Forget the red wave, this Georgia politician is riding ‘a rainbow wave’

For years, Georgia has been a deep-red state when it comes to politics. But after this month’s hard-fought victory by Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, the Peach state is looking a lot more purple. Democratic state Rep. Park Cannon is part of this new era of politics in Georgia. As a young Black woman who identifies as queer, she says she welcomes the evolution she sees happening in politics. “When I ran, I was really clear that I was going to run as an openly queer person in Georgia. And there were so many people who said, ‘Wait, can't you just say lesbian?’” Cannon tells MAKERS. “So fast-forward to 2022, and we have queer folks openly running for office, we have elevated numbers and that is really exciting. It feels like a rainbow wave that I have been waiting for and also a part of.”

A CAREER-CHANGING CALL

Cannon graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a degree in Hispanic linguistics and a minor in women’s and gender studies. She worked as a coordinator for a Black women’s wellness program in Atlanta and got involved in health advocacy. On a trip to the state capital with the wellness group, she met Georgia legislator Simone Bell. “She happened to be this phenomenal African American lesbian,” Cannon tells Ky Polanco, founder of @feminist, in the latest MAKERS Community Conversation. Soon after that meeting, Bell called Cannon to let her know that she was resigning from her position and that she wanted Cannon to run for her seat. “I was 23 years old. I had just gotten out of college and decided I had nothing to lose,” Cannon says. “We had a super-grassroots team. We knocked on about 60,000 doors in six weeks, raised a little bit of money and went to our election.” Cannon claimed 47.4% of the votes that day. But because none of the three candidates in her race earned more than 50% of the vote, Cannon found herself in a runoff. The first-time politician won that runoff and became the youngest lawmaker in the state’s history.

PUSHING FOR CHANGE

In addition to working on Black women’s health, Cannon has also become a huge advocate for voting rights in Georgia. Last year, she got arrested for knocking on the governor’s door as he was signing the Republican-backed Senate Bill 202 bill that brought sweeping changes to voting regulations. The charges were dropped against Cannon, but she continues to fight for fair and equal access for all Georgia voters. “Just because we were able to outvote the voter suppression, it does not mean that those systems should be in place,” Cannon says, referring to the recent runoff victory for Democrats despite the many changes put in place by the new voting bill. “When we get back in the new year, there will be our state election board meetings, there will be county election board meetings, and we're really hoping that there can be some bipartisan changes to the voting code.”

Now in her seventh year as an elected official, Cannon says she knows that it takes time to make real change but that persistence can, in fact, pay off. “We have to take it one step at a time. And we also have to dream,” she says. “When the state of Georgia went, in the presidential election, favorably for our caucus, we got blue sweatshirts that said ‘State Flipper’ on them. So that dream that we had of flipping a state, we've done that.”

A NEW GENERATION

In case you haven’t noticed, Cannon isn’t the only young politician out there. In fact, Arkansas just elected 18-year-old Jaylen Smith, the youngest Black mayor in U.S. history, and the first Gen Z congressman, Democratic Rep. Maxwell Frost of Florida, is getting his feet wet in Washington, D.C. To Cannon, this makes sense. “We actually ran some college students to be on the school board in Georgia this past election cycle because we wanted them to be able to determine dress codes and whether bathrooms should be gendered and what kind of books should be taught. Someone who's recently been in school should be able to make those decisions.”

As a millennial, Cannon admits she often assumes the role of tech support for her older colleagues, especially now with so much work being done virtually. Although she’s now in her 30s, Cannon says her age still draws comments. “They'll say, ‘Girl, are you even old enough to be a state representative?’ And I'll have to take a deep breath, gently look down at my name tag and say, ‘Well, don't you remember? Weren't you here when the law was passed?’” Cannon jokes. “So I give people the benefit of the doubt, give 'em a little Southern twang and let 'em know that ‘yeah, I'm young enough to joke with you and also to pass laws.’”

But no matter what age, race, gender or sexual orientation political candidates are bringing to the table, Cannon hopes the increased diversity will translate to policies and laws that work for all citizens. “The intersectionality and diversity that Georgia has is finally showing up as elected officials,” Cannon says. “And I'm hopeful that what that means is not just that we create caucuses and sit at tables together, but that every policy that comes before us really has a lens of equity.”