LGBTQ candidates running in 2024. (Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) became the first openly LGBTQ senator with her election in 2012, having previously served as U.S. representative from Wisconsin’s 2nd Congressional District as the first non-incumbent LGBTQ member elected to the chamber. She is running against Republican mega-millionaire Eric Hovde, whose campaign has targeted her sexual orientation with negative advertising, in a race that Cook Political Report considers a toss-up.
Delaware State Sen. Sarah McBride (D) became the first openly trans state senator and the highest-ranking trans official in U.S. history with her election in 2020, having previously worked in LGBTQ advocacy and authored a memoir. She is running for Delaware’s sole seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, where she would be the first transgender Member of Congress. She is favored to win her race.
Mondaire Jones served as U.S. representative for New York’s 17th Congressional District from 2021 to 2023, during which time he was often described as a rising star in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, serving on the Progressive, Black, and Equality Caucuses. Jones was one of the first two openly gay Black members of Congress. He is running to reclaim his seat representing NY-17.
Gay Democratic U.S. attorney Will Rollins is gunning for U.S. Rep. Ken Calvert’s (R-Calif.) seat after narrowly losing to the GOP incumbent in 2022. His victory is key for Democrats to retake control of the House, with Cook Political Report characterizing their race as a toss-up and POLITICO writing it will be one of the most “closely watched and expensive battleground slugfests in the country.”
U.S. Rep. Angie Craig (D) is the first LGBTQ member of Congress from Minnesota and the first lesbian mother to serve in either chamber. In the House, Craig has opposed Republican-led efforts to implement anti-LGBTQ policies, especially in schools. She is facing off against Republican Joe Teirab in a race that, according to Cook Political Report, is shaping up in her favor/lean Democratic.
U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen (D) is a former meteorologist and the first openly gay member of Congress from Illinois. While he is the first Democrat to represent portions of the state’s 17th Congressional District in decades, particularly the towns of Rockford and Peoria, Sorensen’s race is “likely” Democratic, per Cook Political Report. He is running against Republican Joe McGraw, a judge and former prosecutor.
U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids is a former mixed martial artist and attorney serving as the first Democrat to represent a Kansas congressional district in Congress in more than a decade. She is also the first LGBTQ Native American and one of the first two Native American women (along with Interior Secretary Deb Haaland) elected to the chamber. Her race is “likely” Democratic according to Cook Political Report.
U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas (D) is the first openly gay man from New Hampshire to serve in Congress following his election in 2018 and reelection in 2020 and 2022. He is running against Republican Russell Prescott in a race that Cook Political Report expects will be “likely” Democratic. New Hampshire Public Radio called Pappas the 1st Congressional District’s most successful Democrat in more than four decades.
There are four other openly LGBTQ members of Congress, all serving as co-chairs of the Equality Caucus under chair Mark Pocan, Democratic U.S. representative from Wisconsin: U.S. Reps. Robert Garcia and Mark Takano, Democrats from California, Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), and Becca Balint (D-Vt.). They are all expected to win their bids for reelection.
Gay Pennsylvania State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (D) is running for auditor general of the Keystone State, squaring off next week against incumbent Republican Tim DeFoor and three third-party candidates. Appointed by President Joe Biden to chair the Presidential Advisory Commission on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence and Economic Opportunity for Black Americans, Kenyatta is considered a rising star in the Democratic Party.
Tampa native and mother of two teen boys, Ashley Brundage has built programs to help educate people and facilitate economic empowerment for entrepreneurs, earning a “Spirit of the Community Award” for her work from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. And if she wins her race next week to serve in the Florida House of Representatives, Brundage would be the state’s first out transgender elected official.
Aime Wichtendahl is the first transgender official elected in the state of Iowa, serving on the city council of Hiawatha, a suburb northwest of Cedar Rapids, since 2015. Her work has focused on expanding infrastructure, reducing property taxes, and helping small businesses. If elected to the Iowa House of Representatives next week, Wichtendahl would be Iowa’s first openly trans state legislator.
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