If Marjorie Taylor Greene — the self-absorbed, fingers-on-a-chalkboard MAGA gremlin and U.S. representative from Georgia — had an opposite number outside her bizarro world of election-denying conspiracy theorists and Trump-deranged pillow hucksters, it might be Georgia state Rep. Sam Park (D).
Park, 39, was elected to his first term the same night Donald Trump was elected to his, a “surreal experience,” Park says, that had half his staff celebrating his win and the other half in tears over Trump’s ascendency.
That dynamic has been at play in one form or another over the last eight years as Park has navigated wins and losses in the Georgia House of Representatives, lately as Minority Whip of the Democratic Caucus, and suffered, like the rest of the country and Democrats in Georgia, the misanthropy of the MAGA king and his disciples like Greene.
Park is everything they’re not: kind, thoughtful, self-aware, a team player — and Korean: he’s the “good son” of first-generation immigrants.
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On a clear, sunny day just before launching a neighborhood canvass from his home on the east side of Atlanta, Park was monitoring the progress of Hurricane Milton following a “heavy hit” in southeastern Georgia from Hurricane Helene just weeks before.
“We got lucky and avoided the worst of both storms,” Park said, “so far.”
LGBTQ Nation: Georgia became a majority-minority state in 2022, one of two swing states with that distinction in 2024, along with Nevada. Your district is majority-minority, as well. What part does that play for Georgia in the election this year, and from where you sit, how threatened does the white majority in the General Assembly feel?
Rep. Sam Park: It’s a critical aspect. It is generational change driving demographic change that’s driving political change in Georgia. That’s certainly been my experience as a Georgia native, but also as someone who’s been in politics for the past eight years as an elected official.
In terms of how threatened the current majority is, they are very much threatened, and we saw that through redistricting efforts at the congressional, state, and local level. They drew racially discriminatory maps that were struck down by a federal court that then had to be remedied by drawing five additional majority Black seats in the State House, I think one additional majority Black district in the Congress, and two for the State Senate. They did so by essentially engaging in partisan gerrymandering, which is why our congressional delegation remains 9/5, despite us being a 50/50 state.
You’re the grandson of refugees from the Korean War and the son of Korean immigrants to the United States. What’s one stereotype about Koreans that’s true?
(Laughing) We have good skincare products!
You’re the first openly gay man elected to the Georgia State Legislature. What was the worst reaction from any one of your new colleagues?
I mean, I’d say the worst reaction would have been just voting for anti-LGBTQ pieces of legislation.
What’s your role been in arguing against those? How are you making the case among your straight colleagues?
I mean, as the whip, it’s critically important for me to educate and inform my members as to how a bill like that would harm my community — our community — and whip their vote to make sure that they vote the right way.
Did your arrival have any overtly positive impact?
Yes, without a doubt I think it did. In 2016, Republicans passed religious liberty legislation that would have permitted state-sanctioned discrimination against the LGBTQ community. The Republican governor vetoed that bill. At the same time, I unseated a three-term Republican chairwoman in 2016, which no one really expected, and I think it demonstrated to both Democratic and Republican colleagues that Georgia voters were perfectly fine with electing an openly gay person.
And for about six years, we did not pass a single anti-LGBTQ bill, until last year, when they passed legislation banning gender-affirming care. As whip, I think I lost one or two Democratic members on that bill.
They’ve also seen I’ve been able to help grow our House Democratic Caucus, such that we are hopefully going to be within striking distance of flipping the chamber outright in two to four years.
As a first-time candidate, you challenged and unseated the three-term incumbent by a two-point margin. You beat her by 18 in a rematch two years later. In the last election you buried another opponent by 36 points, but he’s coming after you again this year. Could you possibly double your margin again and beat him by 72?
(Laughing) I would love to, but that is unlikely, and this speaks to Republican gerrymandering efforts. For the past three election cycles, this one included, I’ve had a new district. In 2022 they drew my family out of my district, thinking that I still live with family. This year, they drew me in with another Democrat. That Democrat decided not to run against me because he thought I would have a greater impact than he would. He’s also a friend, a pastor, does a lot of great work in the community. So, I’m in a more leaning Republican district this cycle than I was in 2022.
You won your first race in 2016 the same night that Donald Trump won his. What went through your mind?
It was surreal, like, what was happening? Half my team was crying. Half my team was celebrating. I think we wrapped up festivities a little sooner than expected, just because it was such a shocker for everyone that Trump ended up winning that night.
