Brian Banks, an eight-time convicted felon, emerged victorious at the polls Tuesday in the race for Michigan's new 1st district state House seat, winning 68 percent of the vote with 88 percent of districts reporting.
The Democrat was opposed by Republican Dan Schulte, a Grosse Pointe Shores councilman. Libertarian Zachary Zichi, 19, had filed to run for the office in late September, but withdrew after finding out he was too young to run for office, Patch reports. Banks will represent parts of Detroit, Harper Woods, Grosse Pointe Woods and Grosse Pointe Shores.
The new state Rep. was convicted eight times for felonies involving bad checks and credit card fraud from 1998 to 2004.
"My felonies are just that, my past," he told The Huffington Post in September. "Since then I've gotten a bachelor's, a master's, a law degree and am working on my Ph.D. I look forward to fighting and working on making our community a cleaner, stronger and safer commmunity."
However, Banks' days of writing bad checks may not be as far behind him as he claims. Court records indicate that $3,751 judgment was imposed on him last week for not paying rent at a Harper Woods residence and a woman had him evicted from another property, also in Harper Woods, the week before that after repeatedly taking him to court for writing bad checks and not paying rent. If he intentionally wrote a bad check for more than $500, Banks could be charged with a two-year felony under the Michigan Penal Code.
Bill Ballenger, editor of the newsletter Inside Michigan Politics, previously told The Huffington Post that Bank's background was unlikely to have an impact on the race because of the district's solid Democratic leanings.
"These stories came out in the primary," he said. "I mean if someone was going to beat him, it should have been out in the Democratic primary in August, and yet he won."
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