More Than 50 LGBTQ Parents Elected in Blue Wave

More than 50 LGBTQ parents won election or reelection as part of the blue wave sweeping the U.S. this year, including one governor, a member of Congress, two state attorneys general, and the chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court. At least one person with LGBTQ parents also won. Here’s my exclusive roundup and some fun facts.

First, let me say that it’s notable when any LGBTQ people are elected, but since this is a parenting blog, I’m focusing on the ones who are parents, showing that it’s possible to balance life as an LGBTQ parent and a life of elected service. As Annalisa Perea told the Bay Area Reporter last year about running for the California State Assembly:

It is really important to see if I can do this and win, then nobody should shy away from running for office, whether an expectant mom, a new mom, or a soon-to-be mom. Running for state office is challenging. Having babies is challenging. And so, the fact that I am taking both on at the same time is going to be a unique challenge.

The officials below range from parents with infants to those with adult children and even grandchildren. They span the LGBTQ spectrum and a range of other identities, and include foster parents and stepparents. (And yes, some are cisgender people partnered with someone of a different gender; bi parents count, too.)

This is probably not a complete list, as results are still coming in (and not all candidates offer public details about their families, which is fine; they deserve to protect their privacy). A few results are not official yet, but seem very likely based on reports by local media; do not take this post as confirmation of any results, however. I will update the post as I learn more (and feel free to contact me if I’ve missed someone). Note that a few candidates actually won their contests earlier in the year, but I’ll consider them the leading edge of the wave.

Federal

Becca Balint (D) won reelection to the U.S. House. When first elected in 2022, she was Vermont’s first woman and first out LGBTQ person in Congress. She and her spouse have two children.

State Executive Branches

Maura Healey (D) was reelected as Governor of Massachusetts. When initially elected in 2022, she was the first woman and first LGBTQ governor of the state. She and partner Joanna Lydgate are raising two children from Lydgate’s first marriage. Family fact: “Do the kids think it’s cool that their stepmom is governor? ‘It’s a lot of eye rolls,’ Lydgate joked,” reported the Boston Globe earlier this year.
Kim Ahern (D) became the second woman elected as Rhode Island’s attorney general and the first from the Democratic party. Family fact: “Ahern and her wife, Jenna, promised their three young daughters that they would get a new puppy after Ahern’s run as a Democrat for Rhode Island attorney general—win or lose. The family ended up with two, Roo and Sydney, just weeks ago,” reported the Providence Journal last month.
Kris Mayes (D) was reelected as Arizona’s attorney general. She has one child.
Mag g ie Ellis (D) won election to become Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court, the first woman and first LGBTQ person in the role. She has four children, has been a foster mother, and is a grandmother.

State Legislatures

Lisbeth Arescurenaga (D) won election to the Arizona House. She is a mother.
Imani Barnes (D) was reelected to the Georgia House. Family fact: Last year, the website from her district of Tucker quoted her as saying she was mother to the “world’s most handsome 12-year-old son.” Presumably, he’s 13 now and still good looking.
Sam Bell (D) won reelection to the Rhode Island State Senate. He was the first out bisexual man to be elected to the Rhode Island Senate. He and his wife have a son.
Will Brownsberger (D) won unopposed reelection to the Massachusetts Senate. He and his wife have three grown children.
Todd Delmay (D) won election to the Florida legislature, the first gay parent to do so, per the Victory Fund. Family fact: In 2014, he and his husband joined the lawsuit that won marriage equality in the state and were one of the first same-sex couples to marry there. They have a son.
Beth Doglio (D) won reelection to the Washington House. She and her husband have two grown sons.
John Fredrickson (D) was reelected to the Nebraska State Senate. He and his husband have one son.
Lindsay Gilchrist (D) was reelected to the Colorado House. She and her wife have three children, and have served as foster parents.
Jessica González-Rojas (D) won election to the New York State Senate after having been a member of the State Assembly. She had been the first Latina, first person of color and first queer person to represent New York’s 34th Assembly District. She and her partner have one son.
Lisa Grafstein (D), the only out LGBTQ member of the North Carolina State Senate, was reelected. She has a son in college.
Alexis Hoffkling (D) won election to the Colorado House. She and her partner are foster parents.
Kim Coco Iwamoto (D) won uncontested reelection to the Hawaii House when she won her primary in August 2026. When first elected in 2024, she became the state’s first transgender legislator. Family fact: Iwamoto began her career in public service because of her foster children, telling Hawaii News Now in 2018 that the teens were being bullied in school and the Board of Education wasn’t taking action. “So, we decided, I have to run for the Board of Education because if we didn’t have a seat at the table, my kids would be thrown under the bus.”
Anne Kaiser (D) was reelected to the Maryland House of Delegates. She and her wife have a daughter.
Rashaun Kemp (D) was reelected to the Georgia Senate. He and his spouse have two children.
Jack Patrick Lewis (D) was reelected to the Massachusetts House. He and his husband are fathers.
JoAnna Mendoza (D) won election to the Arizona House. She is a single mother by choice.
DeShanna Neal (D) was reelected to the Delaware House. They have four children. Family fact: Neal co-authored the children’s book My Rainbow with their daughter Trinity, a trans girl.
Jamie Pedersen (D) was reelected to the Washington State Senate. He and his husband have four children.
Maria Hinojos Pressey (D) was elected to the Marion County Commission, the first LGBTQ person to serve there. She and her partner have a daughter.
Kori Rodley (D) was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives after serving on the Springfield City Council. She and her spouse have four adult children and two grandchildren.
Adam Rogers was reelected to the La Habra City School Board in California. He and his husband have two grown children.
Melanie Scheible (D) was reelected to the Nevada State Senate. She and her husband have a daughter.
Monica VanBuskirk (D) was reelected to the Colorado House of Representatives. She and her partner are raising children.
Clare Oumou Verbeten (D) was reelected to the Minnesota State Senate. She and her husband have a son. Family fact: She told the Minnesota Post earlier this year how her own experience giving birth has helped drive her advocacy for improving Black maternal health care.
Aime Wichtendahl (D) won election to the Iowa House of Representatives, making her the first out trans person elected to the Iowa Legislature, per the Victory Fund. She has a son.
Zooey Zephyr (D) won unopposed reelection to the Montana House. When first elected in 2022, she became the first openly trans person to be elected to the Montana Legislature. She and spouse Erin Reed have a son. (See my 2025 interview with Reed at LGBTQ Nation.)

