My Platform
On the Issues
Healthcare
Kannan’s personal experiences with our healthcare system as a young graduate student drove his passion for public service. Now serving as Chair of the Virginia Medicaid Board — appointed by Governors McAuliffe and Northam — Kannan helped implement Medicaid expansion statewide, bringing coverage to over 2 million Virginians, and add adult dental coverage for Medicaid recipients. As your delegate, Kannan will bring his experience to improve healthcare access, quality, and costs, and keep Virginia moving forward.
Kannan believes unequivocally that abortion is healthcare and that maintaining access to it is critical for all Virginians. In Richmond, Kannan will fight any effort by Governor Youngkin and House Republicans to restrict access to vital healthcare, including abortions and birth control. He supports enshrining abortion rights in the Virginia constitution.
Covid 19 has exposed the deeply entrenched inequities in health systems and infrastructure. Virginians are still dealing with the effects of the pandemic, and it is very important that we continue to invest in public health infrastructure and address historical inequities. Kannan will work tirelessly to address the lingering effects of COVID-19 and promote pandemic readiness and prevention.
Gun Safety
Every year, more than 1,000 people in Virginia are killed with guns. Gun violence and mass shootings are preventable tragedies, and Kannan supports commonsense policies and legislation to reduce gun violence and improve gun safety across our Commonwealth, including an assault weapons ban.
Education and Accessibility Services
Kannan’s parents were proud school teachers who instilled the value of public service. Kannan strongly believes that the public education is the best investment to ensure a bright future for Virginians.
As a delegate, Kannan will promote excellence in public education, fight to increase teachers’ pay and invest in our schools’ infrastructure. Kannan is committed to fighting our student debt crisis and address the high cost of education.
As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the passage of the ADA, Kannan will be a strong advocate to promote programs that will improve accessibility in transportation and home designs for Virginians with accessibility needs. As a Delegate, Kannan will work to promote inclusive playgrounds for children with blindness, autism and disabilities.
Economy
Northern Virginia is a dynamo of economic growth. As a community member and commissioner on the Loudoun Economic Development Advisory Commission, Kannan worked passionately to continue this growth in a sustainable, balanced way. In Richmond, Kannan will advocate for small businesses and fight to improve the lives of working families. Kannan will fight to bring more help to Virginians dealing with the current environment of high inflation.
Housing and Infrastructure
Kannan moved to Northern Virginia in the mid-90s and has experienced firsthand the soaring cost of housing. The kind of housing that was nearly universal for the middle class just a generation ago is now unaffordable for for most families. Rents are rising, and home ownership, once inseparable from the idea of the American Dream, is now moving out of reach. There is a housing crisis in Loudoun County and nationwide at every level, and we have to address it head-on.
Kannan is committed to finding affordable housing solutions, stronger tenant protections and effective eviction prevention programs. As delegate, he will fight to protect Loudoun residents from rising rents and promote home ownership across the county and the Commonwealth.
Labor and Working Families
Organized labor is the backbone of our economy. Over the course of the 20th century, unions gave us the 40-hour work week, the end of child labor, and the weekend – we need to empower them now to fight for working families in the 21st. It is past time that we repeal Right-To-Work in Virginia and give our workers the bargaining power they deserve and need. Our workers need a $15 minimum wage, paid family and medical leave, and access to affordable child care.
Kannan has been endorsed by the local chapters of IBEW and LiUNA.
Environment and Climate Change
Climate change is an existential threat to humanity. We must proactively address climate change with commonsense, effective policies to reduce our carbon footprint, and to transition into renewable energy at scale. As delegate, Kannan will promote the green energy economy and will support public private partnerships to find innovative solutions to the climate crisis.
The internet is, by many measures, the largest single thing our country has built. Having lived in Loudoun – the data center capital of the world, for more than 20 years, Kannan knows what it takes to build a greener, more sustainable internet.
The 26th District
The new 26th House District of Virginia is located in eastern Loudoun County. The voters of the new 26th district have been represented by Delegates Suhas Subramanyam, Wendy Gooditis, and David Reid. In the 2023 election, we will be choosing a new Delegate to represent us.