LGBTQ+ Stories You Should Know About

Rest in Power, David Mixner

This week, we lost David Mixner, a founding father of LGBTQ+ Victory Fund and our movement for equality. David was a courageous, resilient and unyielding force for social change at a time when our community faced widespread discrimination and an HIV/AIDS crisis ignored by the political class in Washington, DC.

In 1991, he joined other activists to launch a new organization, LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, that exclusively supported LGBTQ+ candidates. David served with Lynn Greer as a founding board co-chair. With support for candidates underway, his vision of a government and democracy representative of its people expanded beyond elections – and moved to ensure we were represented in political parties and presidential administrations as well. You can read out full statement about this remarkable man here.

You can also take a moment to watch David talk about the importance of LGBTQ+ leaders this video. You can also watch our Tribute to David Mixner and hear some of the many stories behind his work and legacy.

Super Tuesday, Super Wins

While we’re still waiting for many results from our Super Tuesday races – especially for our California candidates – we do have a lot of wins to report! 32 LGBTQ+ won their primaries or advanced on Super Tuesday.

In Texas, Julie Johnson won her primary in the 32nd Congressional District! She is on-track to be the first out LGBTQ+ person elected to the U.S. Congress from the South. LGBTQ+ Victory Fund was proud to be one of Julie's first endorsements - and hosted one of her first fundraisers. And since that moment, we've gone all-in to ensure Julie had the resources and support to win tonight.

Molly Cook (Texas State Senate District 15) and Lauren Ashley Simmons (Texas House of Representatives, District 146) are both headed to runoffs! When she wins in November, Molly will be the first out LGBTQ+ member of the Texas Senate. Meanwhile, Lauren took first place – and is on-track to defeat an anti-trans bigot who pushed anti-LGBTQ conspiracy theories (read about Lauren's opponent here!).

Incumbent candidate Venton Jones defeated a huge slate of challengers and avoided a runoff in his primary for Texas House District 100!

In California, Will Rollins is now one step closer to sending anti-LGBTQ Congressman Ken Calvert packing. Calvert has repeatedly voted against LGBTQ+ rights, OUTED an LGBTQ+ member of Congress, peddled conspiracy theories about the 2020 Presidential elections and supports the insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol.

In Tennessee, Spotlight candidate Matthew Park advanced in his primary – his general election will take place in May!

Emma Mulvaney-Stanak won her campaign and is now the first woman and the first out LGBTQ+ person to serve as Mayor of Burlington! She’s already laid out her priorities for her first 90 days in office. Read about them here!

Up Next: Florida, Illinois, and Ohio

Our next set of elections is next Tuesday – and select candidates are on the ballot in Florida, Illinois and Ohio!

Incumbent U.S. Congressman Eric Sorensen is ready for the general election – learn about his reelection campaign and potential opponents here!

Eli Bohnert is working overtime to be the only out gay man serving in the Ohio state legislature! He’ll face off against six other candidates for this key seat. Ohio has already passed several anti-LGBTQ bills this year – and more LGBTQ+ voices are sorely needed in the legislature.