Samuel Lauderdale Park (born October 1, 1985) is an American politician and lawyer, who was elected to the

Georgia House of Representatives The Georgia House of Representatives is the lower house of the Georgia General Assembly (the state legislature) of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. There are currently 180 elected members. Republican Party (United States), Repu ...

in the 2016 elections."Meet Sam Park, First Openly Gay Man Elected to Georgia's General Assembly"

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Media Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's various operations r ...

Asian America, November 30, 2016. A member of the Democratic Party, he represents the 107th district.

Early life and education

Born and raised in Georgia, Sam Park is the grandson of refugees from the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

, and the son of Korean American immigrants. Through the HOPE Scholarship, Park attended

Georgia State University Georgia State University (Georgia State, State, or GSU) is a Public university, public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1913, it is one of the University System of Georgia's four research universities. It is al ...

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 Georgia State University College of Law is a law school located in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1982, it is accredited by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools. In addition to the Jur ...

and his LL.M. from

American University The American University (AU or American) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Its main campus spans 90-acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, in the Spri ...

Washington College of Law The American University Washington College of Law (AUWCL or WCL) is the law school of American University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It is located on the western side of Tenley Circle in the Tenleytown section of northw ...

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 The Georgia General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is bicameral, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Each of the General Assembly's 236 members serve two-year terms and are directl ...

. During the 2012 legislative session he met and interned for

Stacey Abrams Stacey Yvonne Abrams (; born December 9, 1973) is an American politician, lawyer, voting rights activist, and author who served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 2007 to 2017, serving as minority leader from 2011 to 2017. A member ...

who was the 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 Jamin Ben Raskin (born December 13, 1962) is an American attorney, law professor, and politician serving as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for Maryland's 8th congressional district since 2017. A member of the Demo ...

. He also worked on Jason Carter's 2014 gubernatorial campaign and

Jon Ossoff Thomas Jonathan Ossoff ( ; born February 16, 1987) is an American politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia since 2021. A member of the ...

'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 Valerie Clark is an American politician. She was a member of the Georgia House of Representatives The Georgia House of Representatives is the lower house of the Georgia General Assembly (the state legislature) of the U.S. state of Georgia ...

, being favored during the campaign. Park is the first openly

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

man to be elected to the state legislature in Georgia and the first Asian American Democrat ever elected to the

. 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 A keynote in public speaking is a talk that establishes a main underlying theme. In corporate or commercial settings, greater importance is attached to the delivery of a keynote speech or keynote address. The keynote establishes the framework fo ...

address at the

2020 Democratic National Convention The 2020 Democratic National Convention was a United States presidential nominating convention, presidential nominating convention that was held from August 17 to 20, 2020, at the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and virtual ...

. 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.

References

External links

Official Georgia House of Representatives page
* , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Park, Sam 1985 births American politicians of Korean descent Asian-American people in Georgia (U.S. state) politics American gay politicians Georgia (U.S. state) lawyers Georgia State University College of Law alumni American LGBTQ people of Asian descent LGBTQ state legislators in Georgia (U.S. state) Living people Democratic Party members of the Georgia House of Representatives Politicians from Atlanta Washington College of Law alumni Asian-American state legislators in Georgia 21st-century members of the Georgia General Assembly