These trans and nonbinary candidates just made history – The 19th News

These trans and nonbinary candidates just made history  The 19th News

Across six states, these Democratic candidates will be the first transgender and nonbinary people to serve in their state legislatures. Six transgender and nonbinary candidates made history on Election Day by winning races in states that have never elected a trans person into their legislature before. These candidates will expand LGBTQ+ political power at a time when their rights are increasingly under attack nationwide. All races are called according to projections by Decision Desk HQ. Bentley Hudgins will be Georgia’s first nonbinary and first Japanese-American lawmaker after winning their bid to represent State House District 90 in east Atlanta. They easily defeated their opponent, Republican Samantha Boston, in the deep-blue district.

Hudgins, a 33-year-old democratic socialist, spent the last three years advocating for LGBTQ+ rights in the Georgia statehouse through their work with the Human Rights Campaign. But LGBTQ+ issues were not core to their campaign: They ran on affordability, expanding healthcare access and broadly protecting civil rights. Those issues are personal for them. As they had told The 19th, Hudgins faced homelessness and barriers to accessing care for cluster headaches and seizures. They were diagnosed as legally deaf at 19, and had to have their eardrums rebuilt. Many of Hudgins’ campaign goals, like raising the state minimum wage to $20 an hour or creating an earned income tax credit