	9.43%	9,124
Kwanza Hall	4.33%	4,192
John Eaves	1.24%	1,202
Rohit Ammanamanchi	0.20%	196
Michael Sterling	0.11%	104
Glenn Wrightson	0.10%	100
Laban King	0.00%	0
Write-in votes	0.01%	7
Total Votes		96,784
Source: DeKalb County, Georgia, "Election Summary Report, November 7, 2017, Unofficial and Incomplete," November 7, 2017 and Fulton County, Georgia, "November 7, 2017 Municipal General and Special Elections," accessed November 7, 2017 These election results are unofficial and will be updated after official vote totals are made available.

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Kwanza Hall did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

2020

Kwanza Hall did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign website

Hall’s campaign website stated the following:

“	Voting Rights My mentor, the late, great Congressman John Lewis, taught me the right to vote was our most powerful non-violent tool we have in a democratic society. I’m running to continue his work of protecting this sacred right. I’m running to ensure we protect our communities from voter suppression. I’m running to ensure our voices are heard at every level of our government. Women’s Rights Women have made great strides in our country with little to no support. In order to truly progress as a society, I believe we must invest in women to ensure they have the proper resources to thrive in our communities in whatever capacity they choose. It is imperative we protect their reproductive rights to further guarantee their right to determine their own life path. LGBTQ Rights I believe that orientation should not influence access or rights. For far too long, even in the metro-Atlanta region, persons along the sexuality spectrum have been forced to live in denial or only partially acknowledging who they are without fear of retribution. As a member of Congress, I will continue the work for equality in public policy to which I was committed when I served on the Atlanta City Council. My accomplishments and platform are below, but I believe it is important to affirm the beliefs that support my work. Racial Equity I’ve represented and worked for some of the most racially and economically diverse communities in Atlanta. For our communities to reach its full potential we must uplift the most disadvantaged. We’ve seen groups fight to reverse the progress we’ve made and I refuse to sit idly in this fight. I will continue the work of our Civil Rights hero to ensure all of us receive the justice, access and opportunity we deserve. Justice Reform Our justice system does not protect every citizen regardless of race or creed, as it promises. I will be the leader we need to begin the work to fully reform this oppressive system. The first step to reform is holding bad actors accountable through ending qualified immunity and requiring every police to wear body cams. True expungement of non-violent offenders is one route to true redemption. COVID-19 We are living in a pandemic where many of our current state level and national leaders pushed aside science and experts and left our communities to fend for themselves. We need leaders who will make decisions guided by science and the experts. We need leaders who will ensure our communities can continue to thrive safely by providing relief for families and small businesses. COVID-19 exposed the unfair and unbalanced system we’ve lived in, I will fight to have our communities cared for properly. Stopping Donald Trump The late, great Congressman John Lewis fought Donald Trump’s oppressive policies at every turn. I will continue to stand up to Trump and his blind followers. My community deserves leaders who will challenge individuals abusing their power and authority and I am ready to take on that fight.	”
—Kwanza Hall’s campaign website (2020)

2017

See also: Ballotpedia's municipal government candidate survey

Hall participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 survey of municipal government candidates. The following sections display his responses to the survey questions. When asked what his top priority would be if elected, the candidate made the following statement:

“	Public safety and community policing.	”
—Kwanza Hall (September 28, 2017)

Ranking the issues

The candidate was asked to rank the following issues by importance in the city, with 1 being the most important and 12 being the least important: city services (trash, utilities, etc.), civil rights, crime reduction/prevention, environment, government transparency, homelessness, housing, K-12 education, public pensions/retirement funds, recreational opportunities, transportation, and unemployment. This table displays this candidate's rankings from most to least important.

Issue importance ranking
Candidate's ranking	Issue	Candidate's ranking	Issue
1	Crime reduction/prevention	7	Civil rights
2	Transportation	8	Environment
3	Unemployment	9	Government transparency
4	Housing	10	Homelessness
5	City services	11	Recreational opportunities
6	K-12 education	12	Public pensions/retirement funds

Nationwide municipal issues

The candidate was asked to answer questions from Ballotpedia regarding issues facing cities across America. The questions are in the left column and the candidate's responses are in the right column. Some questions provided multiple choices, which are noted after those questions.

