First time: LGBT candidates in every US election state
Election Day in the US will begin at 6 am or 7 am local time (11 am or 12 pm GMT) in different states. And while politicians and voters await the results of this vote, in which, according to analysts, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have staked their political futures, global agencies also highlight some curious features related to the elections.
For the first time in the history of the United States, representatives of the LGBT+ community have been nominated as candidates in all American states, reports France Presse. It’s a record that could have a big impact on the country’s political landscape.
678 candidates of the LGBT+ community are standing in the elections today. Americans are voting for members of the House of Representatives and to renew one-third of the Senate in Congress. Voting is also held today for a number of gubernatorial positions, and local elections are held in many places.
The number of LGBT+ candidates in the elections is now 20 percent higher compared to the previous vote, according to an analysis by the LGBT+ Victory fund, which helps finance the campaigns of community representatives.
90 percent of LGBT+ candidates are Democrats. Among them, Tina Kotek and Maura Healy stand out, who could become the first lesbian governors of their respective states – Oregon and Massachusetts. In the state of Vermont, which borders Canada, Becca Balint has a good chance of becoming the first lesbian elected from there to the House of Representatives.
This record number of candidates from the LGBT+ community is a reaction of American voters to the attacks directed against the community this year, according to Anise Parker, former mayor of Houston and head of the LGBT+ Victory Fund.
However, for several years in the US, bills aimed at limiting the rights of transsexuals in the country or the teaching of homosexuality in schools have multiplied. For example, in March Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, one of the leading figures of American conservatives who is believed to be a candidate for the presidential election in 2024, signed a law prohibiting the teaching of topics related to gender identity and sexual orientation. Critics of the bill called it: “The Don’t Say Gay Act.”
According to the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBT+ advocacy organization in the US, more than 340 laws perceived as anti-LGBT+ have been introduced in state and municipal councils across the country. Many NGOs fear that similar bills will be debated in Congress if Republicans win a majority in the House of Representatives in today’s election.
However, this conservative offensive against the LGBT+ community could soon be neutralized thanks to the growing number of LGBT+ voters. According to the Human Rights Campaign, representatives of the LGBT+ community are one of the fastest-growing electoral blocs in the country, which should reshape the American electoral landscape. Today, one in 10 voters is a community representative, but by 2030, it is predicted that one in 7 American voters will be from the community.
