U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters at the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, accompanied by her daughter Karen Waters, right. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
THE SETTING WAS LESS THAN glamorous: a get-out-the-vote rally in a parking lot next to a rust-stuccoed former T-Mobile store in Compton. But the air in the crowd changed about midway through the event Sunday afternoon, when longtime Congresswoman Maxine Waters arrived sporting a pink pinstripe suit and heels.
"It's Auntie Maxine," cheered one of the speakers, Amethyst Jefferson-Roberts, who added that Waters’ presence had rendered her speechless. "I don't even know what I was talking about," she told the crowd of nearly 50.
It’s hard to overemphasize how much sway Waters, who is now 87 years old and poised to be re-elected to her 19th term in Congress, holds here in Compton and neighboring southeast Los Angeles County cities.
But Waters’ power is being scrutinized this spring in light of a controversy that has exploded on the most seemingly humdrum of municipal issues: a printed flyer, or slate mailer, sent to thousands that opposed a bond measure to pay to replace a single public high school in Compton.
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