Michael Tubbs

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Michael Tubbs (2017)

Michael Derrick Tubbs (born August 2, 1990 in Stockton , California ) is an American politician of the Democratic Party . As of January 1, 2017, he has been the 82nd mayor of his hometown, Stockton, California.

childhood and education

Tubbs grew up in poor conditions in the southern part of Stockton. His mother, Racole Dixon, was a minor when he was born. Today she works as an IT specialist for an insurance company. His father, Michael A. Tubbs, was convicted of kidnapping, drug possession and robbery and is now serving a life sentence. Tubbs has a younger brother.

He attended Franklin High School in Stockton. In 2007 he won a writing competition there sponsored by the writer and political activist Alice Walker . The article was published in the San Francisco Chronicle and was about the impact his parents' actions had on his life. In 2008 he received the IB Diploma from Franklin High School. In the summer of 2008, he was a member of a team competing in a national debating competition in Cincinnati , Ohio . In the debates, the team advocated universal health care. At the end of the event, then-presidential candidate Barack Obama gave a guest speech.

Subsequently, Tubbs attended the private US American Stanford University in Stanford , California , with the help of a scholarship. In 2012 he completed his studies with a Bachelor of Arts and received a Master of Arts in the field of political science. During his studies, he became president of a local branch of the influential civil rights organization National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ( National Organization for the Promotion of colored people , NAACP). During the study made it an internship (Internship) in both Google as well as in the White House in Washington, DC Its tasks in the Office for Intergovernmental Affairs , a subdivision of the US presidential office , he received a first insight into the problems and challenges of local government .

Private life

In December 2017, Tubbs married Anna Malaika Nti-Asare, whom he met in Stanford. Nti-Asare is the daughter of two lawyers in Accra , Ghana . She graduated from Stanford University in 2014 and graduated from Cambridge University with a Masters in Gender Studies in 2015 . She then worked for two years as a teacher at a secondary school in Stockton. She has been a PhD student in sociology at Cambridge University since 2017. In October 2019, Tubbs announced via Twitter that the couple had become parents of a son.

Political career

During his studies at the private university, which was mostly attended by wealthy students, Tubbs maintained close contacts with his family and his hometown, which is about 130 kilometers east of Stanford. With a population of over 300,000, Stockton is the 61st largest city in the United States. In June 2012, as a result of mismanagement and the aftermath of the 2007/2008 financial crisis , the city declared insolvency due to debts of $ 700 million. That was the largest of the 700 or so cases of municipal bankruptcy reported in US history since 1937. The city had high rates of unemployment, homelessness and crime at the time.

Tubbs describes his decision to return to Stockton instead of pursuing a higher-paying career as the result of a calling or an inner compulsion. Another major impetus was the Stockton murder of a close relative his age. During his studies, he announced his candidacy for a seat on the Stockton City Council. To support his election campaign he received u. a. a donation from Oprah Winfrey . His candidacy became the subject of an hour-long documentary, True Son . In November 2012, he was elected as a representative of the 6th district with 61.8% of the votes cast and replaced the previous Republican incumbent.

After four years on the city council, he successfully ran for the office of mayor. He won with 70.6% of the votes cast against the incumbent mayor, a member of the Republican Party . At the age of 26, he was elected the city's youngest and first Afro-American mayor.

Political positions

Mayoral election

The main topics during his candidacy in 2016 were improving police work, urban renewal in the poorer parts of the city, expanding educational offers, economic development through innovation, combating homelessness and more transparency in the city administration.

As part of his education policy, he won the support of an anonymous donor who provides $ 1,000 a year to all high school graduates in the city who enroll in universities.

Unconditional basic income

Tubbs is a proponent of the idea of an unconditional basic income (Universal Basic Income) . During his tenure, from February 2019 Stockton introduced a so-called guaranteed income on a smaller scale as a social experiment under the name Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration (SEED) . 125 randomly selected Stockton residents will be given $ 500 per month of free use over an 18-month period. The funds for this are raised exclusively by foundations and donors. An independent research team under the direction of two professors is accompanying the project and will produce a report at the end.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Mike McPhate: California Today: Meet the New Mayor, Age 26. In: der Freitag . November 18, 2016, accessed November 19, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Cynthia Hubert: Michael Tubbs, one of America's youngest mayors, aims to lift his hometown of Stockton. In: The Sacramento Bee . April 12, 2017. Retrieved November 19, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Anna Ntiriwah Asare, Michael Tubbs. In: The New York Times . December 10, 2017, accessed November 5, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Kathleen J. Sullivan: Two Stanford alumni awarded 2017 Gates Cambridge Scholarships. In: Stanford News. February 13, 2017. Retrieved November 19, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Michael Tubbs. In: twitter.com. October 19, 2019. Retrieved November 19, 2019 .
  6. ^ Rolf Benders: Health insurance companies ride the US city into bankruptcy. In: Handelsblatt . June 28, 2012, accessed November 14, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Johannes Gernert: The largest bankrupt city in the USA. In: taz . September 22, 2012, accessed November 14, 2019 .
  8. ^ Youngest-ever City Council Member of Stockton: Michael Tubbs at TEDxStanford. TEDx Talks, June 20, 2013, accessed November 5, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Christina Felschen: Under the bridges of Stockton. In: Zeit Online . January 2, 2018, accessed November 14, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Dana Davidsen: Oprah gives to young Stockton campaign. In: CNN Politics. July 6, 2012, accessed November 19, 2019 .
  11. ↑ Michael Rechtshaffen: Review: 'True Son' follows power of youthful conviction in politics. In: Los Angeles Times . November 6, 2014, accessed November 19, 2019 .
  12. ↑ 2012 general election results. Retrieved November 19, 2019 .
  13. ↑ Why am I running for mayor? In: Tubbs for Stockton Mayor. Retrieved November 19, 2019 .
  14. ↑ Martin Hogger: How a 27-year-old saved one of the poorest cities in the United States with radical measures. Record mayor takes over bankrupt city of Stockton. In: Focus . July 11, 2018, accessed November 4, 2019 .
  15. ↑ Jane Ross: California city fights poverty with guaranteed income. In: Reuters . June 4, 2018, accessed November 15, 2019 .
  16. ↑ Chris Weller: Crisis-torn city in the US introduces basic income - the explanation is amazing. In: Business Insider . January 31, 2018, accessed November 4, 2019 .
  17. ↑ Rebecca Loya, Thomas M. Shapiro: The Basic Income and Martin Luther King. In: Friday . April 25, 2019, accessed November 4, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Tubbs, Michael
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Tubbs, Michael Derrick (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American politician, Mayor of Stockton, California
DATE OF BIRTH 2nd August 1990
PLACE OF BIRTH Stockton (California)