LGBTQ Candidates In Every State!

Statistics are wonderful. Last week, statistics for diversity within midterm candidates came back, and they are looking great. According to a study done by the LGBTQ Victory Fund, at least 1,065 LGBTQ candidates ran, that being 18.1% more than 2020’s election. Of that amount, 678 LGBTQ candidates will be on the ballot. This means at least 1 LGBTQ candidate is running in each state.

This is a direct response to the amount of anti-LGBTQ bills passed in 2021 to 2022. 25 new anti-LGBTQ bills were introduced this year, with 16 of them being vetoed and one of them having the veto overridden. This does not include all of the 25 anti-trans bills that were introduced this year as well, with only 13 of them being vetoed, and one of the vetoes overridden again. As Victory Fund’s website states, “As politicians in state legislatures and on school boards levied unprecedented attacks on our community and our kids, LGBTQ leaders responded, running for office in record numbers.”

Of the 1065 LGBTQ candidates, 38.2% were people of color, 14% being Black and 13.2% being Latino, the last 4.2% being Asian American or Pacific Islanders. 13.9% of the 1065 LGBTQ candidates were not cisgender, with 54 of them being nonbinary. Over half of the candidates are gay men, making up 55% of the candidates, while 18.2 were lesbian, with 11.2% being bisexual and 11.2% being queer.

More directly, of the 1065, 416 ran for state legislation, 335 ran for local positions; 77 ran for school boards, and 41 ran for state office. The vast majority of the candidates ran as democratic.

Victory Fund’s President and CEO, Anisse Parker, stated in a comment to Them, “When they tried to ban books and censor LGBTQ kids and teachers, a record number of LGBTQ people ran for school board. When they introduced a historic number of anti-LGBTQ laws in state legislatures, LGBTQ people ran for state legislatures like never before. When they tried to stall federal pro-equality legislation, we ran for Congress like never before.”