Tabor was raised in Inglewood graduated from Morningside High School.[1] After college, he worked as counsellor in Inglewood schools.[1]
Tabor served as the Southern California Liaison for the Office of the Secretary, United States Department of Commerce, under Secretary Ronald H. Brown from 1993 to 1996.[2] He was a negotiator of the settlement agreement between Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) and the LAX Coalition for Economic, Environmental and Educational justice which brought $500 million in investments to local communities.[2][3] He served on the Inglewood City Council representing the 1st District[4] from 2002 to 2010.[2] He was instrumental in easing tensions between the declining African-American population and the increasing Hispanic population which had led to a sharp increase in gang violence[5] (Inglewood was 50% Hispanic and 43% African-American in 2010). In 2008, he brought the feuding groups together for a "Day of Dialogue."[2]
On January 24, 2010, the prior mayor of Inglewood, Roosevelt F. Dorn, stepped down from the position and pled guilty the following day to a misdemeanor conflict of interest charge.[6] In August 2010, Tabor won a runoff election to fill the remainder of Dorn's term[7] besting his nearest opponent, 2nd District Council member Judy Dunlap.[4] He was officially sworn in on September 14, 2010, inheriting a $15 million fiscal deficit.[4] In the November 2, 2010 general election, he earned 43.2 percent of the vote compared with 31.0 percent for the next candidate, James T. Butts Jr.[8] As he did not obtain a majority of the votes cast, a runoff election was scheduled in January 2011.[7] Tabor lost by a vote of 3,776 to 3,000 and Butts was sworn in on January 27, 2011.[9] The Los Angeles Sentinel described it as a "tumultuous year of elections" for the city, with a close race between the two candidates while the city was operating at an $18 million deficit.[9]
Tabor is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.[2]
