Sam Park

American politician from Georgia
Sam Park
Member of the Georgia House of Representatives
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 9, 2017
Preceded byValerie Clark
Constituency101st District (2017–2023)
107th District (2023–Present)
Personal details
Born
Samuel Lauderdale Park

(1985-10-01) October 1, 1985 (age 38)
Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
EducationGeorgia State University (BA, BS, JD)
American University (LLM)

Samuel Lauderdale Park (born October 1, 1985) is an American politician and lawyer, who was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in the 2016 elections.[1] A member of the Democratic Party, he represents the 107th district.[2]

Early life and education

Born and raised in Georgia, Sam Park is the grandson of refugees from the Korean War, and the son of Korean American immigrants. Through the HOPE Scholarship, Park attended Georgia State University where he obtained a B.A. in Political Science and a B.S. in Economics. He went on to earn his J.D. degree from Georgia State University College of Law and his LL.M. from American University Washington College of Law.[3]

Early political career

During his second year of law school, Park took a Health, Legislation, and Advocacy course where he drafted a bill to provide skilled nursing services to medically-fragile children. This was his first opportunity to work in the Georgia General Assembly. During the 2012 legislative session he met and interned for Stacey Abrams who was minority leader of the Georgia House Democratic Caucus at that time. He served as a legal extern for the Georgia Senate Democratic Caucus during the 2013 legislative session. He then worked as a legal aide for Maryland State Senator Jamie Raskin. He also worked on Jason Carter's 2014 gubernatorial campaign and Jon Ossoff's 2017 campaign.

Georgia House of Representatives

Park was inspired to run for political office after his mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer and was able to receive treatment through public health insurance, Medicare, and Medicaid. Park won the 101st district with 51.1% of the vote despite his opponent, incumbent Republican Chairwoman Valerie Clark, being favored during the campaign.[1][4]

Park is the first openly gay man to be elected to the state legislature in Georgia and the first Asian American Democrat ever elected to the Georgia General Assembly. In 2017, Park was appointed to serve as a Deputy Whip of the Georgia House Democratic Caucus.

In 2018, Park was re-elected with 58.81% of the vote, and was selected to serve as the Vice-Chair of the Gwinnett State House Delegation.

National politics

Park was selected as one of seventeen speakers to jointly deliver the keynote address at the 2020 Democratic National Convention.[5] Park was the first Korean-American to be part of a national party convention keynote address, and he, Malcolm Kenyatta, and Robert Garcia were the first openly gay speakers in a keynote slot at a Democratic National Convention.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b "Meet Sam Park, First Openly Gay Man Elected to Georgia's General Assembly". NBC News Asian America, November 30, 2016.
  2. ^ "Sam Park Is the First Openly Gay Man Elected to the Georgia Legislature". Out, November 9, 2016.
  3. ^ Fouriezos, Nick (June 24, 2018). "Meet the Millennial Georgian Inspiring Asian American Voters". OZY.
  4. ^ Farner, Keith (November 8, 2016). "Sam Park knocks off incumbent Valerie Clark in House 101 race". Gwinnett Daily Post.
  5. ^ "Democrats Unveil A New Kind of Convention Keynote". 2020 Democratic National Convention. 16 August 2020. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
  6. ^ "Three Gay 'Rising Stars' Join DNC Keynote — One with His Fiancé". 18 August 2020.

