Political Notebook: America’s LGBTQ elected leaders grow more diverse

The ranks of America’s LGBTQ elected leaders have grown significantly more diverse over the past eight years, with the number of people of color and transgender individuals increasing by triple digits. Nonetheless, the country is nowhere near seeing equitable representation in public office for the LGBTQ community.

Achieving that goal requires electing 46,996 out officials at all levels of government, based on a Gallup Poll finding that LGBTQs account for 9.3% of the country’s population. Yet, as of May 5, the 2025 Out for America report from the LGBTQ+ Victory Institute counted 1,334 LGBTQ politicians across the U.S. They account for .26% of the total number of elected officials nationwide.

“So, there is still a long way to go,” noted Elliot Imse, a gay man who is executive director of the institute, which is the educational arm of the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund that helps to elect out candidates to public office.

The institute has been tracking the number of LGBTQ electeds in the U.S. since 2017. Over that time span, there has been a 198% increase in their ranks, ballooning from 448 to at least 1,334. Since last year’s election alone, LGBTQ representation has grown by 2.4%, according to the institute’s report released June 24.

At the state level, there are now 243 out statehouse members, an increase of 4% since last year, with the 2025 report finding Wyoming to be the only state with no LGBTQ+ elected leadership. Meanwhile, trans, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming representation has increased 1,800%, and the ranks of LGBTQ+ elected officials of color grew by nearly 421% to now number 479 in the institute’s 2025 report.

“There is still work to do, but we are becoming increasingly more diverse amongst our LGBTQ elected officials,” said Imse during a June 12 media briefing ahead of the report’s release.

Asian, Native American, and Pacific Islander out electeds increased 32.6% since last year, while those who identify as multiracial grew by 28.6%. While the number of white out electeds fell by 2.3%, Black LGBTQ+ elected officials grew by 4.1%.

Among them is Tyller Williamson, elected in 2020 as the first gay and first Black mayor of Monterey, California. His election in 2018 to a City Council seat had made him the first known LGBTQ person to help lead the global tourist destination along California's Central Coast, as well as its first Black council member.

He plans to seek reelection next November to another two-year term, and under new term limits approved by voters last year, Williamson is able to serve another 12 years as mayor. Since first winning elected office seven years ago, Williamson has seen other LGBTQ candidates, including those of color, win their own elections in his region of the Golden State. Like himself, a number of them were the first out members of their governing bodies or in their elected positions, such as gay Monterey County Sheriff-Coroner Tina M. Nieto, elected in 2022 as the first woman, first person of color, and first out person in the post.

“I think oftentimes, as the saying goes, sometimes it just takes one,” said Williamson. “I think when you start to see some folks run who look like you, or represent a group you belong to, it makes it easier for you to step out and run. The interest was always there, but I think we have created an environment that allows people to feel like it is their city too, their community as well, and their voice matters just as much as anybody else’s.”

In its latest report, the Victory Institute notes LGBTQ+ people’s underrepresentation at all government levels is widening as the country’s population grows. But it pointed out there were gains made from last year’s election, such as the 6% increase from 2024 in out mayors, who now number 66, and a 5% bump in local leaders, who now stand at 859 per the report.

Gender-nonconforming electeds grew by 1.4% to total 19, and those who are nonbinary are now at 14, an increase of 1% since 2024. Transgender women in elected office now number 39, an increase of 2.9%, and transgender male electeds increased 0.7% to total nine, according to the report.

The number of bisexual electeds, now at 158, rose by 8% in the 2025 report, although lesbians decreased by 7% to now number 268 electeds. Their drop off may be due to the increase in electeds identifying as pansexual (17%) or queer (19%) since 2024, respectively now numbering 42 and 158. 

There was a 33% increase in 2025 in the number of out members in the House of Representatives, who now total 12. While Congress overall saw an 8% increase in LGBTQ representation, the U.S. Senate saw a 67% decrease due to it going from three members in 2024 to one this year in lesbian Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin).

State legislatures saw a 4% increase in LGBTQ representation, with the report having their numbers now at 243. Those stats were bolstered by the California Legislature seeing a record 15 out members following last November’s election.

As the Bay Area Reporter noted at the time, the LGBTQ caucus in the Statehouse is not only the largest in its history but also the most diverse in terms of sexual orientation, ethnicity, and regional representation. For the first time an out gay Republican was elected in 2024, though Assemblymember Carl DeMaio (San Diego) is not a member of the affinity group for out legislators. (Of the out U.S. electeds in the 2025 report, just 2.7% were Republicans, while 89% were Democrats.)

Sacramento has yet to welcome its first transgender legislator, and it remains to be seen if that will change following the 2026 November election. To date, one of the 18 out legislative candidates the B.A.R. is aware of is trans: drag queen Maebe A. Girl, who uses her given name of Maebe Pudlo on the ballot.

