Detroit: Among the new group of state lawmakers to emerge from Election Day is Brian Banks, a black man who has been convicted eight times for felonies involving bad checks and credit card fraud

Banks, a Democrat and lifelong Detroiter, won a seat in Lansing as a state representative for the 1st District, representing the east side of Detroit, Harper Woods, and the tony Grosse Pointes. He won 68% of the vote to Republican Dan Schulte’s 32%. Banks, 35, was convicted eight times between 1998 and 2004 of writing bad checks and credit card fraud. Michigan voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2010 that bans anyone convicted of a felony in the last 20 years from running for office — but the caveat is the conviction has to be “related to the person’s official capacity while holding any elective office.” This is Banks first run at elected office.