Everton Blair Jr. (born April 23, 1992) is an American politician and educator serving as the U.S. representative for Georgia's 13th congressional district since September 2026. A member of the Democratic Party, he won a special election to fill the unexpired term of the late David Scott. Blair is the first openly LGBT African American elected to represent a Southern state in Congress.
Blair previously served as a member and chair of the Gwinnet County School Board. He ran in the regularly-scheduled primary election for a full term in May 2026, placing third with 11.6% of the vote.
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Early life and education
Blair was born in Gwinnett County, Georgia in 1992 to computer scientist Everton Blair Sr. originally of Kingston, Jamaica, and British born Jamaican-American Emory University medical student Fiona Anderson, who became a Pediatrician. The family moved from Dekalb County to Gwinnett in 1996 and Blair graduated from Shiloh High School in 2009.
He then graduated from Harvard College with a bachelor's degree in applied mathematics and from Stanford University with a master's degree in policy, organizations and leadership. He returned to the Harvard Graduate School of Education as a Presidential Public Service Fellow in 2023 and earned a Doctor of Educational Leadership.
Career
Following graduation from Stanford, Blair participated in the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans fellowship in the Obama administration then took a job at Los Angeles-based superintendent-training program Broad Academy. He taught in Atlanta for two years through Teach for America.
In 2018, Blair was elected to the District 4 seat of the Gwinnett County School Board, defeating longtime Republican incumbent Chuck Studebaker and becoming the first person of color on the board. He filed to run for the Georgia State Superintendent of Schools in 2022, but ultimately withdrew due to personal reasons in March 2022 before the primary election. His term on the Gwinnett County school board ended in January 2023.
2026 U.S. House campaigns
In April 2025, Blair announced his candidacy for the United States House of Representatives election in Georgia's 13th congressional district in 2026, challenging incumbent Democrat David Scott, who was seeking a 13th term. Scott had been in poor health, and Blair was one of a number of candidates to challenge him in the Democratic primary. Scott died on April 22, 2026, though his name remained on the Democratic primary ballot. Blair subsequently announced his candidacy for the special election to fill the remainder of Scott's term to the 119th Congress, to be held after the regular Democratic primary for the 120th Congress.
On June 23, 2026, Blair was defeated in the regular Democratic primary, finishing third behind Heavenly Kimes and eventual winner, state Representative Jasmine Clark, with 11.6% of the vote. Despite his defeat in the regular election primary, Blair continued his campaign for the special election.
In the special election, Blair's main opponent was Marcye Scott, David Scott's daughter and a fellow Democrat. Clark was not a candidate in the special election. Scott and Blair advanced to a runoff after no candidate received 50% of the vote in the first round, held on July 28. Scott received 46.0% of the vote to Blair's 37.4%. In the runoff, held on August 25, Blair defeated Scott 53.9% to 46.1%, securing a seat in Congress for the remainder of David Scott's term. Blair's victory made him the first openly LGBTQ person elected to Congress from Georgia, and the first openly gay black person elected to Congress from any Southern state.
Personal life
Blair came out as gay on National Coming Out Day in October 2019.