Chris Cannon

Christopher Black Cannon (October 20, 1950 – May 8, 2024) was an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives, for the Republican Party, representing the third district of Utah from 1997 to 2009.

Cannon was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, and attended Brigham Young University (BYU) as well as J. Reuben Clark Law School of BYU. From 1980 until 1996 he was a lawyer, business owner, and venture capitalist, from which he became a millionaire. His other jobs included time as an associate solicitor for the United States Department of the Interior from 1984 to 1986, and time as Utah Republican Party finance chairman from 1992 until 1994. On June 24, 2008, he was defeated in the 2008 Republican Party third district primary by Jason Chaffetz, former chief of staff to then-Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Jr.

Chris Cannon was a member of the Cannon family of Utah. His brother, Joe Cannon is the former GOP State Party Chairman, and was appointed Editor in Chief of the Deseret Morning News in November 2006. He was the third member of his family to serve in the House, but the first voting member. His great-grandfather, George Q. Cannon, was a nonvoting member of the House from 1873 to 1881, while Utah was still a territory, whose son Frank Cannon was the state's first senator, as well as a non voting delegate.

Cannon and his wife, Claudia, had eight children; their daughter, Rachel, died from cancer in 2005.

Cannon died in Provo on May 8, 2024, at the age of 73.

In 1996, Cannon was the Republican candidate in Utah's 3rd District against Democratic incumbent Bill Orton, who had managed to hold the seat for three terms (all by fairly large margins) despite its heavy Republican tilt. This time, however, the district's partisan lean proved too much for Orton to overcome, and Cannon defeated him by four points. He never faced another general election contest nearly that close, and was reelected five times.

Cannon first entered the national spotlight in 1999, when as a member of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law, he was one of 13 House managers who prosecuted the case against President Bill Clinton in the impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate.

Cannon was named Chairman of the Commercial and Administrative Law Subcommittee at the beginning of the 108th Congress in January 2003, and served as its ranking Republican from 2007 to 2009. He also served on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property.