Everton Blair Jr., a Democrat and former chair of the Gwinnett County School Board in suburban Atlanta, won a special election to succeed the late U.S. Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.), becoming the first openly gay man and the first gay Black person elected to Congress from a Southern state.
Scott, who chaired the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture from 2021 to 2023 and served as its ranking member from 2023 to 2025, died on April 26 at age 80. He was one of several older Democrats to die in office over the past two years, creating vacancies that expanded Republicans’ advantage in the House.
Blair also sought the Democratic nomination for a full term representing Georgia’s 13th Congressional District but lost the May primary to State Rep. Jasmine Clark (D-Lilburn), who is widely favored to win the seat in November’s general election.
Clark did not run in the special election to fill the final four months of Scott’s term.
Marcye Scott, the late congressman’s daughter, finished first in the July 28 all-party special election with 47% of the vote. Because no candidate received a majority, the top two finishers advanced to a runoff, with Blair claiming the second spot with 37%.
Blair, a former high school math teacher who was elected to the Gwinnett County Board of Education in 2018, was backed in the runoff by U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath (D-Ga.), the Bernie Sanders-founded group Our Revolution, and the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund.
In the August 25 runoff, Blair defeated Scott, 53%-47%, winning 70% of the vote in Gwinnett County. Scott carried the district’s five other counties with majorities ranging from 52% to 64%, but Blair’s advantage in Gwinnett proved decisive.
Blair is expected to be sworn in when the House returns from its August recess next week, alongside California State Sen. Aisha Wahab (D-Hayward). Wahab won a special election to succeed former U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell in California’s 14th Congressional District after he resigned in April amid allegations of sexual misconduct.
Two other House seats remain vacant. The Republican-leaning, Hispanic-majority district formerly represented by U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales is expected to be competitive this fall, while the seat formerly held by U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick is solidly Democratic. Both lawmakers resigned in April, but no special elections have been called to fill their seats.
The Human Rights Campaign praised Blair’s victory in an email to supporters, saying his comeback win over Scott “reflects the power of perseverance and leadership.”
Democratic U.S. Rep. Eugene Vindman cursed at a constituent and walked out of a meeting with party activists after transgender attendees challenged his vote for a Republican-backed "forced outing" bill.
The confrontation occurred on August 11 in King George County, a heavily Republican locality at the eastern end of Vindman's 7th Congressional District that overwhelmingly favored President Donald Trump in 2024.
Vindman, a swing-district Democrat, attended the King George Democratic Committee meeting to rally party loyalists behind his reelection bid. After discussing Trump, affordability, and the midterm elections, he took questions from the audience.
U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), who is challenging U.S. Sen. Ed Markey in the Democratic primary, apologized for the hurt caused by controversial remarks he made about transgender athletes following Kamala Harris's loss in the 2024 presidential election.
Moulton, 47, and Markey, 80, sparred during an August 3 debate aired on Boston PBS affiliate WGBH ahead of the September 1 primary. WGBH News' Adam Reilly asked Moulton about comments he made to The New York Times in 2024, attributing Democrats' electoral losses to positions on hot-button cultural issues that he argued were out of step with most Americans.
"This moment calls for bold leadership. It calls for a fighter. And I've never been one to sit and be a spectator when things look bad," says Florida State Sen. Shevrin Jones, one of eight candidates running as a Democrat for Florida's 24th Congressional District.
"I'm a hands-on guy. I like science. I love experiments," the former science teacher says. "Well, this is America's greatest experiment that we're going through right now. I couldn't just sit in Tallahassee and say, 'Well, Washington, D.C. is so dysfunctional' when there's an open seat in Congress, or say 'I'll let somebody else do it.'"
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