Meet Christian
Christian Wise Smith is ready for Georgia on day one.
At seven years old, Christian watched his grandmother being strip-searched by police. His mother was arrested multiple times before losing custody of him at fifteen. Christian was kicked out of school, missed meals, slept on floors, and in cars. He was headed down the wrong path. His grandmother told him, “One day, you’ll be different.” She was right.
Christian became the first in his family to graduate from college. He earned a Master’s in Healthcare Management and brought that expertise to Grady Health System – one of the nation’s largest public hospitals – where he managed multi-million-dollar project budgets and led initiatives across Women’s Health, HIV/AIDS care, and patient care administration, where he learned how bureaucracies either serve people or fail them.
He earned his law degree and served as Chief of Staff for the Atlanta City Council District 5, coordinating government operations and delivering measurable results. He later became a city solicitor and then a prosecutor in the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office, where he created evidence-based diversion programs that dramatically reduced recidivism. He learned that transforming broken systems requires more than good intentions – it requires strategic leadership, management expertise, and the courage to challenge the status quo.
Christian believes the Labor Commissioner should be an advocate, not just an administrator, using every tool available to fight for working families and to organize workers to demand legislative changes beyond the office’s direct control.
His experience as a prosecutor taught him that the justice system arrives too late.
His experience in healthcare administration taught him that broken bureaucracies cost lives.
His experience in local government taught him how to navigate complex systems and deliver results.
The Labor Commissioner’s office is where Christian can finally address the root causes he saw throughout his career: economic insecurity that drives families into crisis.
This isn’t another office for him – it’s the right office to deliver the solutions Georgia’s working families need.
