UPDATE: A number of states can’t be called. Atlanta, which accounts for 10% of Georgia’s votes, has stopped counting for the night. Texas, Maine, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin can’t be called yet either. Nevada hasn’t begun reporting votes. Alaska polls close at midnight. AP puts Biden ahead in the popular vote 49.8 percent to 48.6 percent.
In Texas House District 17, Madi Eden appears to have lost to incumbent John Cyrier, 63.7 percent to 36.3 percent, with 102 of 106 locations reporting.
Texas House District 28, with just absentee and early votes reported, Eliz Markowitz trails incumbent Gary Gates, 47.7 to 52.3 percent.
With just under half of polling locations reporting in Texas House District 32, Eric Holguin trails incumbent Todd Hunter, 38.9 to 61.1 percent.
House District 45 incumbent Erin Zweiner leads Carrie Isaac 50.5 percent to 49.5 percent.
Challenger Lorenzo Sanchez trails incumbent Jeff Leach in House District 67, 48.2 percent to 51.8 percent, but only 5 of 226 polling locations have been reported.
LGBTQ Texas House members Celia Israel, Mary Gonzalez, Jessica Gonzalez and Julie Johnson appear to have been re-elected.
With an estimated 63.2 percent of the votes already counted, Gina Ortiz Jones has a solid lead over Tony Gonzales, 56.8 percent-39.8 percent in her U.S. House race.
Beth Van Duyne leads Candace Valenzuela 49 percent to 47.3 percent in U.S. House District 24, with about 99 percent of the votes counted.
With counting expected to last well into Wednesday, we are going to call it a night. We will pick back up in the morning.
UPDATE: Mauree Turner won their race for the Oklahoma state House and became the first openly non-binary person ever elected to a state legislature in the U.S. Currently there are just four out genderqueer or non-binary-identified elected officials serving in the entire country. There are currently just five openly LGBTQ elected officials serving in all Oklahoma.
UPDATE: Houston Democrat Ann Johnson has won her race in Houston and becomes the sixth LGBTQ member of the Texas state House of Representatives. She also flips a seat. Democrats need to pick up nine seats to flip the House. Four of the current five LGBTQ incumbents have been re-elected. Results in Erin Zwiener’s race are coming in slowly, but she maintains a healthy lead.
UPDATE: Madi Eden has lost 102 of 106 polling locations reporting and she is down 63.3-36.7 %. Eden would have become the first transgender member of the Texas House.
UPDATE: Two of 12 state House seats from Dallas are held by Republicans. Incumbent Morgan Meyer is leading Joanna Cattanach by about 400 votes. That district includes parts of Oak Lawn. In Garland, Angie Chin Button leads Brandy Chambers by about 100 votes.
UPDATE: In Dallas, Colin Allred has won his race against Genevieve Collins. Allred’s district includes parts of Oak Lawn. Gina Ortiz is leading in her race by 14 points with 58 % of the vote counted. She would become the first out member of Congress from Texas. Lloyd Doggett and Marc Veasey have been re-elected.
UPDATE: Both Torrey Harris and Eddie Mannis won their elections for the Tennessee state House tonight, becoming the first two openly LGBTQ people ever elected to the Tennessee state legislature. The race with Brandon Thomas, another openly LGBTQ state House candidate, is still undecided. Tennessee was one of just five states in the nation to have never elected an openly LGBTQ person to its state legislature. In Kansas, Stephanie Byers won her election, becoming the first out transgender person ever elected to the Kansas state House and the first out trans person of color ever elected to a state legislature in the U.S.
UPDATE: AP has called California, Oregon and Washington for Biden. The electoral vote count is 209 for Biden and 112 for Trump. But Trump is leading in at least 8 states.
UPDATE: Mondaire Jones, N.Y., and Ritchie Torres, N.Y., both won their congressional races and become the first Black openly LGBTQ people ever elected to the U.S. Congress. Vermont elected Taylor Small as its first transgender state legislator. Shevrin Jones won his race for the Florida state Senate and became the first openly LGBTQ person ever elected to the upper chamber. Sarah McBride won her race for the Delaware state Senate and become the first transgender state senator in the U.S. Kim Jackson won her race for the Georgia state Senate, becoming the first openly LGBTQ person elected to that chamber.
UPDATE: In a state Senate race, Democrat Roland Gutierrez is leading Republican incumber Pete Flores by 21 points. The district runs from the south side of San Antonio into the valley.
UPDATE: The Texas Tribune has Trump ahead 50.3-48.4 with 75.5 percent counted in the state. They have called the Texas Senate race for Sen. John Cornyn. In her race, Gina Ortiz is ahead with 54.5-42.5 5 of the vote and 54.3 percent of votes counted.
UPDATE: Trump has pulled ahead in a number of states: Pennsylvania, Florida, Michigan, Texas, Wisconsin, Georgia, Virginia, Ohio. Biden is leading in Arizona and North Carolina.
UPDATE: In Colorado, Democrats just picked up a U.S. Senate seat with a victory by former Gov. John Hickenlooper. This is the first senate flip of the evening.
UPDATE: Biden is running ahead in Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Colorado and Ohio. Trump is holding a lead in Florida, Michigan, Georgia and Virginia.
UPDATE: The District 23 U.S. House race has just flipped. Gina Jones has 51-46.3 % over Gonzalez. The U.S. Senate race has also flipped with Hegar down 47.3-50.3. Although 67 % of the vote is counted, Houston seems to be lagging in reporting its vote totals.
