Five major LGBTQ groups have endorsed California State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) in his bid for California’s 11th Congressional District, currently represented by House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, who announced her retirement last month.
Among the organizations backing Wiener are The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy organization; Equality California, the state’s largest LGBTQ advocacy organization; Equality PAC, the political arm of the Congressional LGBTQ Equality Caucus; the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, which works to increase LGBTQ political representation; and the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus.
The organizations cited Wiener’s nine-year tenure in the state Senate, during which he sponsored numerous bills aimed at combating discrimination based on HIV status, sexual orientation, and gender identity.
LGBTQ-focused bills Wiener has authored or sponsored in the state Senate include measures to ensure low-cost access to Truvada for pre-exposure prophylaxis; expand access to medications used for pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis; modernize California’s HIV criminalization laws to make exposure a misdemeanor, on par with penalties for other communicable diseases; create a third, nonbinary gender option on government documents; strengthen protections against discrimination for LGBTQ elders; and prevent California law enforcement from cooperating with out-of-state efforts to restrict access to gender-affirming care.
The LGBTQ groups said they would mobilize members and supporters on behalf of Wiener’s candidacy. He faces fellow Democrat Saikat Chakrabarti, who previously served as chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), and San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan.
At least three other Democrats and two Republicans have filed paperwork to run but have not formally launched campaigns. Under California’s primary system, the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, advance to the general election.
Chakrabarti and Wiener are considered early frontrunners, with Chakrabarti drawing support from progressive groups critical of Democratic establishment politics.
“Scott Wiener will be a champion in Congress,” Kelley Robinson, the president of the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement. “During his time in the California Legislature, he has been relentless in fighting for our community, and he’s ready to go toe-to-toe with the Trump administration and anti-equality forces in Congress to deliver victories for all Californians.”
Wiener expressed gratitude for the “overwhelming” support he’s received from the organizations.
“This community means so much to me, and I will never stop fighting to defend and uplift it,” he said in a statement. “As MAGA continues to scapegoat and vilify LGBTQ people for the simple, revolutionary act of living authentically, we’ll continue to show the world what resilience looks like.”
In what many see as a rebuke of the Trump administration’s agenda, Democratic candidates channeled anti-Trump frustration into a wave of wins -- including key victories for pro-LGBTQ candidates in Tuesday’s bellwether races.
In Virginia, former Democratic Congresswoman and LGBTQ ally Abigail Spanberger cruised to a decisive win over Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, defeating her by nearly 15 points.
Earle-Sears, who narrowly won election on Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s coattails four years ago, tried to replicate Youngkin's formula by emphasizing cultural issues, but failed to find issues that galvanized voters. She devoted much of her campaign to attacking Spanberger over pro-LGBTQ school policies that allow students to use restrooms matching their gender identity, and over the absence of a statewide ban on transgender athletes competing on female-designated sports teams.
As Democrats celebrated major wins in key state contests on November 4, a wave of out LGBTQ candidates scored victories of their own in local and down-ballot races, further boosting LGBTQ representation in public office.
In Virginia, boosted by Abigail Spanberger's win in the governor's race, Democrats picked up 13 seats in the 100-member House of Delegates, increasing the size of their caucus to 64. All six incumbent LGBTQ delegates who were up for re-election -- Rozia Henson (D-Woodbridge), Laura Jane Cohen (D-Burke), Mark Sickles (D-Franconia), Adele McClure (D-Arlington), Joshua Cole (D-Fredericksburg) and Cia Price (D-Newport News) -- won their races.
In a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), 213 Democratic U.S. representatives, as well as Delegates Stacey Plaskett (Virgin Islands), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D.C.), and Resident Commissioner Pablo José Hernández (Puerto Rico), are demanding that Johnson rebuke Republican lawmakers for using "demonizing and dehumanizing" language when speaking about the transgender community.
"We write to you to strongly condemn the rise in anti-transgender rhetoric, including from members of Congress, and to urge you to ensure members of Congress are following rules of decorum and not using their platforms to demonize and scapegoat any marginalized community, including the transgender community," the Democrats' letter reads.
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