House District 85
Openly queer state Rep. Park Cannon can rest easy in HD58, which includes southwest Atlanta, downtown and Midtown. She beat former state Rep. Ralph Long in a special election runoff in February to replace Simone Bell, who resigned last November. Cannon had no challengers in the May primary nor has any challengers in November’s general election. Meanwhile, she’s been busy campaigning hard for Hillary Clinton.
House District 60
Lesbian state Rep. Keisha Waites technically has opposition in this district covering southeast Atlanta, Hapeville and parts of Clayton and Dekalb counties. But she is expected to land a third straight term in
Now this is the one to watch. Rep. Taylor Bennett made his opposition to anti-LGBT so-called “religious freedom” legislation the centerpiece of his successful campaign in last year’s election for this Republican-leaning Brookhaven district. It was personal to him, seeing as his mother is gay. Bennett had raised around $125,000 as of Sept. 30, with his Republican challenger Meagan Hanson raising roughly the same. See accompanying story on this race on page 8.
Lesbian state Rep. Karla Drenner isn’t going anywhere. She faced no opposition in the May primary and has no opposition in the general and will be elected to her eighth term in office come November. HD85 includes Avondale Estates, Clarkston, Decatur and parts of Belvedere Park
October 28, 2016
One more LGBT candidate is in the running this November. Attorney Sam Park joins Bob Gibeling as the two openly LGBT males running for the state legislature, and either of them would make history by pulling out a win. Park, a Democrat, is running against incumbent state Rep. Valerie Clark, who has tripled him in the money race as of a Sept. 30 filing. Clark was first elected to the seat in 2010, beating out Democrat Lee Thompson by eight points. She won reelection in 2012 by beating openly gay Democrat Timothy Swiney (who ran as a Republican in the previous race) by 13 points. She was unopposed in 2014. HD 101 includes Lawrenceville and Suwanee.