Brian Cannon ’04, J.D. ’11 Named Executive Director of OneVirginia2021 By the Election Law Program

William & Mary Law School and College of William & Mary graduate Brian Cannon recently was named executive director of OneVirginia2021: Virginians for Fair Redistricting<http://onevirginia2021.org>, a multi-partisan effort to amend the Virginia Constitution to establish an independent, impartial redistricting commission to draw political districts. Cannon, who graduated from the Law School in 2011, was the founding editor of the State of Elections Blog<http://stateofelections.com>, former student president of the Election Law Society<http://law.wm.edu/studentlife/studentorganizations/educate/wmels/index.php>, and served on William & Mary’s winning team for the Virginia Redistricting Competition<http://electls.blogs.wm.edu/links/virginia-redistricting-competition/>. He also worked as a student on behalf of clients of the Law School’s Lewis B. Puller, Jr. Veterans Benefits Clinic<http://law.wm.edu/academics/programs/jd/electives/clinics/veterans/index.php>, and now is a member of the clinic’s Advisory Board.

While an undergraduate at the College, Cannon co-founded the student voting advocacy group Virginia 21, the first political action committee run solely by students, and has since served on the group’s board. Prior to joining OneVirginia2021, he served as director of business development at The Fahrenheit Group.

In a press release announcing his appointment, Cannon expressed enthusiasm for OneVirginia2021’s mission. “Fixing our broken redistricting process is the most important thing we can do for the health of Virginia’s democracy,” he said. “The momentum for reform is building and the time is right to do it now. I am excited to have the opportunity to lead the broad-based movement that is OneVirginia2021 and help make this happen. My experiences in nonpartisan issue advocacy with the addition of my legal background and experience in election law give me confidence that we can do this.”