Meet Overture Walker
HUSBAND, FATHER, SMALL BUSINESS OWNER, AND PUBLIC SERVANT
Early in his life, Overture Walker learned about the government’s capacity to help families survive as well as empower people to thrive.
Walker was born on September 30, 1980, in Sumter, South Carolina (Shaw Air Force Base), to the late Pervis B. Walker and Gloria Jean Levine. His parents separated shortly before his birth, and his mother raised him and his brother with the help of his maternal grandparents, Francis “Hambone” Brown, Sr., and Annie Mae Sinkler, an ex-day laborer and ex-domestic in the Jim Crow South, respectively.
While living with his grandparents, who were dependent on public relief, he experienced poverty and overcrowded housing. As a family of 11 people, they shared a two-bedroom, one-bath, dilapidated rental home plagued by shabby plumbing and devoid of central heat and air. His mother attended the local community college at night, took a work-study job during the day, and received government assistance while struggling to carve out a better life for her sons, who lagged academically, particularly Walker, who suffered from a speech disorder.
In 1986, his mother remarried and relocated the family to Southeast Richland County, where he received a middle-class upbringing and attended Richland One public schools. His stepfather, James Ozell Newman, an army veteran and mail handler for the U.S. Postal Service, espoused virtues such as honesty, hard work, patience, perseverance, accountability, thrift, discipline, academic excellence, and faith as means for achieving success in life.
Unfortunately, his stepfather died of complications from prostate cancer in 1995. However, Walker's mother and stepfather provided a foundation of values and crucial lessons that would set him up for success in later years, culminating with his entrance into public service.
Walker is a graduate of the University of South Carolina (’02) and the University South Carolina School of Law (’04). During his time in college, he served as an intern to Democratic Governor Jim Hodges. While in law school, he completed summer studies abroad at the Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn in London, England.
Upon graduation, Walker began his legal career as a public defender in the Richland County Public Defender’s Office. After his stint working in indigent defense, Walker joined the staff at the Office of the City Attorney in Columbia where he fought to keep communities safe as a city prosecutor and protected taxpayer dollars as a city attorney.
In 2015, he was appointed to the position of Municipal Court Judge by former Mayor Steve Benjamin and Columbia City Council. In 2020, Walker was elected to the Richland County Council, District 8, and served as Chairman of Council in 2022 and 2023.
In 2024, Overture Walker won election to the South Carolina State Senate from Richland County, making him the second African-American Senator in the history of Senate District 22. He is a proud product of Richland School District One, having attended public schools in Richland County.
As one of Richland’s junior senators, he currently serves on the following committees in the State Senate: Judiciary; Transportation; Corrections & Penology; and Rules.
Walker is the co-owner and co-founder of Stoney & Walker, LLC, which has law offices in Columbia and Charleston, providing a wide range of legal services from personal injury and workers’ compensation to criminal defense and probate/estate planning.
Walker is married to Sharon DuPree Walker, and they have a daughter who attends public school in Richland School District Two.