Fattah, Chaka, 1956-
Variant namesBiographical notes:
Chaka Fattah (born Arthur Davenport; November 21, 1956) is an American politician from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania who served as a Democratic member of the U.S. House for Pennsylvania's 2nd congressional district from 1995 to 2016, and he was succeeded by fellow Democrat Dwight Evans. He previously served in the Pennsylvania Senate and the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.
Fattah grew up in Philadelphia, attending Overbrook High School and the Community College of Philadelphia. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. In 1984, Fattah completed the Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in business and economics from the University of Pennsylvania. In May 1986, he received his master's degree in Governmental Administration from the University of Pennsylvania's Fels Institute of Government.
Fattah served as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the 192nd district from 1983 to 1988, and as a State Senator for the 7th district from 1988 to 1994.
In 1991, State Senator Fattah decided to run for Pennsylvania's 2nd congressional district in the special election that was held after Democratic U.S. Congressman William Gray decided to resign. On November 5, 1991, Fattah came second to City Councilman Lucien Edward Blackwell. In 1994, Fattah decided to challenge Blackwell in the Democratic primary. He defeated the incumbent 58%–42%. He won the general election with 86% of the vote. After that, he was re-elected every two years with at least 86% of the vote. He was never challenged in the Democratic primary until 2016, when he lost to Dwight E. Evans.
On July 29, 2015, Fattah and a group of associates were indicted on federal charges related to their alleged roles in a racketeering and influence peddling conspiracy. He was convicted on 23 counts of racketeering, fraud, and other corruption charges on June 21, 2016, and resigned two days later. On December 12, 2016, Fattah was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
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Subjects:
Occupations:
- Community activists
- Political activists
- Representatives, U.S. Congress
- State Representative
- State Senator
- U.S. Congressman
Places:
- MA, US
- PA, US
- Washington (D.C.) (as recorded)
- Philadelphia (Pa.) (as recorded)
- Philadelphia (Pa.) (as recorded)
