Majority of LGBTQ candidates win around the country

On Tuesday, Virginia House of Delegates member Danica Roem became the first openly-transgender person elected to the Virginia Senate and only the second openly trans person in the country elected to a state senate.

LISA KEEN  |  Keen News Service

UPDATE:  Minneapolis City Council President Andrea Jenkins, who in 2017 became the first Black openly trans woman to win an election in the U.S., narrowly defeated a progressive challenger in Tuesday’s municipal election.

ORIGINAL POST: Off-year elections are typically dull, with no presidential, Congressional or other big spotlight races on the ballot. But results from the Tuesday, Nov. 7, elections had many moments for LGBTQ people to celebrate.

Much of that success came in Virginia, where Danica Roem, a transgender member of the House of Delegates, won election to a state senate seat from northern Virginia. Roem, up against a Republican opponent endorsed by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, won by about three points, becoming only the second transgender woman in the U.S. to be elected to a state senate.

(Sarah McBride was the first, winning her state senate seat in Delaware in 2020.)

“You attack trans kids in my district at your own political peril,” Roem said in an interview with The Hill newspaper.

Bisexual African-American state delegate candidate Joshua Cole was the dramatic 51st Democratic winner declared late Tuesday night. His victory gave Democrats the one-seat majority they need to keep control of the Virginia House of Delegates.

Polls and commentators had widely suggested Republicans might take control of the House and Senate, giving Youngkin the rubber stamp he needed to push an agenda restricting abortion, banning LGBTQ-related books and allowing parent groups to take control of public school curricula.

All seven LGBTQ candidates for the Virginia House of Delegates won their seats Tuesday night, and only two of those seven were incumbents. And in Loudoun County, Va., a culture wars hot spot in the culture wars where right-wing activist had attacked LGBTQ people and insisted schools not teach “critical race theory,” voters rejected the extremists, handing control to progressives championing diversity and equity.

Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund President Annise Parker praised Roem, noting that the new senator had faced “an unprecedented deluge of anti-trans hate on the campaign trail. … Her win tonight will make national headlines and serve as a deafening rebuke to bigots who continue to try and silence the LGBTQ+ community and trans people in particular.”

Roem will join openly gay state Sen. Adam Ebbin, who has served in the Virginia Senate for 11 years after serving eight years in the House. Ebbin won re-election handily, 78 percent to 22 percent.

In Mississippi, openly gay candidate Fabian Nelson won his primary in August and was unopposed Tuesday for a seat in the state House of Representatives. Nelson becomes the first openly LGBTQ state legislator in Mississippi history.

And in Miami Beach, which includes the popular LGBTQ destination South Beach, openly gay Michael Gongora has won the right to face another top contender in a Nov. 21 runoff to become mayor of Miami Beach. Gongora has been serving on the Miami Beach City Commission.

In Portland, Maine, openly gay mayoral candidate Andrew Zarro appeared Tuesday night to have forced the race’s leading candidate into a ranked choice tabulation of the votes. Zarro has been serving on the Portland City Council. Results are not expected before Wednesday morning.

Overall, openly LGBTQ candidates won 12 out of 14 statewide races and seven of 12 mayoral races, with an additional two races going to runoff and one race — in Cromwell, Conn. — not yet called. Out of at least 141 LGBTQ candidates running for various local seats in 21 states, data so far indicates 73 won, 14 lost and three advanced to a run-off. That leaves 51 races yet to be determined.

Houston City Council

In Houston, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and Texas state Sen. John Whitmire, both Democrats, are headed to a runoff to decide who will succeed Sylvester Turner as mayor. LGBTQ candidates Nick Hellyar, running for the At-Large Position 1 seat on the city council, and Mario Castillo, running for the District 8 seat, are both headed to runoffs.

Other important elections

Mainstream media outlets had identified a few races they considered especially interesting in the off-year voting. One of the biggest focuses was the Virginia Legislature where Democrats held onto control of both chambers despite predictions of a Republican takeover.

There were two gubernatorial races Tuesday night — races that many commentators thought might gauge support for former President Donald Trump. One of the biggest of those contests was in Kentucky, where state Attorney General Daniel Cameron, the Republican challenger to incumbent Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, had the support of both Trump and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Beshear, who won with 52.5 percent of the vote, has not been shy about expressing support for transgender people and, this year, he vetoed a bill that sought to deny gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth. In 2020, he was the first sitting Kentucky governor to attend an LGBTQ rally at the capitol.

Cameron is the AG who refused to bring charges against the law enforcement officers who killed Breonna Taylor as she laying sleeping in her own bed in 2020 after breaking into the apartment in a mistaken search for drugs.

In Mississippi, it appeared incumbent Republican Gov. Tate Reeves would survive a fierce challenge from Democrat Brandon Presley, 51.6 percent to 47 percent. Reeves has taken a highly-visible position against transgender females participating in girls’ sports and tried to make transgender athletes and transition surgery issues by claiming, apparently without evidence, that Presley supported those issues.

Presley’s position was actually somewhat guarded: He said he trusts parents to make the best decision for their children about gender-affirming and other medical care.

Ohio voters overturn ban on abortions

Only one state had an abortion measure on its ballot this week: Ohio. Issue 1, or the “Right to Make Reproductive Decisions Including Abortion Initiative,” sought to amend the state constitution to ensure that individuals had the right to make reproductive decisions — including abortion, fertility treatment and contraception — for themselves.

Last year, seven states passed ballot measures that upheld the right to choose abortion. Next year, during the presidential election, 13 states will have similar measures on their ballots.

Alabama mayor outed, commits suicide

And in the somewhat obscure reaches of a small town in Alabama, an incumbent mayor, who was also a Baptist preacher, killed himself Nov. 3, just two days after a private internet news service reported that he had a “secret life” as a “transgender woman.”

Fred Copeland, 49, was married to a woman and had three children. As mayor for seven years, he dubbed his little town of Smiths Station as “Mayberry 2023.”

But on Nov. 1, an internet site called 1819news ran a story with photos that appear to be of Copeland dressed as a woman. According to local news reports, local police authorities were asked to do a wellness check on Copeland and finally found him driving around. When they pulled him over, Copeland got out of the car, pulled a gun and shot himself.

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