Bakari Sellers

Bakari Sellers is a two-time New York Times best-selling author, civil rights activist, attorney, entrepreneur and legislator. Sellers made history in 2006 when, at just 22 years old, he defeated a 26-year incumbent State Representative to become the youngest member of the South Carolina state legislature and the youngest African American elected official in the nation. In 2014 he was the Democratic Nominee for Lt. Governor in the state of South Carolina.

Earning his undergraduate degree from Morehouse College, where he served as student body president, and his law degree from the University of South Carolina, Sellers has followed in the footsteps of his father, civil rights leader Cleveland Sellers, in his tireless commitment to championing progressive policies to address issues ranging from education and poverty to preventing domestic violence and childhood obesity.

Sellers practices law with the Strom Law Firm, LLC in Columbia, SC and is a political commentator at CNN. The author of the bestselling memoir “My Vanishing Country,” he also wrote the "Who Are Your People?" and "The Moment: Thoughts on the Race Reckoning That Wasn't and How We All Can Move Forward Now," a 2025 release. He hosts The Bakari Sellers Podcast, which airs two times a week on the Ringer Podcast Network.

Sellers, widely considered to be a rising star within the Democratic Party and leading voice for his generation, served on President Barack Obama’s South Carolina steering committee during the 2008 election. He has received numerous accolades including being named to TIME Magazine’s 40 Under 40 in 2010 as well as “The Root 100” list of the nation’s most influential African-Americans.

He has served as a featured speaker at events for the National Education Association, College Democrats of America National Convention, the 2008 and 2016 Democratic National Convention.