Good News From Texas: Historic Number of Out Candidates Win Primaries
Pictured: Out Texas House candidates Venton Jones (left) and Jolanda Jones (right) advanced to runoffs, while Sara Martinez (center) won her primary for Dallas County justice of the peace.There’s more to Texas than anti-LGBTQ+ extremism, as evidenced by a spate of victories by out candidates in Tuesday’s primary election.A record 27 LGBTQ+ candidates won their primaries Tuesday, and five are moving to runoffs, according to the LGBTQ Victory Fund.
The previous record was 18, set in 2020. Most are Democrats, while some offices, such as judicial ones, are nonpartisan.Ten of the primary winners are running for the Texas legislature, which has just six out members now.
There are also two potentially history-making legislative candidates who advanced to runoffs, which are held when no candidate wins a majority of the vote.Venton Jones, a gay Black man who is living with HIV, will be in the May 24 runoff against Sandra Crenshaw for an open Texas House seat representing the Dallas-area District 100.
He would be Texas’s first Black male legislator from the LGBTQ+ community as well as the first state lawmaker in the nation who is Black, gay, and HIV-positive.Jolanda Jones, a Black lesbian, advanced to a runoff for an open seat from Texas House District 147, in the Houston area.