External links

  • Official Georgia House of Representatives page
  • Sam Park at Ballotpedia
Georgia House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the Georgia House of Representatives
from the 101st district
2017–2023 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of the Georgia House of Representatives
from the 107th district
2023–Present 		Incumbent
Party political offices
Preceded by Keynote Speaker of the Democratic National Convention
2020
Served alongside: Stacey Abrams, Raumesh Akbari, Colin Allred, Brendan Boyle, Yvanna Cancela, Kathleen Clyde, Nikki Fried, Robert Garcia, Malcolm Kenyatta, Marlon Kimpson, Conor Lamb, Mari Manoogian, Victoria Neave, Jonathan Nez, Denny Ruprecht, Randall Woodfin 		Most recent
  • v
  • t
  • e
157th General Assembly (2023–2025)
Speaker of the House
Jon G. Burns (R)
Majority Leader
Chuck Efstration (R)
Minority Leader
James Beverly (D)
  1. ▌Mike Cameron (R)
  2. ▌Steve Tarvin (R)
  3. ▌Mitchell Horner (R)
  4. ▌Kasey Carpenter (R)
  5. ▌Matt Barton (R)
  6. ▌Jason Ridley (R)
  7. ▌Johnny Chastain (R)
  8. ▌Stan Gunter (R)
  9. ▌Will Wade (R)
  10. ▌Victor Anderson (R)
  11. ▌Rick Jasperse (R)
  12. ▌Eddie Lumsden (R)
  13. ▌Katie Dempsey (R)
  14. ▌Mitchell Scoggins (R)
  15. ▌Matthew Gambill (R)
  16. ▌Trey Kelley (R)
  17. ▌Martin Momtahan (R)
  18. ▌Tyler Smith (R)
  19. ▌Joseph Gullett (R)
  20. ▌Charlice Byrd (R)
  21. ▌Brad Thomas (R)
  22. ▌Jordan Ridley (R)
  23. ▌Mandi Ballinger (R)
  24. ▌Carter Barrett (R)
  25. ▌Todd Jones (R)
  26. ▌Lauren McDonald (R)
  27. ▌Lee Hawkins (R)
  28. ▌Brent Cox (R)
  29. ▌Matt Dubnik (R)
  30. ▌Derrick McCollum (R)
  31. ▌Emory Dunahoo (R)
  32. ▌Chris Erwin (R)
  33. ▌Alan Powell (R)
  34. ▌Devan Seabaugh (R)
  35. ▌Lisa Campbell (D)
  36. ▌Ginny Ehrhart (R)
  37. ▌Mary Frances Williams (D)
  38. ▌David Wilkerson (D)
  39. ▌Terry Cummings (D)
  40. ▌Doug Stoner (D)
  41. ▌Michael Smith (D)
  42. ▌Teri Anulewicz (D)
  43. ▌Solomon Adesanya (D)
  44. ▌Don Parsons (R)
  45. ▌Sharon Cooper (R)
  46. ▌John Carson (R)
  47. ▌Jan Jones (R)
  48. ▌Scott Hilton (R)
  49. ▌Chuck Martin (R)
  50. ▌Michelle Au (D)
  51. ▌Esther Panitch (D)
  52. ▌Shea Roberts (D)
  53. ▌Deborah Silcox (R)
  54. ▌Betsy Holland (D)
  55. ▌Inga Willis (D)
  56. ▌Mesha Mainor (R)
  57. ▌Stacey Evans (D)
  58. ▌Park Cannon (D)
  59. ▌Phil Olaleye (D)
  60. ▌Sheila Jones (D)
  61. ▌Roger Bruce (D)
  62. ▌Tanya F. Miller (D)
  63. ▌Kim Schofield (D)
  64. ▌Kimberly New (R)
  65. ▌Mandisha Thomas (D)
  66. ▌Kimberly Alexander (D)
  67. ▌Lydia Glaize (D)
  68. ▌Derrick Jackson (D)
  69. ▌Debra Bazemore (D)
  70. ▌Lynn Smith (R)
  71. ▌J. Collins (R)
  72. ▌David Huddleston (R)
  73. ▌Josh Bonner (R)
