Wilmot Collins
Wilmot Collins is a Liberian-born American politician serving as the mayor of Helena, Montana. He defeated four-term incumbent mayor James E. Smith in the 2017 mayoral election on November 7, 2017 with 51% of the vote. This victory made him the first black person to be elected the mayor of any city in the history of Montana since statehood was achieved in 1889.
On May 13, 2019, Collins announced his candidacy for United States Senate as a Democrat. He dropped out to endorse governor Steve Bullock on March 9, 2020.Biography
Collins fled his native Liberia for Helena in 1994, as a refugee from the First Liberian Civil War. He had petitioned for refugee status to join his wife, who had moved to Montana two years before he did. He subsequently became a United States citizen, and worked for the Montana Department of Health and Human Services, specializing in child protection. For over two decades, he was a member of the United States Navy Reserve. Collins has two children with his wife, their daughter, Jaymie and their son, Bliss. Wilmot Collins is first cousins with Helene Cooper, Pentagon correspondent for The New York Times.
