Mike Thurmond

Mike Thurmond
Chief Executive Officer of DeKalb County
In office
January 1, 2017 – January 1, 2025
Preceded byBurrell Ellis
Succeeded byLorraine Cochran- Johnson
Labor Commissioner of Georgia
In office
January 11, 1999 – January 10, 2011
GovernorRoy Barnes
Sonny Perdue
Preceded byMarti Fullerton
Succeeded byMark Butler
Member of the Georgia House of Representatives
from the 67th district
In office
January 12, 1987 – January 11, 1993
Preceded byHugh Logan
Succeeded byMike Polak
Personal details
Born (1953-01-05) January 5, 1953
PartyDemocratic
SpouseZola Fletcher
ChildrenMikaya
EducationPaine College (BA)
University of South Carolina (JD)

Michael L. Thurmond (born January 5, 1953) is an American author, attorney, and politician. A Democrat, he was previously the Chief Executive Officer of DeKalb County and a representative in the Georgia General Assembly. He served as Georgia Labor Commissioner from 1999 to 2011.

Thurmond served as the interim superintendent of the DeKalb County School District, the third largest district in the state of Georgia from 2013 to 2015. The district serves nearly 99,000 students with over 13,400 employees. Thurmond was the Democratic Party's nominee for United States Senate in 2010. He was also one of the last Democrats to win statewide in Georgia until 2020, when Joe Biden won the state in the 2020 presidential election. In 2025, he announced that he will be running in the 2026 Georgia gubernatorial election.

Prior to becoming DeKalb's Schools Superintendent, Thurmond was an attorney at Butler Wooten Cheeley & Peak LLP.