  74. ▌Karen Mathiak (R)
  75. ▌Eric Bell II (D)
  76. ▌Sandra Scott (D)
  77. ▌Rhonda Burnough (D)
  78. ▌Demetrius Douglas (D)
  79. ▌Yasmin Neal (D)
  80. ▌Long Tran (D)
  81. ▌Scott Holcomb (D)
  82. ▌Mary Margaret Oliver (D)
  83. ▌Karen Lupton (D)
  84. ▌Omari Crawford (D)
  85. ▌Karla Drenner (D)
  86. ▌Imani Barnes (D)
  87. ▌Viola Davis (D)
  88. ▌Billy Mitchell (D)
  89. ▌Becky Evans (D)
  90. ▌Saira Draper (D)
  91. ▌Angela Moore (D)
  92. ▌Rhonda Taylor (D)
  93. ▌Doreen Carter (D)
  94. ▌Karen Bennett (D)
  95. ▌Dar'shun Kendrick (D)
  96. ▌Pedro Marin (D)
  97. ▌Ruwa Romman (D)
  98. ▌Marvin Lim (D)
  99. ▌Matt Reeves (R)
  100. ▌David Clark (R)
  101. ▌Gregg Kennard (D)
  102. ▌Gabe Okoye (D)
  103. ▌Soo Hong (R)
  104. ▌Chuck Efstration (R)
  105. ▌Farooq Mughal (D)
  106. ▌Shelly Hutchinson (D)
  107. ▌Sam Park (D)
  108. ▌Jasmine Clark (D)
  109. ▌Dewey McClain (D)
  110. ▌Segun Adeyina (D)
  111. ▌Reynaldo Martinez (R)
  112. ▌Bruce Williamson (R)
  113. ▌Sharon Henderson (D)
  114. ▌Tim Fleming (R)
  115. ▌Regina Lewis-Ward (D)
  116. ▌El-Mahdi Holly (D)
  117. ▌Lauren Daniel (R)
  118. ▌Clint Crowe (R)
  119. ▌Holt Persinger (R)
  120. ▌Houston Gaines (R)
  121. ▌Marcus Wiedower (R)
  122. ▌Spencer Frye (D)
  123. ▌Rob Leverett (R)
  124. ▌Trey Rhodes (R)
  125. ▌Gary Richardson (R)
  126. ▌Gloria Frazier (D)
  127. ▌Mark Newton (R)
  128. ▌Mack Jackson (D)
  129. ▌Karlton Howard (D)
  130. ▌Lynn Gladney (D)
  131. ▌Jodi Lott (R)
  132. ▌Brian Prince (D)
  133. ▌Kenneth Vance (R)
  134. ▌David Knight (R)
  135. ▌Beth Camp (R)
  136. ▌David Jenkins (R)
  137. ▌Debbie Buckner (D)
  138. ▌Vance Smith (R)
  139. ▌Vacant
  140. ▌Teddy Reese (D)
  141. ▌Carolyn Hugley (D)
  142. ▌Miriam Paris (D)
  143. ▌James Beverly (D)
  144. ▌Dale Washburn (R)
  145. ▌Robert Dickey (R)
  146. ▌Shaw Blackmon (R)
  147. ▌Bethany Ballard (R)
  148. ▌Noel Williams Jr. (R)
  149. ▌Danny Mathis (R)
  150. ▌Patty Bentley (D)
  151. ▌Mike Cheokas (R)
  152. ▌Bill Yearta (R)
  153. ▌David Sampson (D)
  154. ▌Gerald Greene (R)
  155. ▌Matt Hatchett (R)
  156. ▌Leesa Hagan (R)
  157. ▌Bill Werkheiser (R)
  158. ▌Butch Parrish (R)
  159. ▌Jon G. Burns (R)
  160. ▌Lehman Franklin (R)
  161. ▌Bill Hitchens (R)
  162. ▌Carl Gilliard (D)
  163. ▌Anne Allen Westbrook (D)
  164. ▌Ron Stephens (R)
  165. ▌Edna Jackson (D)
  166. ▌Jesse Petrea (R)
  167. ▌Buddy DeLoach (R)
  168. ▌Al Williams (D)
  169. ▌Clay Pirkle (R)
  170. ▌Penny Houston (R)
  171. ▌Joe Campbell (R)
  172. ▌Charles Cannon (R)
  173. ▌Darlene Taylor (R)
  174. ▌John Corbett (R)
  175. ▌John LaHood (R)
  176. ▌James Burchett (R)
  177. ▌Dexter Sharper (D)
  178. ▌Steven Meeks (R)
  179. ▌Rick Townsend (R)
  180. ▌Steven Sainz (R)