Representative Cynthia McKinney

Cynthia McKinney served as a Representative from Georgia in the United States Congress from 1993 to 2007. A member of the Democratic Party, Cynthia McKinney contributed to the legislative process during 6 terms in office.

Cynthia McKinney’s service in Congress occurred during a significant period in American history. As a member of the House of Representatives, Cynthia McKinney participated in the democratic process and represented the interests of constituents.

Cynthia Ann McKinney (born March 17, 1955) is a former American politician. As a member of the Democratic Party, she served six terms in the United States House of Representatives. She was the first African American woman elected to represent Georgia in the House. She left the Democratic Party and ran in 2008 as the presidential nominee of the Green Party. She ran for vice president in 2020 after the Green Party of Alaska formally nominated her and draft-nominated Jesse Ventura for president. McKinney served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 1988 to 1992. In the 1992 election, McKinney was elected in Georgia’s newly re-created 11th district, and was re-elected in 1994. When her district was redrawn and renumbered due to the Supreme Court of the United States ruling in Miller v. Johnson, McKinney was elected from the new 4th district in the 1996 election. She was re-elected twice more without substantive opposition, but was defeated by Denise Majette in the 2002 Democratic primary. McKinney was re-elected to the House in November 2004, following her successor’s run for Senate. In Congress, she unsuccessfully tried to unseal FBI records on the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and the murder of Tupac Shakur. She continued to criticize the Bush administration over the 9/11 attacks. She supported anti-war legislation and introduced articles of impeachment against President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. McKinney sought re-election in 2006, but was defeated by Hank Johnson in the Democratic primary. In a March 29, 2006, Capitol Hill police incident, she struck a Capitol Hill Police officer for stopping her to ask for identification. McKinney left the Democratic Party in September 2007. She eventually sought and won the Green Party nomination in the 2008 presidential election, receiving 161,797 votes (0.12%) nationwide in the general election.