For 28-year-old Georgia state rep Park Cannon (Cannonfor58), her politics – and her passions – are personal: “Like many other people in the United States, I have seen the best and worst”
, that hasn’t deterred Cannon from seeking equality in reproductive healthcare — or from standing up for everything else she believes in, too.
Her passion is also personal: She is a queer Black woman who has experienced homelessness. She is the daughter of a Vietnam War veteran, and wants more affordable housing for veterans and people living with HIV. She is a doula, a trained individual who helps others throughout pregnancies or terminated pregnancies; hasherself; and wants to ensure reproductive justice for all of the people living in her state.
“Like many other people in the United States, I have seen the best and worst,” she told MTV News. “It is a human right for anyone to be able to feel as though they're living in a safe community, parenting in a place where they have resources, and mobilizing towards a better version of themselves.” Her firsthand experiences may have solidified her decision to run for the first time in 2016, but it was the former representative for District 58, Simone Bell, who planted the idea in her brain. At the time, Cannon was working as a health advocate at the Feminist Health Center, where she regularly interacted with Bell through their parallel policy goals.
Cannon beat opponent Ralph Long III by 18 points in a runoff election in 2016, and in 2018, won her seat in a landslide. She believes that the 2020 election will be key for voters showing up to the polls, in part because it is a census year, which means there is an opportunity for elected officials to balance state funding into causes that merit more financial support.
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