Five Stories You Should Know About

1. Pride and Primaries: LGBTQ Candidates Win Big!

We’re wrapping up our Pride Month primaries (with a handful of races still outstanding). And the results were big!

Winners from June 14 include Sarah Peters, an incumbent candidate running for Nevada state Assembly and one of three out pansexual state representatives in the country, Charles Skold, who is running for the Maine House of Representatives, Justin Chenette, who is running to become a commissioner in York County, Maine, and Pat Spearman who hopes to serve as the first out LGBTQ mayor of North Las Vegas!

Check out the full list of winners from the 14th here.

Big winners from June 21 include Zachary Parker, who is running to be the first out LGBTQ Black councilmember in DC, and Imani Barnes who is running for the Georgia House of Representatives! Click here to read our recent interview with Imani and read a full list of winners from the 21st here!

Our final set of Pride Month primaries took place on June 28 – and boy, did our candidates do well! 71% of our candidates won this week in Colorado, Illinois, New York and Oklahoma! About 50% of our non-incumbents were successful and nearly all incumbents are likely to advance to November.

In Illinois, Eric Sorensen won his primary and is now on track to be the first out LGBTQ person elected to Congress from Illinois.



Excitingly, Sen. Mike Simmons won his primary, and is on-track to make history as the first out LGBTQ person elected to the Illinois state Senate (he was previously appointed to his current seat).

Read the full list of Tuesday's winners here!

Keep an eye out for our next set of primaries from our next set of endorsements! Every Victory Fund-endorsed candidate has the potential to achieve greatness, but our newest Game Changers, Patrick Branco and Erick Russell, are coming in hot! Check out our full list of Pride Month endorsements here.

2. Senator Toni Atkins Leads Effort to Enshrine Abortion Rights in California

California is now on track to be the first state to explicitly protect abortion rights in its constitution! California state Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins – the first woman and out LGBTQ person to ever lead the California state Senate – made big progress this week to protect abortion rights in California after the Supreme Court’s disastrous decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Atkins recently introduced a Constitutional amendment to enshrine abortion and contraceptive rights in the California state Constitution and further strengthen current case law and statutory laws that make abortion a “fundamental right” in the state. Senator Atkins moved swiftly – the amendment passed the Senate last week and the Assembly this week. Californians will now have the chance to vote on the amendment in November and protect these fundamental freedoms once and for all.

Click here to listen to an interview with Senator Atkins about this critical, lifesaving effort!

3. Maura Healey Profiled in The Hill

Victory Fund recently secured a profile for Game Changer candidate Maura Healey in The Hill. Attorney General Healey gets candid about why she is ready to lead Massachusetts during such a tumultuous time, what she is excited to accomplish as one of the first lesbian governors in U.S. history and her plan for a post Roe world. Check out the full profile here!

4. Leigh Finke Opens Up About Her History-Making Run for the Minnesota State House

Spotlight candidate Leigh Finke – who would be the first out trans person ever elected to the Minnesota state legislature! – recently sat down with the Minnesota Reformer to discuss why she is running for office and her vision for Minnesota. She addresses the current slew of anti-LGBTQ bills and how her voice in the state legislature could change things.

Click here to read the full interview!

5. Record Number of LGBTQ Congressional Candidates On the Ballot

With almost a 20% increase compared to the 2020 cycle, there are now more LGBTQ people running for Congress than ever before! Victory Fund worked with Axios last week to break this exciting news, including interviews with Victory Fund’s VP of Political Programs Sean Meloy and Game Changer candidates Will Rollins and Erick Russell. They discuss the importance of increasing LGBTQ representation in Congress, what it’s like running as an LGBTQ person this year and the impact LGBTQ candidates will have for our pro-equality majority come November.

Click here to read the full article and click here to listen to the Axios Today podcast, which featured Victory as the “one big story” of the day!

 

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 is the political arm of the LGBTQ community. Since our founding in 1991, we’ve supported and elected LGBTQ candidates like U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin, Governors Jared Polis and Kate Brown and all nine LGBTQ members of U.S. Congress. We've boosted out candidates running for state and local government, including California Senate Pro Tem Toni Atkins, Florida Senator Shevrin Jones, Virginia Delegate Danica Roem, Colorado state Representative Leslie Herod, Pennsylvania state Representative Brian Sims, Hawaii state Representative Adrian Tam, Oklahoma Representative Mauree Turner, and so many more (meet all of our current candidates here)! We’ve shattered rainbow ceilings in all 50 states and broken election year records. You can power our work and the next Rainbow Wave with a donation today!

This email was sent to [email protected]. Don't unsubscribe just yet - you can change how many & what type of emails you receive by updating your account here. Unsubscribing will remove you from ALL Victory Fund email contact. If you believe you received this message in error or wish to no longer receive ANY email from us, please unsubscribe.

LGBTQ Victory Fund
1225 I Street NW, Suite 525
Washington, DC xxxxxx
United States