Mel Watt

Melvin Luther Watt (born August 26, 1945) is an American politician who served as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency from 2014 to 2019.

He was appointed by President Barack Obama.

He then easily won the general election by defeating Barbara Gore Washington (R) and Curtis Wade Krumel (L) with 70 percent of the vote, becoming the first Democrat to represent a significant portion of Charlotte since 1953.

He was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1967 with a B.S. degree in Business Administration.

In 1970, he received a J.D. from Yale Law School and was a published member of the Yale Law Journal.

Watt practiced law from 1970 to 1992, specializing in minority business and economic development law.

He has been a partner in several small businesses.

Watt served as a member of the North Carolina Senate from January 1985 to January 1987.

Watt was the campaign manager of Harvey Gantt's campaigns for mayor of Charlotte and for the United States Senate election in North Carolina in 1990.

In 1992, Watt entered the Democratic primary for the newly created 12th District, a 64 percent black-majority district stretching from Gastonia to Durham.

He won the four-way Democratic primary—the real contest in this heavily Democratic district—with 47 percent of the vote.

He is a former United States Representative for North Carolina's 12th congressional district, from 1993 to 2014.

He is a member of the Democratic Party.

A lawyer from Charlotte, North Carolina, Watt served one term as a state senator and was the campaign manager for Charlotte mayor Harvey Gantt.

In 1993, the original version of his district was thrown out in Shaw v. Reno, and was reconfigured to exclude its far western and far eastern portions.

In 2004, Ralph Nader attended a meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus, at which Nader clashed with members of the caucus over his presidential bid.

In 2010, Watt sponsored the Coin Modernization, Oversight, and Continuity Act.

In 2011, Watt became a co-sponsor of Bill H.R.3261, otherwise known as the Stop Online Piracy Act.

The new 12th, however, was no less Democratic than its predecessor, and Watt was reelected 10 more times.

He only faced one relatively close race against Republican Scott Keadle.

He previously served on the Joint Economic Committee.

On May 1, 2013, President Barack Obama nominated Watt to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which, among other agencies, administers or has oversight for the FHA, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac.

The U.S. Senate confirmed Watt on December 10, 2013, and he resigned from the House on January 6, 2014.

In 2013, Watts supported the Amash–Conyers Amendment, and was against the Innovation Act.

On May 1, 2013, President Obama announced his intent to nominate Watt to serve as the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Almost immediately, the nomination drew criticism from Republicans, some of whom complained that no politician should lead the agency.

Other Republican senators have argued that he lacks technical expertise on housing finance.

Obama formally nominated Watt to the post on May 7, 2013.

In July 2013, the Senate Banking Committee advanced Watt's nomination on a party-line vote.

On October 28, 2013, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid motioned to invoke cloture on Watt's nomination, setting up a key test of whether his nomination could overcome procedural hurdles and move to a final up-or-down vote.

The motion failed on October 31, with 56 votes in favor, shy of the 60 needed to pass.

After a series of procedural votes on December 10, 2013, the Senate voted 57–40 to invoke cloture on Watt's nomination, ending the Republican filibuster under the Senate's recently modified rules for cloture on executive branch nominees.

Later that same day, the Senate confirmed Watt in a 57–41 vote.

On September 27, 2018, Watt was called to testify before Congress about allegations that he had sexually harassed a female employee at the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

On November 29, 2018, Watt was found guilty of two counts of misconduct.

Watt was investigated in July 2018 for sexually harassing an employee.

He ended his term as director on January 6, 2019, and issued the following quote: "In my view, it's time for me to ride off into the sunset because the standards have become so confused that it's difficult to operate in them," he said, according to a transcript of his interview with investigators.

Watt was born in Steele Creek, located in Mecklenburg County.

He is the son of Evelyn Lucille (née Mauney) and Graham Edward Watt.

Watt is a graduate of York Road High School in Charlotte.