UPDATE: With 11.4 percent of votes counted, Tony Gonzales leads Gina Jones 49-48.4. Jones has been endorsed by the LGBT Victory Fund. The district runs from San Antonio to El Paso.
UPDATE: AP has called New Mexico for Biden. Trump has pulled ahead in Florida with votes from the panhandle coming in. Biden is leading in North Carolina. CNN called New York for Biden. North and South Dakota, Nebraska and Wyoming for Trump. The electoral count is 119-92 favoring Biden. According to the Texas Tribune, with an estimated 61.2 percent of the votes counted in Texas, Biden leads Trump 50.7-48 percent. CNN has called New Jersey for Biden.
UPDATE: Biden is leading in Kansas and Missouri. Both states went for Trump in 2016.
UPDATE: AP has called Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, South Carolina and West Virginia for Trump. AP has called Illinois for Biden. The electoral count is 85 for Biden and 61 for Trump. Overall, independents are supporting Biden by 17 points.
UPDATE: In Georgia, in the arena where they were counting absentee ballots, a major water pipe has broken, and they had to stop counting.
UPDATE: Celia Israel, a state Rep. from Austin and a founding member of the House LGBT Caucus, is ahead in her race with 70 % of the vote. In Dallas County, Julie Johnson is ahead by 10 % and by 10,000 votes. Addison Perry Franks, a trans woman running for the state House of Representatives in Lubbock, has only 15 % of the vote.
UPDATE: CBS is reporting Hagar is ahead of Cornyn by 1 % statewide.
UPDATE: In Dallas County races for the state House of Representatives, two Democrats are leading the Republican incumbents, but fewer than 1,000 votes separate Joanna Cattanach and Morgan Meyer for a district that includes parts of Oak Lawn and Brandy Chambers leads Angie Chin Button in Garland. Those are early votes, though, and early voting favors the Democrat. In a heated rematch, Linda Koop trails Ana-Maria Ramos by 9 %. Koop was an LGBT ally when she served on the Dallas City Council and turned on the community when she was elected to the Legislature.
UPDATE: In Dallas races for the U.S. House of Representatives, Democrats are leading in all races. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson has 785 of the vote. Candace Valenzuela leads Beth van Duyne 55.5-41 %. The numbers in this race flip in Tarrant County with Van Duyne leading with 58 %. Allred leads Collins 53-44 %. Veasey is ahead with 64 % in Dallas County and 72% in Tarrant County.
UPDATE: In the Texas Senate race, Cornyn leads Hegar by 51.42 % to 46.13 %. Tarrant County US Rep. District 6: Dem. Stephen Daniel is up 51.27 to 45.62 over Rep. Ron Wright. Early results have Biden ahead in Pennsylvania and Michigan, both must-win states for Trump.
UPDATE: Biden has won Maryland, Massachusetts, Delaware and D.C. Trump has won Tennessee, Oklahoma, Alabama and Mississippi according to AP.
UPDATE: Texas polls have just closed. In early voting in Dallas County, Biden has 526,075 votes or 66 percent. Trump has 261,349 votes or 33 percent. In Tarrant County early voting, Trump is ahead with 49.35 percent of the vote and Biden has 49.25 percent. Statewide, Biden is leading in Texas 53.5 to45.2 percent.
UPDATE: AP has called South Carolina for Trump. In Florida, only 2,000 votes separate Trump and Biden in Florida.
UPDATE: Biden is leading in cities and largest county in Ohio. He’s also leading around Youngstown and other rural areas of the state with about half the vote counted.
UPDATE: AP has called Kentucky and West Virginia for Trump, and Virginia and Vermont for Biden. The remain neck and neck in Florida and Georgia.
UPDATE: TMC: The Mining Company and Cedar Springs Tap House on Cedar Springs Road are both open at 7 p.m. for election watch parties.
UPDATE: Biden is leading in Florida. However, his lead in Dade County is slimmer than Hillary’s was in 2016. He’s making it up on the northern West Coast. Trump beat Hillary in St. Pete but Biden is ahead of Trump in the city just west of Tampa. Biden leads the Electoral vote by 3. AP has called Virginia for Biden.
UPDATE: With about 48 percent of the vote counted in Florida, Biden leads by a very slim 51.3 percent to 47.9 percent margin, according to Associated Press. With just 3 percent counted in Georgia, Biden is ahead 55.4 percent to 43.5 percent. AP has called Kentucky for Trump, and with very small numbers of votes counted, Trump leads in Indiana, Virginia and South Carolina.
UPDATE: The polls in Texas are open until 7 p.m. If you are on line at 7 p.m., stay in line. The polling location will remain open until everyone on line at 7 p.m. has voted. In Oak Lawn, there is a short line at the Oak Lawn Library.
The line at the Oak Lawn library polling location. (Chad Mantooth/Dallas Voice)
UPDATE: And it is time. It is 7 p.m. EST, and polls are just now closing in Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, Vermont and Virginia. We hear that CNN has called Indiana for Trump already, and that with two counties reporting, Trump takes an early lead in Florida. Virginia so far is going to Biden.
ORIGINAL POST: David Taffet and Tammye Nash will be blogging here throughout the evening as we do our best to keep up with the election results that matter the most to our LGBTQ community nationally, state-wide and locally. We will post updates at the top of the page each time so the latest info will be the first you see here.
Thanks for reading DallasVoice.com. Stay safe tonight, everybody.