Other State and Local Offices

Shannon Baldwin (D) won reelection as a judge, Harris County Criminal Court #4, Position 4. In 2018, she was of the “Houston 19”—the largest group of African American women elected to the bench simultaneously. She has a daughter.
Precious Brady-Davis (D) was reelected to the Board of Commissioners for the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. She was first appointed to the MWRD by Governor JB Pritzker in July 2023 and elected as a commissioner in 2024, making her the first Black openly trans woman appointed and elected to public office in Cook County history. She and her husband have two daughters. Family fact: She wrote a memoir, I Have Always Been Me.
Amie Carter (D) ran unopposed for reelection as Sonoma County Superintendent of Schools. When she first took office in 2023, she was the first woman to hold the office in 100 years and the first out LGBTQ person to hold the office. She is the mother of five and the grandmother of two.
Christine Castillo ran unopposed for Bexar County District Clerk in Texas. She and her wife have a son in college.
Jennifer Cornell (D) was reelected to the Ann Arbor City Council, Ward 5. She is the mother of two children and stepmom to two grown children.
Mallory Craig-Karim (D) was elected to the Somerville City Council in New Jersey in an uncontested race. She and her wife have a daughter.
Jon Destin was elected to the Albany City Council in California. He raised one son as a solo parent.
V Fixmer-Oraiz (D) was reelected to the Johnson County Board of Supervisors in Iowa. When initially elected, they were the first trans, queer, Filipinx-American county supervisor in the state, per their website. They and their wife have two children. Family fact: During their 2022 campaign, their wife told the Daily Iowan, “As busy as V gets with work and this campaign, V puts it all aside. V will always make time for dinner, for play, for bath time.”
Dustin Gee was elected to the Bellingham School Committee in Massachusetts. He and his husband have three children.
Andrew Gray (D) won reelection to the Alaska House. He and his husband have a son.
Steve Kawa won election to the Cloverdale City Council in California. He and his husband have two grown children.
Rachel Maes was elected to the Brown County Board of Supervisors in Wisconsin during the April 2026 general election. She is the first trans person elected to a county position in the state, per the Victory Fund. She and her wife have three children.
Amanda Maris (D) was reelected to the North Carolina 16th Judicial District. She and her spouse have a son.
Aysha Pamukcu won election to the South San Francisco City Council. She and her partner have two children.
Annalisa Perea (D) won election to the California Assembly after serving as a member of the Fresno City Council. She and her wife have twins.
Emma Pinter (D) was reelected to the Adams County Commission in Colorado.
Janani Ramachandran (D) ran unopposed for reelection to the Oakland City Council in California.
Jerry Simoneaux (D) was elected as Judge, Probate Court 1, in Houston, Texas, after serving as a Houston Municipal Courts associate judge. He and his husband have a son.
Karen Stegman (D) won election to the Orange County Board of Commissioners in North Carolina. She and her wife have two children.
Drake Warren was elected to the Cook County Board of Commissioners in Illinois. Pansexual himself, he also has two gay moms.
Jonathan West ran unopposed for reelection to the Manchester Selectboard in Vermont in March 2026. He and his husband have four children. Family fact: The couple are also the authors of A Kids Book About Gay Parents.

Additionally

Halyn Roth (D) is running for Mayor of Spring Lake Park, Minnesota, but the election has ended in a tie. The town will now do a recount; if the votes are still tied, the outcome will be determined by lot. (The town’s Facebook page has more details, if you want them.) If elected, Roth would be the first out gay man to serve as mayor of the town. He and his husband have a son.
Adam Bair (D) was elected to the South Dakota House, becoming the state’s only LGBTQ legislator. Although not a parent yet, his campaign told the Victory Fund that he and his husband “plan on starting a family soon and know that Sioux Falls is the best place.”