An astonishing 430 openly LGBTI people ran for public office in the United States this year. 244 are still in the race for November’s midterm elections, and of the 25 running for Congress and governor, all are Democrats.
Victory Fund released these numbers in their 2018 Rainbow Wave report, which supports that a record number of LGBTI people are running for office this year.
In their report, they calcuated LGBTI candidates for both Congress and gubernatorial races.
What’s happening in Congress?
21 LGBTI candidates won their Democratic primaries earlier this year. This is a 24% compared to the 2016 cycle and an amazing 320% increase from 2010.
The stats are equally impressive for LGBTI women running for office, who have a record number of candidates since 2016.
13 LGBTI people who identify as women are up for a Congressional seat in November, which is a 160% increase since 2016, and more than the number of LGBTI men running for Congress this year.
Further, this is the first time since 2010 there are zero LGBTI Republican candidates.
Graph showing LGBTI candidated for Congress | Photo: Victory Fund
And governors?
A total of seven LGBTI people ran for governor this year, with four winning the major party nomination. This is more than ever before.
Prior to 2018, only three LGBTI people had ever run for governor in the same election cycle, and only one before got their party’s nomination.
This year, the entire LGBT acroynm is represented with: Lupe Valdez in Texas (lesbian), Jared Polis in Colorado (gay man), Kate Brown of Oregon (bisexual), and Christine Hallquist of Vermont (trans woman).
Brown is running for re-election, having become the first openly LGBTI person elected as governor in November 2016.
Graph for governor candidates | Photo: Victory Fund
Currently, with 576 seats in public office, LGBTI Americans only make up 0.1% of all elected officials. 22,810 LGBTI people must be elected to achieve equal representation in government.
The midterm elections are on 6 November.
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