Clayton County Democratic Committee Chair Sukari Johnson has stepped down and State Rep. Yasmin Neal has been appointed as the county party’s new chair.
Congressional District 13 Chair Joel Cope appointed Neal to succeed Johnson, who resigned “to focus on the next chapter in her activism,” according to an announcement by the county party.
Neal also recently was named chair of the Clayton County Legislative Delegation.
Johnson, who served as the first president of Young Dems and who was Georgia’s youngest delegate to the 2004 Democratic National Convention, will serve as advisor and chair emeritus to the new board, which will be elected in a few months. No specific date was given for those elections.
According to the announcement, Johnson served as vice chair for two years before the COVID-19 pandemic, then “stepped up as the Chair…in an effort to support her community….She rebuilt the Clayton Democrats to a position in which we are recognized and respected statewide as a political force.” The party cited Johnson’s efforts to educate voters “both through virtual education and in-person engagement throughout 2020. Ms. Johnson built a new board and brought new members to the Clayton Dems and fundraised an unprecedented amount of money for the county committee.”
In addition, she led the effort to turn out “record numbers of Clayton voters in 2020 for President Biden, in 2021 for now-Senators Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock, and again in 2022 to keep Warnock in the U.S. Senate for a full term.”
The Clayton County Democrats credit Johnson with “providing meetings in every part of Clayton County [and] patronizing local businesses” to reinvigorate the county party.
Johnson is a graduate of Tuskeegee University and a member of Women of Clayton County, National Council of Negro Women, and Jack and Jill Lake Spivey Chapter. She also received the Excellence in Community Service Award from Divine Faith Ministries on Sunday.
