#49 - 70% reporting now
A record-shattering 340 openly LGBTQ candidates running in the midterms this year won their elections Tuesday evening in a night full of political firsts for the LGBTQ community.
Annise Parker, the president and chief executive of the LGBTQ Victory Fund, an organization working to elect more openly LGBTQ people to public office, said Tuesday’s “Rainbow Wave” is a clear rebuke to actions taken by state and federal officials this year to curtail the rights of LGBTQ people, particularly transgender youth.
“With so much at stake this election, from the future of marriage equality to abortion, LGBTQ candidates’ grit and exceptional grassroots support is paying off,” she said in a statement.
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Democrat Maxwell Frost has won in Florida's 10th Congressional District, according to a race call by the Associated Press, making him the first member of Generation Z elected to serve in the U.S. Congress.
Frost was heavily favored to win the Orlando-based seat, which is solidly Democrat. He defeated Republican Calvin Wimbish by 19 percentage points. Frost will succeed outgoing Democratic Rep. Val Demings, who challenged incumbent Marco Rubio in the Senate. Rubio won his reelection, according to the AP.
"History was made tonight," Frost tweeted. "We made history for Floridians, for Gen Z, and for everyone who believes we deserve a better future."
The 25-year-old's victory marks a pivotal moment for progressive activists who came of voting age over the last decade and found their political voice in response to divisive issues including gun violence.
Frost, who has a background as an organizer, first became an activist after the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., in 2012. Before running for Congress, he served as the national organizing director for March for Our Lives, a group that advocates for gun control policy.
Gun control continues to be a top issue among younger voters. According to recent polling from Harvard Institute of Politics, 22% of respondents said it was either their most important or second most important issue – compared to inflation (45%,) abortion (33%) and "protecting democracy" (30%).
Gun violence prevention was a core tenet of Frost's platform, along with supporting progressive policies like Medicare for all and a Green New Deal.
Following the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Frost confronted Florida's Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis at an event over the governor's second amendment views.
Frost raised over $2.5 million and was endorsed by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Massachusetts Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey as well as the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
When Frost takes office in January, he'll join a Congress known for lacking diversity in age – given the current membership is the oldest in U.S. history.