Welcome to The Agenda (yeah - THAT agenda), your weekly update on what's happening in the LGBTQ political world. Whatever you do, don’t forward it to Mike Pence. He doesn't need to know what we're planning! Forward it to a friend instead.

Overview: Victory in Nashville, Democratic debate history made, Virginia legislative candidates make an impact and more!
VICTORY IN NASHVILLE
Extremely exciting news from Nashville last night – both Emily Benedict and Russ Bradford WON their runoff races!! A huge congratulations to Emily and Russ on this historic moment.
As current openly LGBTQ Councilwoman Nancy VanReece pointed out, Nashville will now have five openly LGBTQ elected officials on the City Council. That’s enough for a Caucus!
Emily Benedict took a moment to thank supporters – she’s ready to get to work.
And there’s a lot of work to be done. This election has been hailed as a “new direction for Music City”. We’re supremely confident that Emily, Russ and all our LGBTQ electeds are up to the task.
VIRGINIA IS FOR LGBTQ CANDIDATES
It cannot be understated: the race for the Virginia legislature is going to be THE race for 2019 – and have a huge impact on 2020 races.
Under such intense pressure, what’s an LGBTQ candidate to do? In Spotlight candidate Danica Roem’s case, continuous campaigning to protect Medicaid expansion and reminding the Twitter-verse that 2019 races are still happening. *mic drop*
Dawn Adams, who’s battling to keep her seat in House District 68, sat down with Channel 6 News for an update on her campaign and legislative priorities.
Meanwhile, LGBTQ incumbants Adam Eddin and Mark Levine joined the Leadership Center for Excellence to discuss their dedication to public service.

FEEL THE PETE WAVE
Before we get into the debate hot takes, we thought we’d share this charming article from Mayor Pete’s college and childhood friends.
Now, to debate night news: Mayor Pete made history by telling his Coming Out story from the debate stage. We only teared up a little bit.
In answering a question about resilience, he touched on his time serving under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and as a elected official under Mike Pence.
Mayor Pete’s personal story also marked him as a debate “winner”, according to Business Insider.
CNN correspondent Van Jones was also wowed by Mayor Pete, saying “he has a magic to him”. Watch the full clip here:



LIGHTS, CAMERA ACTION!
Alison Brown, running to be the first openly LGBTQ woman elected to the Indianapolis City-County Council, is literally on fire.

Victory Fund President & CEO Mayor Annise Parker joined NBC Out to discuss how 2020 candidates are including trans issues in their platforms. Read her take here.

Mayor Parker was in demand last week – she also sat down with ABC News to talk about Houston politics, turning Texas purple and why Mayor Pete should be the next U.S. President. Watch the full interview here:




TIP LINE
EXTRA, EXTRA, READ ALL ABOUT IT: The Agenda now has a tip line! Did we miss a breaking story about an LGBTQ candidate? Have something you want to include? Leave us a quick note here! Your story might be included in next week's Agenda.

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Since 1991, Victory Fund has helped thousands of openly LGBTQ candidates win local, state and federal elections. We made history in 2018 and elected 174 LGBTQ candidates, including Colorado's Jared Polis, Kansas's Sharice Davids, Senator Tammy Baldwin and so many more! Your donation today to Victory Fund ensures that we can support LGBTQ candidates around the country as they run for office at every level at every level of government.

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