Brother Keyon S. Payton Announces Run For State Representative of Michigan's 29th District (Fall

I'm very pleased to officially launch my social media campaign for State Representative of the 29th District!! Please visit my website at www.keyonpayton.com for additional information. I humbly solicit your prayers, support, and financial and volunteer contributions!! This campaign is the People's Campaign!! District 29, Let's Do What's BEST For The People!!

Keyon S. Payton is an overcomer. A native son of Pontiac, Michigan, Payton was born to a teenage mother and raised at a young age by his grandparents. His grandfather was a business owner that instilled in him the value of hard work and dedication. Upon completing a public education in elementary school Keyon’s mother withdrew him from the Pontiac public-school system to provide Keyon with a better educational experience. Despite his mother’s best efforts, due to a number of childhood traumatic experiences, Keyon soon began down a path that led him to poor decision making. Labeled a “discipline problem”, Keyon was expelled from three different middle schools.

Through his faith in God and with the mentoring support of the late Rev. Dr. Amos G. Johnson, Keyon was able to find his way back to the right path, and at age 14 accepted his life’s calling as a minister. In the continued pursuit of a quality education, Keyon’s mother leased a modest apartment in Bloomfield Hills, which enabled Keyon to attend Bloomfield Hills Lasher High School. Upon graduating and after initially being rejected by his only college choice due to his poor GPA, Keyon was eventually accepted into Morehouse College after a divinely random encounter of meeting a Morehouse recruiter who sat next to him at a Pistons game. While he started on academic probation, he would graduate from Morehouse at the top of his class.

Seeking to follow in the footsteps of noted Morehouse Alumnus, the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Keyon S. Payton developed a passion for ministry that includes community outreach. This passion further led him to Princeton Theological Seminary where he continued his education work in the community. While there he was awarded the President’s Outstanding Academic Excellence Award and the Aaron E. Gast Award for his efforts in Urban Ministry.

After graduating with his Master of Divinity degree from Princeton, Keyon stayed in New Jersey and began his career in education a