Law Upon graduation from law school, Darden started his law career as assistant district attorney in
Cobb County, Georgia, serving from 1968 to 1972. He was elected as County District Attorney and served from 1973 to 1977.
State Legislature In 1980 Darden was elected to the
Georgia House of Representatives as a
Democrat representing District 19-Post3 (
Cobb County). He took office in January 1981, and served until 1983, when he resigned to campaign for an open Congressional seat.
Congress Upon the sudden death of
U.S. Representative Larry McDonald, who was killed in the 1983 downing of
Korean Air Lines Flight 007, Darden won a special election to fill McDonald's seat for the remainder of the
Ninety-eighth Congress. He resigned from the
Georgia General Assembly. During his tenure in office, Darden sponsored 61 bills, including H.R.2044, legislation that authorize and directs the
National Park Service to assist the State of Georgia in relocating a highway affecting the
Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park in Georgia. Darden shepherded numerous bills, including those benefiting
Lockheed Aeronautical Corp., through Congress as part of the
Armed Services Committee and co-sponsored others. "You don't have to introduce a tiny little bill with your name on it to make a difference," he said. Darden was a member of the Standards of Official Conduct committee, elected in 1991, and served on the Committee on Armed Services and Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs. Darden has supported socially conservative positions: he opposed federal funding for
Medicaid abortions except in cases of rape, incest or threat to the life of the mother. He supported the death penalty. He sought the Democratic nomination for his old seat, now numbered as the
11th district, in 2002, but lost to Roger Kahn, who was defeated in the general election. He was the last white Democrat to represent the Atlanta suburbs until
Carolyn Bourdeaux was elected from a nearby district in 2020. == After Congress==