This week the Victory Fund endorsed eight candidates in state and local races. In New Jersey, they endorsed Reginald Bledsoe who ran as a Newark School Board candidate and won. Bledsoe, 26, is a legislative aide to City Councilman Eddie Osborne. Bledsoe garnered 3,382 votes, or about 17 percent to win one of the seats that was up for grabs this year.
Elsewhere in the country, Danica Roem, running for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates, received a special spotlight endorsement to run as the first state legislator to possibly win as an openly-transgender candidate.
“We have a groundbreaking opportunity to make Danica Roem the first state legislator to win as an out trans candidate — and we are determined to help her to a primary victory this June,” said Aisha C. Moodie-Mills, President & CEO at the LGBT Victory Fund, in a statement. “Currently there is zero trans representation in any state legislature, making it easy for extremist politicians to push forward the flood of anti-trans bills we’ve seen across the country. Representation is power, so a win for Danica is a critical first step to electing more trans people who can be a voice for the community and fight back against anti-equality efforts.”
Among the other endorsees are three LGBT candidates running for local races in Texas. The Texas state legislature continues to introduce dozens of bills targeting the LGBT community, including a religious exemption bill that allows business owners to deny service to LGBT people. If elected, these local LGBT leaders can help protect people in their communities by passing policies that mitigate the effects of any anti-LGBT equality bills from the state legislature.
Since 1991, Victory Fund has helped thousands of openly LGBTQ candidates win local, state and federal elections.
Other Victory Fund Endorsed Candidates
- Johnny Boucher, Grand Prairie Independent School District, Position 4 (TX)
- Joshua Carter, El Paso Community College Trustee, District 7 (TX)
- Omar Narvaez, Dallas City Council, District 6 (TX)
- Henry Sias, Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge (PA)
- Endorsed Incumbents
- LaWana Mayfield, Charlotte City Council, District 3 (NC)
- Carol Becker, Minneapolis Board of Estimate and Taxation (MN)
