The most devastating result of Florida’s August 18 primaries was the defeat of every out LGBTQ candidate for Congress, dashing hopes that the state might elect its first out LGBTQ member of Congress this year.
Farther down the ballot, however, LGBTQ candidates and allies scored a string of victories. Several state and local candidates won their races or advanced to November, while pro-LGBTQ school board candidates flipped control of one board and dealt blows to candidates backed by the anti-LGBTQ Moms for Liberty organization.
The congressional candidate who came the closest was Florida State Sen. Shevrin Jones (D-West Park), who narrowly lost to Miami-Dade Commissioner Oliver Gilbert III in a crowded Democratic primary for Florida’s 24th Congressional District. Gilbert won 34.4% of the vote to Jones’ 32%.
Jones, whom Metro Weekly recently interviewed for a cover story, was targeted by malicious, homophobic text messages sent to voters that falsely alleged he had HIV and reminded them that he was gay. The messages may have harmed his chances among the district’s Black and Caribbean voters, who tend to be more socially conservative.
“Looking ahead to November, I’m committed to doing everything I can to help elect Democrats up and down the ticket,” Jones said in a statement. “The stakes are too high to sit on the sidelines, and I’ll be out there campaigning and organizing for our candidates because our shared values are worth fighting for, in this race and every one that follows.”
Kendrick Meek, Jr., another gay candidate, finished third in the race with 17.3% of the vote.
In Florida’s 20th Congressional District, Elijah Manley, an out gay Jewish Black man, finished third in the Democratic primary. U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz won the nomination after carpetbagging to the 20th when her former district was carved up as part of a Republican-backed mid-decade redistricting plan.
In Florida’s 2nd Congressional District, Keith Gross, an out gay attorney, finished second in a crowded Republican primary with 16% of the vote. Former Capitol Hill staffer Keith Rogers won with 30%.
Congressional prospects were dim, but several LGBTQ candidates fared better in state and local races. At the state level, gay candidates Dr. Jane Aman, Todd Delmay, Mitch Rosenwald, Luis Salazar, Felipe Sousa-Lazaballet, and Samuel Vilchez Santiago all won their Democratic primaries for seats in the Florida House of Representatives.
Rosenwald faces no Republican opponent in the general election, while Sousa-Lazaballet and Vilchez Santiago are running in solidly Democratic districts. Delmay is challenging a Republican incumbent in southern Broward County, while Salazar is taking on one in the Tampa area. Both districts were won by President Donald Trump by two to three points. Meanwhile, Aman faces a Republican incumbent in a suburban Orlando district narrowly won by Kamala Harris.
In local races, Linsey Grove, who is bisexual, advanced to a November runoff for the District 6 seat on the St. Petersburg City Council. In Monroe County, Christopher Massicotte, a gay man, won a full four-year term representing District V on the Key West City Commission. Because he won a majority of the vote, there will be no runoff. Similarly, Gainesville City Commissioner Casey Willits was reelected with 54% of the vote, avoiding a runoff.
Unfortunately, Wes Hodge fell short in his bid to represent District 2 on the Orange County Commission, placing third with 19.86% of the vote and failing to qualify for the November runoff.
At the school board level, there was also good news for the LGBTQ community. Many liberal and pro-equality candidates trounced conservative opponents affiliated with local Republicans or the right-wing “parental rights” organization Moms for Liberty, which has advocated for book bans and restrictions on LGBTQ visibility in public schools.
In Orange County, which includes the Orlando metropolitan area, pro-LGBTQ allies won three of the four school board races. Angie Gallo, a former president of the Florida School Board Association, was elected school board chair after defeating District 1 board member Alicia Farrant by a 59%-41% margin. Farrant, a member of Moms for Liberty and the board’s most conservative member, had recently called for banning a book that she claimed contained sexual content, according to Florida Politics.
Melissa Lopez Marantes will replace Farrant on the board after defeating David Shepard by a 60%-40% margin. In District 2, Gloria Reina O’Neal defeated Marisol Lugo, 57%-43%. In District 3, Susanne Peña earned 45% of the vote and advanced to a runoff against Diana Moore, while Orange County Republican Party-backed Ilia Adorno failed to make the runoff.
In Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa, Equality Florida Action PAC-backed Karen Perez and LGBTQ Democratic Caucus-endorsed Daniela Simic advanced to the November 3 runoff.
In Seminole County, covering Orlando’s northern suburbs, Equality Florida-backed incumbents Kristine Kraus and Autumn Garick won reelection outright with 68% and 64% of the vote, respectively.
In Osceola County, which includes Kissimmee and Orlando’s southern suburbs, Equality Florida-backed Greg Filak won a school board seat by a 60%-40% margin.
The biggest victories of the night took place in Sarasota County, once a hotbed of anti-LGBTQ culture wars, where Moms for Liberty co-founder and conservative lightning rod Bridget Ziegler is currently a school board member. Democratic-backed candidates Beth Mayberry and Megan Tennimon easily dispatched conservative challengers in Districts 4 and 5, flipping control of the board to a pro-equality majority.
Mayberry and Tennimon are expected to align with District 2 board member Liz Barker and District 3 board member Tom Edwards, the board’s sole out gay member.
The board’s fifth seat will be decided in a runoff between Democratic-backed Jimmy Glover and Republican-backed Heidi Brandt in District 1, previously represented by Ziegler. Moms for Liberty activist Teresa DeWitt placed third and did not qualify for the runoff.
“Last night, Florida voters roared. Moms For Liberty is in free fall. Communities are fighting back against book bans, curriculum censorship, and the whitewashing of history,” Joe Saunders, the executive director of Equality Florida Action PAC, said in a statement.
“Every win was made possible by the people who showed up, organized their communities, knocked doors, made calls and refused to give up on the Florida we know is possible,” Saunders added. “Make no mistake: the pendulum is swinging in the Sunshine State back toward freedom, equality, and dignity for all.”
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.
U.S. Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.), an out lesbian who entered Congress after flipping a Republican-held district in 2018, has lost her bid for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate.
Craig, 54, was widely considered the more moderate candidate in the race against Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, 46.
Flanagan, who won the primary by nearly 20 points, positioned herself as the progressive candidate at a time when much of the Democratic Party's energy and enthusiasm is coming from its left wing. She earned endorsements from U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Tina Smith -- who is retiring from the seat -- as well as Minneapolis-area Rep. Ilhan Omar.
A Jacksonville man who shot his LGBTQ neighbor, leaving him partially paralyzed, has been sentenced to seven years in prison.
In May, Tyler Getchell, 30, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of attempted manslaughter for shooting 24-year-old Kyle McFarlane during a dispute over alleged trespassing. He was initially charged with attempted murder.
According to the Florida Times-Union, Getchell's attorneys requested a "downward departure," or a less severe sentence, arguing that he had no prior felony convictions, had served five years in the U.S. Navy, expressed remorse for the shooting, and remained at the scene rather than fleeing.
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