You’re in your fourth term as a rep. What’s something that you’ve learned as a veteran legislator that you wish you’d known in your first term?
In politics, you have to know how to take a punch and you have to be able to throw a punch. Politics is a contact sport.
You grew up in a household with a mom and two sisters. What role did you play in that family structure, and what was a typical evening at home for the four of you?
(Laughing) Probably being told to do the dishes or take out the trash. I’m the youngest. I’m the baby. I was raised by three strong women and I did my best to be a good brother and a good son.
You’ve said your mom ensured that you and your sisters attended church every Sunday. What part does faith play in your role as a legislator?
My faith is a critical part of informing my views and perspectives on serving my constituents, on serving my neighbors, on seeing a stranger as if they are a neighbor, right? And so it certainly grounds me in terms of my moral compass, but also compels me to serve to the best of my capacity and to demonstrate as much love as I can for my fellow neighbor.
You’ve changed churches since you were a kid. Where did you start, and where did you end up?
My mom was an organist and a church pianist, so as a kid, I would go to maybe, like, three different churches every Sunday, maybe one or two Korean churches, and then primarily we went to First Baptist Church of Atlanta. And then that kind of evolved, and right now I go to Gwinnett Church, which is a sister Church of North Point Community Church.
Did you hear any anti-LGBTQ rhetoric as a kid in a Baptist church, and what effect did that have on you?
I certainly heard some fire and brimstone growing up a Baptist. But even First Baptist Church of Atlanta back then, they certainly were not like a Westboro Baptist Church-type of environment. But it was, “Homosexuality is certainly a sin,” which made things very difficult growing up in a conservative religious household.
I’ve always been fascinated by the success that Christianity experienced in Korea. Among those who practice a faith there today, about a third identify as Buddhist. Do you have any interest in religions that predate the arrival of Christianity in Korea?
Absolutely.
What form does that take?
It’s more a matter of spirituality, you know, the metaphysical. It’s important for everyone, in my opinion, to try and discover their purpose, asking the big questions. What is the purpose of life, the meaning of life? What is my purpose in it? I think all those questions are critically important. It goes back to that saying, “The unexamined life is one not worth living.” I think all different sorts of religious thoughts and ideation and philosophies for me are always something of interest that I’m always open to exploring and considering.
After you graduated high school, you helped your mom open and manage a small family business. What was it, and what did you learn through the experience about your constituents who’ve started small businesses themselves?
It was a check-cashing business. Learned a lot of Spanish, as that was a large part of our customer base at the time.
You know, small businesses are difficult, but also the bedrock of our economy. Part of that is the American dream of having the opportunity to start your own small business, to have the means to take care of your family. So that experience certainly taught me both the importance of small businesses and facilitating social mobility, but also just the reality that, especially immigrant communities, we are hard-working people, right? Whether you come from Asia, whether you come from Latin America, Central America, immigrants are hard workers and critical members of our community.
By the end of the last general assembly session in March, legislators failed to pass any of the more than 20 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced over the last year. Two unrelated bills, hijacked by MAGA lawmakers at the last minute and stuffed with anti-LGBTQ+ amendments, also failed. Is the MAGA fever breaking in Georgia, and is that a leading indicator for Donald Trump’s chances in the swing state?
Great question. It’s interesting, because I think the State Senate is more MAGA, and I don’t see that breaking, certainly not this year. There were a lot of far-right pieces of legislation coming out of the State Senate, which is not at all competitive. Republicans will likely maintain control of that body the rest of this decade, and so they’re primarily focused on their base in order for them to maintain power, as the only political competition that they would face would be in their Republican primaries.
On the House side, I’d say you don’t see as much MAGA. MAGA is a smaller faction there because the numbers are closer and the battlegrounds for a lot of these competitive state House districts lie in the suburbs in which you have more of a moderate, highly educated voting population. The suburbs for this election cycle will remain battleground areas in the state, and more likely than not will be the determining factor as to whether or not Georgia goes for Kamala or for Trump.
What is the single most important thing the world should do to address climate crisis?
We have to accelerate our transition to renewable energy. Renewable, sustainable energy is critical. In Georgia, that looks like the electrification of the transportation grid, movement toward EVs, not just with respect to manufacturing, but also when it comes to use, for buses, for micro-transit initiatives.
