There is a political candidate out there today who represents the intersection of tons of different political winds right now: demographic change, police reform, the Sun Belt's shifting politics. And you've probably never heard of her! Let me introduce you.

In 2015, Cobb County commissioner Lisa Cupid, who represents the most diverse and poorest part of Cobb County -- one of the bellwether counties in the state and really country -- was studying for her upcoming bar exam.

She was friends with the owner of a local hotel, who gave her a quiet place to study late at night. So around 1:30 AM she started to drive home. She noticed a car was tailing her very closely. She grew anxious and scared as she couldn't shake the car.

The cars windows were tinted, so she couldn't look inside. She eventually called 911 to report the car. She pulled into a QuikTrip station as the operator told her to, and eventually she was told that an undercover police officer was tailing her.

The police officer only broke the tail after being informed this wasn't just a young African American woman he was following but a county commissioner. Cupid obviously was disturbed by all this so started working on a citizen process to review police practices.

The rest of the county commission was outraged. Not at the police officer but at Cupid. I did a records request and I found them all berating her. Of course the idea that she's anti-police was silly -- she called 911 and trusted police to help her. https://www.salon.com/2015/11/08/one_elected_southern_politicians_struggle_to_reverse_entrenched_racism_and_police_state_mentality_partner/

Today Cupid is running for Cobb Chair. Cobb County is rapidly changing, becoming more demographically diverse, despite being the home base of some of the most right-wing Republicans including Bob Barr, Newt Gingrich, and others. https://www.cupidforcobb.com/ 

Cupid's election would be a monumental change for Cobb and for the region as it would signal that the increased demographic diversity is leading to political diversity, and that the county would not stand behind racially profiling its own county commissioner.

I try to keep this feed nonpartisan but Cupid's story is so interesting and relevant to everything that is happening not only in Georgia's political trends but nationally. When I interviewed her, her priority was getting crosswalks installed after someone died walking near school

These are the kinds of issues you face when you're in a poor and underinvested part of a county but it's not exclusive to Cobb it's a story you can tell in all kinds of Metro areas. I know a lot about this because I was born in the area Cupid represents.

It would be some great if some national reporters paid attention to this race. It may not be quite as consequential as a US Senate race, of which there are two in Georgia this year, but it is certainly symbolic of the kinds of political trends and changes all over America.