Maxine Waters has been in elected office since 1977 and in Congress since 1991. She is one of the longest-serving Black women in the history of the United States Congress, the senior Democrat on the committee that oversees Wall Street, and, at 88, running for re-election again in 2026.
Quick Bio / At a Glance
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Maxine Moore Waters |
| Born | August 15, 1938, St. Louis, Missouri |
| Education | BA in sociology, California State University, Los Angeles, 1970 |
| Early Career | Garment factory worker; teacher in the Head Start programme |
| California Assembly | 1977–1991 |
| US House | Since 1991; representing the 43rd district since 2013 |
| Committee Role | Ranking Member, House Financial Services Committee |
| Chaired Committee | 2019–2023, the first woman and first Black member to do so |
| Caucus Role | Chair, Congressional Black Caucus, 1997–1999 |
| 2026 Election | Primary June 2; general November 3 |
St. Louis to South Los Angeles
Maxine Moore Waters was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on August 15, 1938, one of thirteen children raised by a single mother.
She moved to Los Angeles in 1961, working in a garment factory and at a telephone company before taking a job with the Head Start early education programme — the point at which she moved into public service.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from California State University, Los Angeles, in 1970, as a working mother in her thirties.
Fourteen Years in Sacramento
Waters was elected to the California State Assembly in 1976, taking office in 1977, and served until 1991.
Her Assembly record includes work on divestment from apartheid South Africa, limits on police strip-search practices, and the expansion of tenant protections. She rose to become the chamber’s Democratic Caucus chair.
Congress
Thirty-Five Years in the House
Waters was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1990 and has served continuously since 1991. Redistricting has changed her district number several times; she has represented the 43rd district since January 2013.
The seat covers parts of South Los Angeles and the surrounding cities, including areas at the centre of the 1992 unrest — an event she responded to with a widely noted insistence that the conditions producing it were the actual story.
Financial Services
Waters’s principal legislative territory is financial regulation. She chaired the House Financial Services Committee from 2019 to 2023, the first woman and the first Black member to hold the gavel, and is currently its Ranking Member.
The committee oversees banking, housing, insurance and securities regulation, and her focus has consistently been on consumer protection, predatory lending and housing policy.
The Congressional Black Caucus
She chaired the Congressional Black Caucus from 1997 to 1999 and remains one of its most senior figures.
Public Profile
Waters is among the most recognisable members of Congress, in large part because she does not soften her positions for the room. Her committee-hearing phrase “reclaiming my time” entered general circulation and became a minor cultural phenomenon.
She has been a frequent target of criticism from political opponents throughout her career, and has never adjusted her approach in response.
2026
Waters has declared for re-election in California’s 43rd district. The primary is scheduled for June 2, 2026, with the general election on November 3.
A win would extend a career in elected office that began in the Carter administration.
The Record
Nearly fifty years in office, from a garment factory floor to the senior Democratic seat on the committee that regulates American finance. Assessments of her politics divide along entirely predictable lines; the length and consistency of the career do not.
More public-life profiles: Joe Biden and Michael Popok.
