The LGBT Victory Fund released numbers on the Rainbow Wave of candidates in the November election. Of 432 LGBT candidates who made it on to the Nov. 6 ballot, 244 won on election night.
Most of the candidates ran as Democrats, but 23 ran as Republicans and of those, four won. More LGBT candidates ran in what Victory Fund called “high equality states,” but even in “low equality states,” such as Texas, about half won their races.
More gay men ran than lesbians, but lesbians won a higher percentage of their races.
Of the total number of LGBT candidates, 25 percent were people of color and 56.5 percent of them won their races.
LGBT candidates ran in 14 federal races and won 10 of those Congressional seats. One race — Gina Ortiz Jones in West Texas — remains uncalled.
In 133 statewide races across the country, 106 LGBT candidates scored a win. And in 78 local races, LGBT Victory Fund counted 45 wins. That total doesn’t include one local race: Scott Prescher won a seat on the Watauga City Council.
Three transgender candidates won elections. Until Danica Roem became a Virginia Delegate, New Hope Mayor Jess Herbst was the highest elected trans official in the country. Over the weekend, Brianna Titone was declared the winner in her Colorado State House race.
— David Taffet
