Voters in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, elected City Commissioner Susan Stewart as the coastal resort’s first openly gay mayor on Aug. 8. Stewart won 61% of the vote in a four-way race.
Stewart is also the first woman elected mayor of Rehoboth Beach in decades. She won a seat on the city’s Board of Commissioners last year and told Philadelphia radio station WHYY she had not planned to run for mayor so soon, but local residents, leaders, and organizations encouraged her to enter the race.
Stewart defeated fellow commissioners Craig Thier and Suzanne Goode, as well as political newcomer Jake Raak. She said she was grateful for the “incredible” support she received from members of the LGBTQ community, particularly on social media.
A native of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Stewart previously lived in Washington, D.C. She began her career as an attorney but spent most of it working in financial services. She bought a vacation home in Rehoboth Beach in 2013 and moved there full time during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Stewart campaigned on preserving Rehoboth Beach’s character. She told WHYY the city’s physical charm lies in its historic architecture, outdoor spaces, and the beach itself.
Among the city’s playful traditions, she said, is the Mrs. Roper Romp, in which crowds dress as Mrs. Roper from the 1970s sitcom Three’s Company and walk through Rehoboth.
“I don’t have the skill set to articulate what I like about it, but I know I like it,” she said.
Before joining the Board of Commissioners, Stewart served on the city’s Planning Commission, Mixed-Use Zoning Ordinance Task Force, and Stormwater Utility Task Force. Those roles gave her experience with zoning codes and the city’s comprehensive development plan, which sets goals and policies for land use, mixed-use development, workforce housing, walkability, and bicycle access.
“We really needed to be very thoughtful and purposeful about what we see as the future of Rehoboth Beach, and that it needed a leader that would help us articulate that in a way that preserves our quality of life and our charm that was getting away from us,” Stewart told WHYY.
More than 60% of the city’s revenue comes from tourism-related sources, including parking fees, a hotel accommodations tax, and a short-term rental tax, while about 10% comes from property taxes, Stewart said. She wants to balance the economic growth generated by businesses and tourists with the small-town character many homeowners value.
“What we need to do as a community of engaged residents is to figure out how we preserve that revenue stream, but perhaps more importantly, how we find a way to preserve our quality of life, because some of the tourism is what causes tension,” she said.
Stewart will be sworn in as mayor on September 18.
The Fairfax County School Board has elected its first-ever out lesbian as chair of the board governing Virginia's largest school system and an out bisexual man as vice chair.
At its July 9 meeting, the 12-member board selected Robyn Lady (Dranesville), who became the first out lesbian elected to the Fairfax County School Board in 2024, as chair for the 2026-27 school year.
Lady most recently served as the board's vice chair under Sandy Anderson's leadership as chair. She also chaired the Governance Committee, where she oversaw successful revisions to the school district's grading policy. In addition, she served as the board's liaison to the School Health Advisory Committee, the City of Fairfax School Board, and the Fairfax County Athletic Council.
"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.'"
"Our role as journalists is to help communicate stories and be voices for people," says Vaughn Hillyard, a former campaign reporter who is now senior White House correspondent for the cable news network MS NOW. "In journalism, we are part of ever-evolving stories and dialogues."
For Hillyard, the desire to tell important stories and hold people in power to account dates back to his high school days in Phoenix, Arizona. He worked for the student newspaper, which won a First Amendment Press Freedom Award after its reporting on a standardized testing system being used by the Glendale Union High School District was censored and stalled for a year before being published -- well after he had graduated and entered college.
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