ABOVE: State Rep.-Elect Michele Rayner, photo courtesy Rayner.
ST. PETERSBURG | Civil rights attorney Michele Rayner triumphed over three opponents in the Aug. 18 primary to represent Florida House District 70 (HD-70), making her the first Black, openly LGBTQ woman elected to the Florida Legislature.
Rayner will succeed Rep. Wengay Newton in representing HD-70, which spans parts of St. Petersburg and Hillsborough, Manatee and Sarasota counties. According to unofficial results, she received 35.28% of the vote in Pinellas and 30.84% in Hillsborough County, defeating Keisha Bell, Michelle Grimsley and Mark Oliver in the race.
“I’m proud because this win represents a new day,” Rayner shared following the results. “We’ve run a campaign focused on putting people over politics and that’s rooted in a commitment to working with and for residents until the change they seek is a reality.
“Tonight, we made history as the first woman to represent District 70 in the Florida House of Representatives, and the first openly-queer Black woman to hold political office in this state,” she added.
A number of LGBTQ-focused organizations endorsed Rayner ahead of the race, including Equality Florida, the Human Rights Campaign and the LGBTQ Victory Fund. Equality Florida celebrated her election following the results.
“Michele Rayner has just shattered another glass ceiling by becoming one of Florida’s first out Black queer women ever elected to any office in our state,” Executive Director Nadine Smith shared. “Equality Florida Action PAC made her race one of our top priorities in the primary.
“Our donors rallied to support her and our volunteers sent tens of thousands of messages to voters in the closing days of the campaign,” she continued. “This is a victory to be celebrated by everyone who values equality and the voices of black women.”
“Florida is witnessing a rainbow revolution, with an unprecedented number of openly LGBTQ state legislative candidates running for office and an opportunity to at least double LGBTQ representation come November,” the LGBTQ Victory Fund shared Aug. 19.
“But this is about more than just the state legislature,” they continued. “These candidates can inspire pro-equality voters to turn out for them in record numbers, with the potential to influence which presidential candidate wins Florida and ultimately the White House. Florida voters must get out to vote for these LGBTQ candidates and elect a government more reflective of the people it serves – and their impact can be enormous.”
Thanking her wife and supporters following the results, Rayner stressed that her campaign wasn’t about her. “We showed our community that when you put people over politics, when you put principle over transactions, that you can win,” she shared. See her full remarks below:
Ahead of the election, Rayner also reflected on her historic bid in a viewpoint column for Watermark. “We need leaders who will act to keep all of us safe, but especially those experiencing the most harm,” she wrote. “Residents deserve a leader who will fight for everyone’s full humanity to be seen and respected.
“It is not lost on me that if elected, I would become one of, if not the first, openly Black queer women elected at any level of government in Florida,” she concluded. “I would be honored to serve my community and my state, and would view it as a privilege to legislate from the value-rooted stance that if Black lives – and specifically Black queers’ lives – are not free, then none of us in the LGBTQIA+ community are free.”
For more information about Rep.-Elect Rayner’s campaign, visit MicheleForFlorida.com.