Question	Response
Is it important for the city’s budget to be balanced?Answer options: Not important; Not important, but required by state law; A little important; A little important, but required by state law; Important; Very important	Important
Which level of government do you feel should set a minimum wage?Answer options: None, Local, State, Federal	Local
What do you think is the best way to improve a city’s public safety? Candidates could write their own answer or choose from the following options: Increased economic opportunities, Increased police presence/activity, Harsher penalties for offenders, Public outreach/education programs	Harsher penalties for serious violent crimes and committing to community policing by ending broken windows policing.
How do you think your city should emphasize economic development? Candidates could write their own answer or choose from the following options: Changing zoning restrictions, Create a more competitive business climate, Focusing on small business development, Instituting a citywide minimum wage, Recruiting new businesses to your city, Regulatory and licensing reforms, and tax reform	The competitiveness of cities of the future, like Atlanta, will be predicated on our ability to align our priorities and ensure that we are developing workers whose skill sets are portable and empower them to add value in the ever-evolving innovation economy. We need to strengthen the cradle to career pipeline in traditional building trades and vocations as well as FinTech, Health IT, Clean Energy, Logistics, Music and Film. Economic mobility for low and mid-skill workers will not depend on having a 4-year college degree.
What is the one thing you’re most proud of about your city?	Music is our cultural export.
What is the one thing you’d most like to change about your city?	I want us to do better for those living most in the margins.

Key votes

Ballotpedia monitors legislation that receives a vote and highlights the ones that we consider to be key to understanding where elected officials stand on the issues. To read more about how we identify key votes, click here.

See also: Key votes

Key votes: 116th Congress, 2019-2021

The 116th United States Congress began on January 9, 2019, and ended on January 3, 2021. At the start of the session, Democrats held the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives (235-200), and Republicans held the majority in the U.S. Senate (53-47). Donald Trump (R) was the president and Mike Pence (R) was the vice president. We identified the key votes below using Congress' top-viewed bills list and through marquee coverage of certain votes on Ballotpedia.

Key votes: 116th Congress, 2019-2021
Vote	Bill and description	Status
Yea	MORE Act of 2020   The MORE Act of 2020 (H.R. 3884) was a bill approved by the House of Representatives that sought to decriminalize marijuana by removing marijuana as a scheduled controlled substance and eliminating criminal penalties for an individual who manufactures, distributes, or possesses marijuana. This bill required a simple majority vote from the House.	Passed (228-164)
Yea	William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (On passage)   The William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (H.R. 6395) was a bill passed by the 116th Congress and vetoed by President Donald Trump on December 23, 2020. Congress voted to override Trump's veto, and the bill became law on January 1, 2021. The bill set Department of Defense policies and appropriations for Fiscal Year 2021. Trump vetoed the bill due to disagreement with provisions related to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, the renaming of certain military installations, limits on emergency military construction fund usage, and limits on troop withdrawals. This bill required a simple majority vote in the House on passage, and a two-thirds majority vote in the House to override Trump's veto.	Passed (335-78)
Yea	William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (Overcoming veto)   The William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (H.R. 6395) was a bill passed by the 116th Congress and vetoed by President Donald Trump on December 23, 2020. Congress voted to override Trump's veto, and the bill became law on January 1, 2021. The bill set Department of Defense policies and appropriations for Fiscal Year 2021. Trump vetoed the bill due to disagreement with provisions related to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, the renaming of certain military installations, limits on emergency military construction fund usage, and limits on troop withdrawals. This bill required a simple majority vote in the House on passage, and a two-thirds majority vote in the House to override Trump's veto.	Passed (322-87)

See also

2022 Elections

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Candidate

Lieutenant Governor of Georgia

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Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by John Lewis	U.S. House of Representatives - Georgia, District 5 2020–2021	Succeeded by Nikema Williams (D)
Preceded by -	Atlanta City Council, District 2 2006–2017	Succeeded by Amir Farokhi