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John,
While the outcome of the Presidential race remains unclear and numerous states are still counting ballots, I wanted to give you an update on the current state of the 2020 Rainbow Wave. And if you’re looking for good news among the chaos, I think you’ll find it here.
As of Thursday, Victory Fund is still tracking over 70 undecided races around the country, many of them on hold until all the ballots are rightfully counted. But here’s what we know: 176 Victory Fund endorsed LGBTQ candidates WON their races – the most in our 29-year history!
And while that’s an exciting record to break, it’s even more exciting when you examine the diversity of our victories and lavender ceilings shattered.
We elected a historic number of LGBTQ people to the U.S. Congress on Tuesday. All seven of our incumbents won and we added two new LGBTQ voices: Mondaire Jones and Ritchie Torres from New York. Ritchie, who defeated bigot Rubén Díaz Sr. in the primary, will make history as the first Afro-Latinx openly LGBTQ U.S. Congressman. Mondaire, who defeated a large slate of candidates in his contentious primary, will join Ritchie in becoming the first Black openly LGBTQ U.S. Congressmen.
LGBTQ people of color also gained remarkable ground at the state and local level . Jabari Brisport will be joining the New York state legislature, the first openly LGBTQ person of color to do so. In Georgia, Kim Jackson claimed victory, becoming the first out LGBTQ member of the Georgia state Senate, while Tiara Mack became the first out LGBTQ Black member of the Rhode Island state Senate. Florida added two historic firsts to their legislature: Shevrin Jones is now the first out member of the state Senate, while Michele Rayner stakes her historic claim as the first openly LGBTQ Black woman elected to the legislature. Torrey Harris claimed victory in the Tennessee state House, becoming one of the first openly LGBTQ people ever elected to the state legislature!
Trans and nonbinary people, who are some of the most underrepresented among LGBTQ elected officials, racked up huge wins. In fact, we nearly doubled the number of trans state legislators who will serve next year : from four to seven!
Our most vulnerable trans incumbent, Colorado state Representative Brianna Titone, survived waves of transphobic attacks. All of our other incumbent trans state legislators won their reelection campaigns, proving once again that most voters look not at a candidate’s gender identity, but their ability to create positive change.
And a new slate of trans voices will be joining state governments around the country. In Delaware, Sarah McBride became the first out trans state senator in U.S. history. Stephanie Byers won by over nine points, becoming the first openly trans person elected in Kansas and the first openly trans state legislator of color ever elected in the U.S. In Vermont, Taylor Small declared victory early in the night, becoming the first out trans person elected to the state legislature there. And in Oklahoma, Maureen Turner won their race for the state legislature and is officially the first openly nonbinary state legislator in U.S. history.
We also added several bisexual voices to our state governments . Jess Benham became the first out LGBTQ woman elected to the Pennsylvania state legislature and became one of the few out autistic people ever elected to a state legislature in the U.S. Alex Lee made history as the first out bisexual member of the California state legislature, joining a growing chorus of LGBTQ voices in the state. In Colorado, David Ortiz became the first out bisexual member of the state legislature. And Palm Springs City Councilor Christy Holstege, who received a slew of biphobic hate messages on social media, will return to her seat.
The number of wins – and the diversity of the victors – is a true testament to the growing political power of the LGBTQ community . Despite the hate-based rhetoric and dirty tricks often lobbed at our candidates, we made huge in-roads in state and local governments. Over the last four years, we have seen some of the worst hate-based legislation as bigots attempted to rollback equality at all levels of government. But these victories clearly show that voters are sick of the nonsense, and are willing to stand with an LGBTQ candidate with equality-based values.
Some big races, like Todd Gloria’s historic race for San Diego Mayor, have yet to be called . But we’re confident we’ll be in touch with more record-breaking news very soon.
Thank you again for standing with us. These victories are only possible because of dedicated supporters like yourself. Without you, these historic firsts aren’t possible.
Thank you again –
Mayor Annise Parker [[link removed]]
-Annise
P.S. I know the election is barely over – and heck, not even over for many of our candidates and the presidential race. But if you are as motivated as I am by the historic number of wins, please consider a contribution so we can get an early start on our 2021 races. This early money is critical to ensuring we can endorse candidates at the beginning of their races, when it makes the biggest difference. [[link removed]] Thank you.
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Paid for by LGBTQ Victory Fund. Your contribution may be used in connection with federal, state and local elections and be subject to federal, state and local laws. Contributions to LGBTQ Victory Fund are not tax deductible. Victory Fund members do not have governance participation rights.
LGBTQ Victory Fund has helped thousands of openly LGBTQ candidates win elections up and down the ballot, from sea to shining sea since our founding in 1991. We believe representation is power so we elected U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin and Kyrsten Sinema, Governors Jared Polis and Kate Brown, all seven LGBTQ members of U.S. Congress and countless candidates for state and local government, including Virginia Delegate Danica Roem, Colorado state Representative Leslie Herod and Pennsylvania Assemblymember Brian Sims. And with an unprecedented number of LGBTQ people running for office in this year, we’ll need your support to make 2020 the next Rainbow Wave.
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