You Can Call Phillipe Councilmember-Elect Cunningham!

It took us another day to have it confirmed, but the Minneapolis City Council will have TWO Black trans people sitting on it in a few weeks!

Phillipe Cunningham quit his policy job with Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges to focus on the Herculean task of taking on 20 year incumbent and Minneapolis City Council Board President Barb Johnson.    She had served on the council since 1997, held the presidency for 8 years and was a second generation holder of this Ward 4 seat her mother had previously held.

Johnson was considered unbeatable, but as anyone who watches politics can tell you, no one is unbeatable.  You stay in office long enough and sooner or later you are going to lose an election.

Cunningham was all over Ward 4 introducing himself to voters who liked his message, and combined with help from Trans United Fund and Outfront MN built a campaign team that increased turnout in Ward 4 to the point it helped him grab the historic win.

Minneapolis has an interesting ranked choice voting system that eliminates runoff elections.  Johnson led him by a mere 125 votes that night, but didn't break 50%, which meant that they would have to go through the second and third choice counts until either he or Johnson were declared the winner.

Cunningham made up the early deficit and beat Johnson by 175 votes. 
 

By toppling the Ward 4 incumbent, Cunningham becomes the first out Black trans masculine person elected to public office in the US, the first trans masculine person elected to the Minneapolis City Council, and the first out transmasculine person of any ethnic background to be elected to a the city council of a large city.

And it couldn't have happened to a nicer person.
 
Congratulations Phillipe for your historic win! 

So proud of you, and know that you and Andrea will do some amazing work in conjunction with your fellow councilmembers making your wards and the City of Minneapolis better.

A Historic 2017 Election Night For Transkind

Today is the first anniversary of, well you all know what tragically happened on this day.

But last night's elections were part of a Democratic tsunami that saw them regain control of the Washington state Senate, come close to taking back the House of Delegate in Virginia, sweep the executive offices in VA, keep the New York City mayor's chair, and flip the governor's mansion in New Jersey back to the Democrats.

That 2017 Democratic political tsunami also helped several trans candidates rack up historic wins.

Andrea Jenkins became the first trans person of any ethnic background to win a city council seat in a major city when she won her War 8 set with a whopping 73% of the vote..

As impressive as Jenkins win was, she could soon be joined on the Minneapolis City Council by Phillipe Cunningham who is also poised to make history.

Cunningham took on a 20 year incumbent who is also the current council president in Barb Johnson. After the first round of voting in Minneapolis' ranked choice system was only trailing her in this race by a mere 120 votes.   The winner of the Ward 4 council seat will be determined either today or in the next few days. 

Should Cunningham win, it would not only be a political earthquake level win in Minneapolis, he would become the first Black trans man in the US to be elected to public office and, like Jenkins, the first of any ethnic background to be elected to the city council of a major city.

And as many of you are already aware of, Danica Roem slayed her legislative dragon in Bigot Bob Marshall, and it wasn't close.   She beat him by ten percentage points 55%-45% to win her landmark VA 13 House of Delegates race.

There were some other trans folks who rn for office in 2017 who didn't capture the headlines, but were ultimately successful in their runs for public office 

Tyler Titus ran for and won one of the four open seats on the Erie, PA school board last night, becoming the first out trans person to win elective office in the state of Pennsylvania.

In a concrete example of every vote counts, Stephe Koontz won her race for the Doraville, GA City Council Position 3 seat by a mere six votes.

If seven of her voters had stayed home, we wouldn't be calling her Councilmember-elect Koontz today

Out west in California, there was another historic election happening with a trans candidate at the center of it. 

Lisa Middleton became the first out trans candidate to run for and win a non judicial race ( Judge Vicky Kolakowski made that history in Alameda County back in 2012) when she won a seat on the Palm Springs, CA City Council.   One of the people who endorsed Councilmember-elect Middleton was former US Senator Barbara Boxer. 

It was also a big night for Trans United Fund, who backed Roem, Jenkins, Cunningham and Browde, and had two huge breakthrough political wins with a possible third one being determined as you read this. .

TUF was on the ground in Virginia, Minnesota and New York for over a year.  The largest independent It was critical in Phillipe's Ward 4 race and may be the decisive factor should he win this race against 20 year incumbent and Council President Barb Johnson. 

The phone banking, fundraising, mailing, the canvassing all powered by a trans led political organization and its coalition partners with the goal of building and growing sustained trans political power.

It wasn't all wonderful news on this November 7 night for trans political candidates.  Chrissie Browde narrowly lost her race in New Castle, NY by a mere 264 votes.  Hope she tries again in another election cycle.

Thanks to all of the people who stepped up in this cycle to run for office in their various locales and all the folks who helped them get across the finish line.  Whether you were successful or not as a tran candidate in 2017, the message that you undeniably sent was that we are part of our various communities, and we aren't going away. 

