Grady Prestage

Common card · No. 305385

James Grady Prestage (born July 30, 1958) is an American politician and civil engineer who has served on the Fort Bend County Commissioners Court as the commissioner for Precinct 2 since 1991. A Democrat, he is the longest serving member of the court. Born in Iowa City and raised in Baton Rouge, Prestage is the son of Jewel Prestage, the first African American woman to earn a doctorate in political science in the United States. He studied civil engineering at Southern University and worked for oil and gas companies along with engineering consulting firms before moving to Fort Bend County around 1981. After narrowly losing a 1986 primary runoff to incumbent Ben Denham, he defeated Denham in 1990 and won the general election at age 32, becoming the first African American to sit on the Commissioners Court since Reconstruction. He has since won reelection eight times, and is seeking another term in 2026. Prestage's tenure has coincided with Fort Bend County's growth from a largely rural county...

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