ATLANTA - Former state representative Henrietta Mathis Canty has died in West Columbia, South Carolina. She was 74. <br>
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Canty represented Atlanta in the state House from 1975 to 1980, and then again from 1990 to 1998. She was an assistant state agriculture commissioner between terms. <br>
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Representative Billy McKinney says Canty ``opened the door for black folks to think outside the box, not to think only Democratic.'' <br>
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Canty ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. House in 1984 against Wyche Fowler Junior. She switched to the Republican Party in 1985, but then returned to the Democratic Party. <br>
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She ran for insurance commissioner in 1998 as a Democrat and lost. And in the weeks before her death, Canty ran as a Republican for a seat in the Georgia House but lost last week to Roger Bruce. <br>
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Funeral arrangements were no immediately announced.
