Yesterday’s election delivered a historic night for LGBTQ+ candidates — from Fresno all the way to the U.S. Senate. Here’s how the rainbow fared locally, across California, and nationally. (Note: California is still counting mail ballots, so some margins will shift.)
Fresno County
The headline: Annalisa Perea holds a commanding 67%–32% lead over Jim Polsgrove in the race for Assembly District 31. She’s poised to become the first openly LGBTQ+ state legislator from the Central Valley.
Also in the Valley: Esmeralda Soria declared victory in the SD-14 state Senate race, holding a roughly 2-to-1 margin.
Still too close to call: Fresno City Council District 1, where Naindeep Singh leads Rob Fuentes by just 16 votes. And Fresno County’s Measure S transportation tax renewal is failing.
No other openly LGBTQ+ candidates appeared on the Fresno County ballot this cycle.
California
Xavier Becerra won the governor’s race in a landslide and becomes California’s first elected Latino governor, keeping a pro-equality Democrat in the state’s top office.
Out bisexual former San Diego councilmember Marni von Wilpert flipped Congressional District 48 (59–41) on her way to Washington. Re-elected to the House: out gay men Robert Garcia (CA-42) and Mark Takano (CA-39). California Democrats netted five House seats overall.
In the state legislature, the LGBTQ Caucus grows — with Perea adding its first Central Valley member — and out legislators take new leadership posts for 2027–28.
Losses: gay former West Hollywood mayor John Erickson fell short in the SD-24 state Senate race (58–42), and Matthew Adams — who would have been California’s first openly asexual legislator — lost his AD-9 Assembly bid (57–43).
National
The history-makers:
- Chris Pappas (NH) — the first openly gay man ever elected to the U.S. Senate.
- Allison Montgomery (AL) — Alabama’s first transgender state legislator, flipping a seat Republicans held for two decades in a state with some of the harshest anti-trans laws.
- Bentley Hudgins (GA) — the first out trans and nonbinary member of the Georgia legislature.
- Quinnie Pérez (FL) — the first out trans woman elected to public office in Florida.
- JD Ford (IN) — Indiana’s first out gay member of Congress, unseating an incumbent.
- Jeremy Moss (MI) — Michigan’s first out LGBTQ+ member of Congress.
- JoAnna Mendoza (AZ) — flipped a House seat; an openly LGBTQ+ Marine veteran.
Re-elected: Sarah McBride, Sharice Davids, Ritchie Torres, Eric Sorensen, Zooey Zephyr, and governors Maura Healey (MA) and Tina Kotek (OR), among others.
And the big picture: voters handed Democrats control of both the U.S. House and Senate.
The takeaway
Not every race went our way, but across the country voters rejected anti-LGBTQ+ fearmongering at the ballot box — and the Central Valley is sending its first openly LGBTQ+ legislator to Sacramento. Representation matters. We’ll keep watching the uncalled races as counting continues.
Sources: Fresnoland, AP, Out/The Advocate, Washington Blade, Decision Desk HQ.
