Before winning election to the state legislature in 2012, Waites mounted seven unsuccessful campaigns for elected office: • 2001:
Atlanta City Council, at-large post 1 (as Sean Waites) • 2002:
State Senate, District 36: placed fourth in the Democratic primary • 2005: Atlanta City Council, District 12 • 2006:
Fulton County Commission • 2008: State House, District 61: lost primary runoff • 2009: Atlanta City Council, District 12 • 2010: Fulton County Commission, District 6: lost primary runoff In addition, Waites applied for an appointment to the Atlanta City Council in 2004, one of four candidates who put themselves forward to temporarily fill a vacant seat. The council did not select Waites for the vacancy, choosing Esther Stewart-Moseley instead. Waites's qualified for the District 60 House seat on January 9, 2012. In the special election, she took 54.2 percent of the vote (321 votes) compared to 18.6 percent (110 votes) for Theresa Middlebrooks and 27.2 percent (161 votes) for Latrenka Riley, thus avoiding a runoff. Waites resigned from her House seat on September 18, 2017, to run for the chairship of the
Fulton County Commission. She finished in second place, ahead of
Gabriel Sterling, and advanced to a
runoff election, which she lost to
incumbent Robb Pitts. She ran in the Democratic primary for
Georgia's 13th congressional district against incumbent
David Scott, coming in second place in a field of four candidates. She filed for the
5th congressional district special election to fill the remaining term of
John Lewis. In 2021, Waites filed to run for
Atlanta City Council Post 3 At-Large to succeed incumbent
Andre Dickens (who filed to run for
Atlanta Mayor), her fourth bid for a council seat. After winning the largest share of votes in the first round among five candidates, Waites ran in a November 30 runoff with Jacki Labat, winning the runoff 52%-47%. Waites resigned in March 2024 to run for Fulton County Clerk of Superior and Magistrate Courts. She was defeated by incumbent Ché Alexander in a four-way Democratic primary, who then won the election unopposed. Waites filed for the
Georgia Public Service Commission special election for District 3 in March 2025. After leading the first round of the Democratic primary, she was defeated in the primary runoff by Peter Hubbard on July 16, 2025. ==Personal life==