Alexandria City Councilman R. Kirk McPike won Tuesday’s Democratic firehouse primary for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates.
The openly gay McPike, who works as chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), secured 60.5% of the vote in the four-way race among Democrats in the 5th House District.
Eileen Cassidy Rivera, a former Alexandria City School Board member, placed second, finishing ahead of criminal defense attorney Chris Leibig and Gregory Darrall, an openly gay teacher and labor leader.
Tuesday’s contest marked the first time in recent memory that two openly gay men faced off for a seat in the Virginia General Assembly.
McPike will face Republican nominee Mason Butler in a special election on Tuesday, February 10, to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker (D-Alexandria), effective February 18.
Bennett-Parker is running in a separate February 10 special election for the soon-to-be-vacated 39th State Senate District seat held by openly gay Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria), who is leaving the legislature to serve as senior adviser to the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority under Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger.
Early voting for the special elections begins on January 31 and runs through February 7. The last day to register or update a voter registration to be eligible to vote is Tuesday, February 3.
McPike was first elected to the Alexandria City Council in 2021 and reelected in 2024. He is favored in the general election, after 78.2% of the district’s voters supported former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. He has also been endorsed by Ebbin, U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), and the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund.
If he wins, McPike will be required under Virginia law to resign from his day job on Capitol Hill and from his current City Council seat, triggering another special election.
McPike thanked voters for their support in a statement posted to his Bluesky account, vowing to fight for Democratic values.
“Should I win on February 10, I look forward to working to address our housing crisis, the challenge of climate change, and the damaging impacts of the Trump Administration on immigrant families, LGBTQ+ Virginians, and federal employees who call Alexandria home,” McPike wrote.
“More than 20 years ago, Adam Ebbin made history by becoming the first openly gay person elected to Virginia’s House of Delegates,” McPike continued. “I am excited to have this opportunity to continue his legacy of LGBTQ+ representation from Alexandria. As I have on the City Council, I will always stand strong for the rights and freedoms of LGBTQ+ people.”
Referencing an effort begun last year to repeal Virginia’s constitutional prohibition on same-sex marriage — which the House will vote on later this session — McPike stressed the importance of having a pro-marriage equality representative in Richmond for a district that is among a handful in Northern Virginia with a large LGBTQ community.
If the bill to repeal the marriage ban passes, it would set up a referendum on the November ballot requiring a majority of voters in the commonwealth to approve a constitutional amendment. Democratic lawmakers are expected to campaign in favor of a “yes” vote on the referendum, which would ensure that LGBTQ Virginians could continue to marry if the Supreme Court were to reverse its 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision, temporarily nullifying state-level marriage bans.
“I look forward to campaigning to ensure that my marriage to my husband Jason, and the marriages of thousands of other LGBTQ+ couples across Virginia, are protected by our Commonwealth’s Constitution,” McPike said.
For the first time in Salt Lake City’s history, a majority of the seven-member council is made up of out LGBTQ members, following last year’s municipal elections that produced a notably diverse governing body.
Erika Carlsen, a gay Latina, was elected to represent District 5, which includes Ballpark, Central Ninth, East Liberty Park, and Liberty Wells. Voters also reelected District 3’s Chris Wharton, who represents Capitol Hill, the Avenues, and City Creek Canyon.
Other LGBTQ members include Alejandro Puy, a gay Latino who represents District 2, which includes parts of downtown as well as Fairpark, Poplar Grove, and Glendale, and Eva Lopez Chavez, a gay Latina and the first Mexican American elected to the council, who represents District 4, covering parts of downtown, Central City, and East Central.
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.
Erik Bottcher, the New York City Council member who represents some of the Big Apple’s most LGBTQ-friendly neighborhoods, has abruptly dropped out of the race for New York’s 12th Congressional District to pursue an open New York State Senate seat.
An openly gay Democrat, Bottcher drew early headlines even before officially launching his campaign. While running for reelection to his City Council seat in October, he filed paperwork to seek New York’s 12th Congressional District, which includes Midtown Manhattan, Chelsea, the Upper West Side, and the Upper East Side. The district’s longtime incumbent, U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler (D), is set to retire at the end of 2026 after seventeen terms in office.
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