Fabian Nelson, a Black and openly gay Democratic candidate, looks to become the first out LGBTQ lawmaker ever to serve in the Mississippi legislature.
The Associated Press reports that Nelson, a 38-year-old realtor from Byram in the south Jackson metro area, in the Aug. 8 primary defeated his opponent Roshunda Harris-Allen, an education professor at Tougaloo College and Byram alderwoman.
The race to represent Mississippi’s 66th House District was decided in a runoff after neither Nelson nor Allen received a majority vote.
Since the Republican Party did not field a candidate for the general election, Nelson will go on to be sworn into office when the state legislature meets in January. “I still think I’m in a dream.