About Alex

Hi, I’m Alex Wan, and I am running for Georgia State House, District 57. I have called District 57 home for more than 25 years. Over that time, you and I have worked together with our sleeves rolled up, tackling our community’s challenges. During that span, I also had the privilege of working on your behalf for eight years as an Atlanta City Council member, serving as your voice for our neighborhoods on the issues we care about. Since my City Council service, my commitment to working on our issues continues through serving as the Fulton/Atlanta citizen representative on the Atlanta Regional Commission Board and as a member of the Mayor’s LGBTQ Advisory Board.

Click each topic below to learn more.  

Growing Up

My commitment to public service comes from my family. When my parents moved to Atlanta from South Carolina, I was three, and we were among only a handful of Asian American families. My parents knew they had to help shape our community. They quickly embraced leadership roles, creating civic organizations to engage our neighbors and friends. My sister and I followed their example, stepping up in high school, including my term as statewide president of the Georgia National Honor Society.​
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Raised in the Atlanta area, I am a proud product of the DeKalb County School System and a graduate of Georgia Tech – one of the world’s leading public research universities located right here in Atlanta. (Go Jackets!)

Early Activism & Leadership

My diverse professional experience in the private, public, non-profit, and higher education sectors drives my vision for our communities. That background gives me a comprehensive understanding of the resources each brings to address our community’s challenges, but also the tremendous opportunities that collaboration between stakeholder groups can create.
 
As your Georgia House Representative, I’ll continue to make socially and fiscally sound decisions for our state, always through a lens of transparency and sustainability. Raising money for Jerusalem House (Atlanta’s largest HIV/AIDS housing provider) reinforced my commitment to providing support for our most vulnerable residents. Working at Emory University showed me the power of education and research. And my current job as Executive Director of Horizons Atlanta, a nonprofit that provides tuition-free summer enrichment programs for children from traditionally underserved communities, has affirmed my dedication to closing the opportunity gap for all Georgians.

My Vision for Georgia

My vision for our state comes from my heart. In part, my respect for Atlanta is rooted in our rich Civil Rights history. In 2010, I became the first Asian American to serve on our City Council, this historical moment made possible only because leaders like John Lewis, Andrew Young, and others who fight tirelessly for an inclusive city. I also was the first openly gay man elected to our City Council, and during my two terms, I worked with other members of the Council to pass resolution denouncing Georgia’s proposed RFRA legislation, a bill that would have legalized discrimination against the LGBTQ community and hurt our business community.
 
I know we have much more work to do. I am concerned about the increasing problem around housing affordability, not only for our seniors and for our workforce, but also for those who are being pushed out of neighborhoods in which they have lived for generations. I am outraged by actions denying the right for women to control their own reproductive health. I am incensed by the relentless attacks to a fair and secure voting process in our democracy. And I am terrified by increasing threats to our ability to live our lives safe from discrimination on the basis of who we are. Politics-as-usual cannot be our way forward.
 
I am running to fight for all Georgians to build a stronger Georgia, by leading with the spirit of transparency, collaboration, and inclusivity.