And then we also have Plant Vogtle, the first nuclear power plant constructed in the United States in at least 30 years, which creates carbon-free energy for the next 30 to 50 years. So, on one hand, we’re trying to accelerate toward renewable energy. On the other hand, we’re also trying to expand access to clean energy.
One of your priorities in the House is educational opportunities for ” the next generation.” What would you support national mandatory service for young people in the military, or some other form of public service of their choosing, like the Peace Corps or Teach for America?
I’d be open to that. I’m very wary of mandates. I think if you incentivize to a certain degree, in which a majority of young people engage in some form of public service, I think that would be preferred, as opposed to a mandatory enrollment in some sort of program.
What do you think the benefits would be for young people?
An understanding that we’re in this together — a sense of community that should also inform their sense of identity as an American.
Outside the legislature, you serve as General Counsel for Positive Impact Health Centers, a nonprofit working to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Georgia. With the advent of PrEP and other tools in the arsenal in the fight against HIV and AIDS, how close are we to ending the epidemic?
We have a long way to go. In Georgia, there’s an estimated 20,000 people living with HIV who are out of care right now. At Positive Impact Health Centers we serve about ten to 15,000 people living with HIV, and we have some of the highest viral suppression rates in the nation, so the nonprofit does just such incredible work.
We remain very much focused on 1) trying to get as many people into care, and then 2) trying to expand access to PrEP around the state. One of the big challenges that we’ve seen in Georgia is the lack of Medicaid expansion, which would cover a good chunk of the 20,000 people living with HIV who are out of care.
Why has Medicaid expansion been blocked in Georgia?
Politics. Back in 2014, Georgia was one of the few states that made it more difficult to expand Medicaid. It took away the power from the governor and gave it to a Republican-dominated legislature based on gerrymandered maps. Their opposition to Medicaid, as far as I can glean, is more political as opposed to policy, right? Medicaid expansion was a part of Obamacare, and Obamacare was so politicized and demonized for the past ten years that Republicans have essentially ended up shooting themselves in the foot by harming themselves and their constituents by refusing to proceed with common sense policy like expanding Medicaid.
Earlier in your political career, you worked in different capacities with a superstar roster of political talent, including Congressman Jamie Raskin, and Georgia’s Stacey Abrams, U.S. Senator John Ossoff, and Jason Carter, Jimmy Carter’s grandson. What’s one thing from all one or all of them that you’ve learned along the way?
Leadership is about service. It’s not about you. It’s about helping as many people around you as you possibly can. That’s what good leadership is.
How has that manifested itself in your career?
Certainly, it speaks to the notion of, if you want to go far, you have to go together, as opposed to, if you wanted to go fast, you go alone, right? If I wanted to run for higher office or get more attention, or have a higher title, there’s certainly things I would not have done, as opposed to doing everything I can over the past few years, certainly in the House, to serve and support each of my members to be the best that they can for their constituents, right? And so if anything, it’s kind of that servant-leader model that I think has been most conducive strategically, moving the caucus toward a majority and breaking through the Republican trifecta.
Is flipping the House inevitable given the demographic shifts in the state?
No. Demographics are not destiny. Demographics provide opportunity, but we still have to do the work of talking to voters and building a coalition based on common ground.
You posted a pic on social yesterday dressed in shorts and a “Stand with Sam” t-shirt, which looks cool, and revealed some pretty serious guns. What’s your workout routine and how social are you at the gym?
(Laughing) So I stopped going to the gym during the pandemic, and I try to go back, but for the most part, I just work out from home. Weights, yoga, jogging, hiking. I do try to exercise at least 30 minutes to an hour every day as a part of just good habits and all that good stuff.
Where do you socialize?
I don’t do too much socializing. I think I need to work a little bit more on that (laughing). I get tunnel vision. So, like, when we’re in election season, like right now, it’s just do everything possible to turn out the vote for Kamala Harris.
Are you seeing anyone now?
I’m currently single, so I’m open. (Laughing) Looking for dates.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is probably the most famous politician out of Georgia right now. Outside of her addiction to attention-seeking and slavish devotion to Donald Trump, how effective is she as a representative for her constituents, and what’s one nice thing you can say about her?
Oh, that’s a tough question. I say, bless her heart. You know, she has the right to think what she wants. She’s entitled to her opinion, but not the facts.
What’s the one thing you enjoy most about serving the constituents of Georgia House District 107?
It’s an opportunity to do as much good as I can with the opportunities that I’ve been given.
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