Maebe also identifies as nonbinary and had sought the U.S. House seat formerly held by U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D) in the last three elections. This month, she announced her bid for the open state Senate District 26 seat next year; also running to succeed termed out Senator María Elena Durazo (D-Los Angeles) is Democratic former Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo.

Additional out legislative candidates could emerge, as the filing deadline isn’t until next spring to enter the June primary contests for state Assembly and Senate seats. It is already clear that the LGBTQ caucus could welcome additional members in late 2026 depending on the outcome of the races.

“We are actively working with folks to support and recruit folks interested in running for legislative seats in 2026, and not just folks at the state Legislature level,” Tony Hoang, the gay executive director of Equality California, told the B.A.R.

The statewide LGBTQ civil rights organization is just beginning to look at its endorsement process for this fall’s local races throughout the state, so it doesn’t have a full list of out candidates who are running just yet, noted Hoang. In Los Angeles in March, EQCA held its first-ever candidate training focused on gender-expansive women, transgender individuals, and people who are gender-nonconforming interested in running for elected office.

EQCA will be holding additional trainings in Fresno and Sacramento in the coming months for any LGBTQ person interested in becoming a candidate. 

“We are wanting to ensure we reflect the full diversity of the LGBTQ community in California,” Hoang said when it comes to those serving in elected office. “We are excited to work with the Victory Fund on that.”

While it does not have numbers yet for LGBTQ candidates across the U.S. already running in 2026, the Victory Fund is aware of roughly 200 out candidates running this year. To date, it has endorsed 164, including two running in special elections in California: gay San Jose resident Anthony Tordillos who is seeking a City Council seat in Tuesday’s runoff race, and bisexual Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre who’s vying in the July 1 runoff for San Diego County Board of Supervisors’ open District 1 seat.

“We are targeting 300 endorsements, which in an off-year election would be pretty substantial,” Orie Givens, Victory’s vice president of communications, said of its 2025 slate of LGBTQ candidates.

Report doesn’t count all out electeds
As for the institute’s 2025 report, it does not count all currently known out electeds in the U.S., as some who were elected but didn’t seek endorsement by the Victory Fund aren’t reflected in it. And, in the last month, the Victory Institute has increased its tally of out electeds to being at least 1,338 on the site of its Out for America map at outforamerica.org.

“We regularly make updates to the map data as it is compiled from a sync with our database, but it may differ from some data in the report as the report is a snapshot in time,” explained Givens in an email to the B.A.R.

A useful tool in looking up LGBTQ electeds by state, the map can be wonky at times and outdated in certain instances. For example, a B.A.R. reporter using Chrome to access the map earlier this month due to covering the 2025 Out in America had found it still listed disgraced gay former San Jose city councilmember Omar Torres, who resigned last fall after being arrested on child sex crimes charges. (He pleaded no contest in April and his sentencing is scheduled for August 29.)

And among Bay Area mayors, the map still included gay El Cerrito City Councilmember Gabriel Quinto in the ceremonial role for his East Bay city that he handed off in December 2023. Serving in the post since last December has been El Cerrito City Councilmember Carolyn Wysinger, the first known Black lesbian to preside as a mayor in California. A check of the map Monday, June 23, found Torres is no longer listed but Quinto still listed as mayor of his city.

Accessed using Chrome, the map’s listings for Bay Area electeds was also missing a host of out leaders when clicking on California and then the “25” breakout button shown for the region. The actual number shown for local LGBTQ electeds should be higher, as that total doesn’t include a slew of out electeds in San Francisco, Alameda, and Contra Costa counties.

Victory Institute Director of Elected & Appointed Officials Engagement Pooja Prabhakaran earlier this month had noted to the B.A.R. that she was able to find several of those not listed by typing their name into the map’s search button.

“Due to technical issues, some folks who are included in our data on the backend may not be showing up on the frontend of the map,” explained Prabhakaran. “We're working to fix the technical issues with the profiles, but the numbers are aligned with our backend data.”

After the B.A.R.’s inquiries about the map’s inaccuracies, the Victory Institute had sent out a press advisory last Monday noting the issue and warning it “may cause counts to be inaccurate.” It then notified the media on June 17 it was pushing back the initial release date of the 2025 report to this week. In conjunction with its publication, the Victory Fund also released a “power list” of 25 LGBTQ officials via Politico. 

As for the map, any LGBTQ elected leader not listed on it can request to be added by clicking on “Map Information” located to the bottom right of it directly below the link for the Northern Mariana Islands. (There are currently no LGBTQ electeds listed for the U.S. commonwealth.)

To download the full 2025 Out for America report and learn more about the LGBTQ+ Victory Institute’s work, visit is website at victoryinstitute.org.

Political Notes, the notebook's online companion, is on hiatus until Monday, July 14.

Keep abreast of the latest LGBTQ political news by following the Political Notebook on Threads @ https://www.threads.net/@matthewbajko and on Bluesky @ https://bsky.app/profile/politicalnotes.bsky.social .

Got a tip on LGBTQ politics? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 829-8836 or email [email protected] .