Willis was born inInglewood, California. Her father, John C. Floyd III, was a founder of a faction of theBlack Panthers but grew disillusioned by the movement's infighting.[7] When Willis was in the first grade, her family moved toWashington, D.C., where her father practiced law as acriminal defense attorney. Her parents divorced and her mother eventually moved back toCalifornia. Willis mostly stayed with her father.[2]
Willis's first government job was as a solicitor, prosecutingmisdemeanors andcity ordinance violations.[10] She spent 16 years as a prosecutor in the Fulton CountyDistrict Attorney's office. Her most prominent case was her prosecution of theAtlanta Public Schools cheating scandal. Willis, an assistant district attorney at the time, served as lead prosecutor in the 2014 to 2015 trial of twelve educators accused of correcting answers entered by students to inflate the scores of state administered standardized tests. Eleven of the twelve were convicted of racketeering under Georgia'sRICO statute in April 2015.[11]
In 2018, she went into private practice.[12] That year, she ran for a seat on the Fulton County Superior Court, and lost.[13] In 2019, Willis became Chief Municipal Judge forSouth Fulton, Georgia.[14]
In 2020, Willis was elected district attorney for Fulton County, defeating Paul Howard Jr., a six-term incumbent and her former boss.[15][16] In this role she is known for successfully using Georgia's RICO statute to prosecute non-mobsters,[17] and, as of 2023, is using the same statute to prosecute former presidentDonald Trump and 18 alleged co-conspirators.[18]
In 2022, an employee in the Fulton County District Attorney's Office alleged that Willis fired her for uncovering plans to misuse federal grant funding.[19] In 2024, theHouse Judiciary Committee subpoenaed Willis regarding the former employee's whistleblower complaint after a taped conversation of the employee discussing the alleged misuse of federal funds with Willis was released publicly.[20][21] The committee gave Willis a deadline of February 23.[22] Willis said that the employee was "terminated for cause" and that the $488,000 in federal grant funding was utilized appropriately.[23]
In November 2024, Willis won her reelection bid. Earlier, in the Democratic Party primary election, she defeated Christian Wise Smith.[24] By October, Willis had raised over $2 million.[25] In the general election, she defeated Republican Courtney Kramer, a former Trump intern.[26]
Willis senttarget letters to people being investigated related to thefake electors plot. These include two Republican officials—State SenatorBrandon Beach andDavid Shafer, chairman of theGeorgia Republican Party[33]—and the 16 people who falsely presented themselves aselectors.[34] She also sent a target letter to State SenatorBurt Jones, but then a judge ruled she could not target Jones due to a conflict of interest which was created by Willis hosting a fundraiser for the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor.[35]
After hearing from 75 witnesses—including former US SenatorKelly Loeffler, former White House CounselPat Cipollone,[36] and possiblySidney Powell[37]—the special grand jury completed its work and was dissolved on January 9, 2023. On February 16, following a judge's order, parts of the report were released.[38]
Fulton Country District Attorney Fani Willis with U.S. Representative Nikema Williams, attending the Global Women's Summit, 2023
Willis' office indicted Trump and 18 others on 41 charges on August 14, 2023, including 13 charges against Trump.[39] In 2024, Judge Scott McAfee quashed 6 charges, including 3 against Trump, while giving prosecutors the option to refile these charges.[40][41]
On January 8, 2024, a defendant filed a pre-trial motion to dismiss the indictment and disqualify Willis and her office from prosecuting the RICO case against them due to Willis having aconflict of interest related to her personal relationship with lead prosecutor Nathan Wade.[42][43] On February 15, 2024, JudgeScott F. McAfee started an evidentiary hearing, then ruled on March 15 that either Willis — along with her office — or Wade must leave the case, because their relationship brought about a "significant appearance of impropriety, and an odor of mendacity remains", McAfee wrote.[44] He found no conflict of interest as there was insufficient evidence Willis had benefited financially.[45][46][47][48] Nathan Wade resigned from the case a few hours after the judge's ruling "to move this case forward as quickly as possible."[49] In May 2024, theGeorgia Court of Appeals agreed to hear an appeal to revisit whether Willis should be removed too.[50] On December 19, the Georgia Court of Appeals ruled that Willis alongside her office were to be removed for an appearance of impropriety.[51][52] Willis' office appealed to theSupreme Court of Georgia, but on September 16, 2025, the court denied certiorari. This finalized the Fulton County DA's office's disqualification from the case. Willis said her office would transfer the case file and evidence to the Prosecuting Attorneys' Council of Georgia, which on November 14 announced that its executive director, Pete Skandalakis, would be the new prosecutor.[53][54]
On January 8, 2025, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ordered Willis' office to pay over $20,000 toJudicial Watch for falsely claiming they did not possess any documents showing communication with theUnited States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack.[55] In a separate finding, Willis was ordered to turn over documents to a defendant and pay over $54,000 in attorneys’ fees for violations of Georgia’s Open Records Act, with Fulton County Superior Court Judge Rachel Krause describing Willis' violations of the act as "intentional, not done in good faith, and were substantially groundless and vexatious".[56]
In May 2022, Willis's office indictedYoung Thug and 28 members of hisYSL record label for gang-related crimes under Georgia'sRICO statute.[57][58] The trial began on November 27, 2023.[59] The case would go on to become the longest in Georgia's history.[60] On October 31, 2024, Young Thug entered a guilty plea as part of a plea agreement. He was given 15 years of probation and released from custody.[61] Willis's office released a statement on the plea deal.[62]
On the day she took the Georgiabar exam, Willis met Fred Willis, who was working an extra job as avideographer. They married in 1996 and have two daughters.[14] They divorced in 2005.[14]
