Sarah comes to Wellstone Action after working at the Human Rights Campaign as a Regional Field Director for the Pacific NW and the South.
Sarah began her political activism as a child growing up in Arkansas. She comes from a family that has long been involved in Texas politics, and her mother ran for the Arkansas state Legislature in the 1970s, campaigning for the equality of women. While Scanlon was growing up in Arkansas, she worked on many of Bill Clinton's campaigns for governor.
In the late 1980s, Sarah moved to the Pacific Northwest where she became involved in Queer Nation and ACT UP and helped raise money to pay for people to attend the 1993 March on Washington. She went on to help fight the anti-gay initiatives in Washington being pushed by the Washington Citizens' Alliance (an outreach of the Oregon Citizens' Alliance). Scanlon ran successful legislative campaigns in the mid-1990s when progressive candidates were being ushered out of office by the swell of the religious right.
In 1997 Sarah went to work for Service Employees International Union as a lobbyist, helping to secure raises for home care workers and fighting for increases in the minimum wage and safety. After serving as a lobbyist for SEIU she went to work for the International Union as a political organizer and worked on campaigns Washington, Illinois, Oregon, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri and Iowa.
Sarah and her wife live in Arkansas with their three dogs when she is not on the road for Wellstone Action.
Values-based messaging_0.jpg "Pro-Gay GOTV Rocks for Equality")
Building a Volunteer Program
Get Out The Vote
Being a Successful Citizen Lobbyist