Katrina Robinson facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Katrina Robinson
Member of the Tennessee Senate from the 33rd district
In office January 8, 2019 – February 2, 2022
Preceded by	Reginald Tate
Succeeded by	London Lamar
Personal details
Born	(1981-01-13) January 13, 1981 (age 43) Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Children	2
Relatives	Lorenzen Wright (brother-in-law)
Education	University of Memphis (BBA) Union University (BSN)

Katrina Robinson (born January 13, 1981) is an American former politician who served in the Tennessee Senate from the 33rd district from 2019 to 2022 as a member of the Democratic Party. She was the first sitting member of the state senate to be indicted since Operation Tennessee Waltz and later became the first person to ever be expelled from the state senate.

Robinson was born in Memphis, Tennessee, educated at the University of Memphis and Union University, and founded a nursing college in 2015. She was elected to the state senate in the 2018 election after defeating incumbent Senator Reginald Tate in the Democratic primary.

Robinson was indicted on forty-eight charges relating to the embezzlement of $600,000 from federal grants to her nursing school in 2020. The charges against her were reduced to twenty before Judge Sheryl H. Lipman acquitted her on fifteen charges. She was found guilty on four counts of wire fraud in 2021.

Early life

Katrina Robinson was born on January 13, 1981, in Memphis, Tennessee. From 1998 to 2008, she attended the University of Memphis and graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration in marketing management. In 2010, she graduated from Union University with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing.

Career

Nursing college

In 2015, Robinson founded The Healthcare Institute, a nursing college, and received $1.6 million in grants from the United States Department of Health and Human Services. She received a total of $2.2 million in federal grants from 2015 to 2019. The Healthcare Institute started with two students and later expanded to over six hundred students.

Tennessee Senate

In 2018, Robinson was elected to the Tennessee Senate from the 33rd district as a member of the Democratic Party. On January 29, 2018, Robinson announced that she would run in the Democratic primary. She defeated incumbent Senator Reginald Tate in the Democratic primary and faced no opposition in the general election. Tate had been censured by the Shelby County Democratic Party and Robinson was endorsed by United States Representative Steve Cohen and Senate Minority Leader Sara Kyle.

Campaign funding disclosure lawsuit

In February 2023, Robinson was sued by the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance to collect financial penalties resulting from her failure to file 2020 and 2021 financial disclosures documents. Robinson was initially assessed a $7,500 fine in August, 2021 for not filing required campaign disclosure documents for 2020. The registry then added a $10,000 fine after Robinson again failed to submit the documents in 2021. Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti's office is prosecuting the case.

Electoral history