Another message you sent to our right-wing opposition was that pushing anti-trans hate for electoral advantage may not be a wise political strategy.  A growing list of Republican ex-politicians including Pat McCrory (NC), Debbie Riddle and Gilbert Pena (TX), Lee Bright (SC) and now Bob Marshall are real time examples of transphobia costing you your political career. 

You also sent a positive message to our trans kids that helps expands their horizons concerning what is possible for a trans person born in the US. 

You 2017 trans candidates whether you spectacularly won or narrowly lost, sent the message to our trans kids that one day, should you decide you wish to go into politics, you too can run and win public office.

And that's what makes this an important and historic election night for trans kind. 

Andrea Jenkins Makes History -Wins In Minneapolis

The wonderful electoral night continues for the trans community as Andrea Jenkins overwhelmingly won her Minneapolis City Council Ward 8 seat and became the first out Black trans person to win elective office in the nation.

This city council race wasn't close.  Jenkins captured 73% of the votes in Minneapolis' ranked choice system, dwarfing the next closest contender by nearly 4000 votes 

She also became with the win the first trans person of any ethnic background to capture a city council seat in a major city, and the first Black trans person since Althea Garrison in 1992 to win elective office. 

Congratulations Councilmember-elect Jenkins.  So proud of your historic win as well. 

Danica Roem Makes History!

Ever since Althea Garrison won a seat in the Massachusetts House in 1992, was outed two days after her win and served one term, out trans women in several states over multiple election cycles have tried to get elected to their respective state legislatures.

Tonight Danica Roem cracked that legislative glass ceiling for the trans community, and did so in an impressive and huge way, beating him by 10 points 55% - 45%

It's a win that is resounding across the commonwealth of Virginia, the nation, and in the American transgender community.  Roem not only took down 26 year incumbent delegate Bob Marshall (R) in their VA 13 race, the win is even sweeter because 'Bigot Bob' Marshall is one of the TBLGQ community's longtime legislative haters.

Roem also outraised Marshall 3-1, receiving $500,000 in donations.  She also had a TransUnited Fund fuelled ground game that knocked on 75,000 doors and provided critical support during this historic and now successful run to a legislative seat.   

Marshall lived up to that nickname by not only refusing to debate Roem, but repeatedly misgendered her throughout the campaign.   Looks like Danica had the last laugh and Bigot Bob just discovered the hard way that rampant transphobia is not a pathway to electoral victory

Congratulations to Del-Elect Roem, who will possibly be taking her seat as part of a Democratic majority in the Virginia House of Delegates. 

She also with the breakthrough win has become the first out trans person to be elected and in January seated to a major state legislature.

Kim Coco Iwamoto Running For Hawaii Lieutenant Governor In 2018!

I have more than a few posts in the TransGriot archives about this trailblazing trans woman that I finally had the pleasure to meet during #CC15 in Denver.

She has been a two time elected member of the Hawaii Board of Education, ran for the Hawaii state senate last year, and is currently a member of the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission.

Now Kim Coco Iwamoto has officially announced that she will be running to be Hawaii's next lieutenant governor in the 2018 election cycle..

It's a crowded field with five other Democratic candidates in the lieutenant governor's race, but here's hoping that Iwamoto can break out of it and make more electoral history.

On The Verge Of Making Trans Electoral History!

Tomorrow is Election Day in many locales across the country.   One of the things I have been keeping my eye on is the group of transgender political candidates who I hope will be making breakthrough political history tomorrow night.


First up are the twin historic campaigns of Andrea Jenkins and Phillipe Cunningham in Minneapolis for two city council seats.

If they win, they would hake history on several fronts.   In Cunningham's case, he would become the first trans masculine candidate elected to any office, and the first Black trans masculine candidate ever elected, and he's in a tight race for the Ward 4 seat. 

Jenkins would become the first out Black trans feminine candidate elected to public office and the first Black trans feminine person elected to public office since Althea Garrison in 1992.

Both Cunningham and Jenkins should they get elected would become the first trans candidates elected to a large metropolitan city council.

In New York State, Chrissie Browde's New Castle, NY town council race in Hillary Clinton's hood is being watched as it hits the homestretch.   Browde made history as the first New York State trans person to have the backing of the state's Democratic Party, and wants to build on it by getting elected to the town council as the second out trans elected official in New York state after Melissa Sklarz broke that electoral ceiling in 1999.

The race getting the most coverage so far of Danica Roem's Virginia House of Delegates race in which she is taking on a longtime enemy of the TBLGQ community in incumbent Del. Bob Marshall.

Bigot Bob is definitely earning his nickname in this race while Roem is fighting to take that seat away from him by focusing on the issues pertinent to the district and calling him out on his transphobia from time to time.

If you're in that Northern VA district, please handle your electoral business tomorrow.

These four candidates are all hard at work trying to get any last minute undecided voters in their columns, if you live in their locales, I hope you will vote for them

We'll know tomorrow night whether these four trans candidates were successful in this election cycle