Venton Jones is set to make history tonight in Dallas. (David Taffet/Dallas Voice)
For the first time ever, LGBTQ candidates are on the ballot in every state across the country; Of the 1,065 LGBTQ hopefuls who ran primary campaigns for November’s midterms, a historic 678 made it onto the ballot — an 18 percent increase over 2020.
Voters are expected to elect the country’s first openly lesbian governor. Out lesbians vying for governorships are Maura Healey in Massachussetts and Tina Kotek in Oregon and are both expected to win.
Voters are expected to elect the country’s first openly gay immigrant to the U.S. Congress — California’s Robert Garcia.
Vermont is expected to elect the first woman and the first lesbian from the state to the U.S. Congress — Becca Balint.
Voters are expected to elect a record number of transgender and gender non-conforming people to public office — including in several states, including Oklahoma, where openly transgender and gender non-conforming people have never served in public office. Other states where trans and non-binary officials are expected to win include Colorado, Delaware, Maine, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
Texas, and more specifically Dallas, will send an out gay man — Venton Jones — to the Legislature. That’s not a first, but he’ll be the first Texas legislator who is out about his HIV-positive status.
Polls are open in Texas today, Nov. 8, until 7 p.m. In Dallas, Tarrant and Collin counties, you can vote at any polling location in the county in which you are registered.
— David Taffet
