The slate of LGBTQ+ people running for political office in the U.S. in 2024 is far more diverse than in the last presidential election year, 2020, according to a new report from the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund.
The candidate pool was more diverse by gender identity, sexual orientation, and race/ethnicity than in 2020, notes the organization’s “Out on the Trail” report.
The proportion of candidates who are transgender, nonbinary, or gender-nonconforming grew by more than seven percentage points between 2020 and 2024 — 7.9 percent to 15.2 percent. However, cisgender men still make up the majority of LGBTQ+ candidates, and cisgender men and women represent nearly 85 percent of the total.
For the first time, gay candidates made up less than 50 percent of the total, at 49.2 percent. The number identifying as queer more than doubled, growing from 52 in 2020 to 119 in 2024, with the percentage rising from 6.8 percent to 13.1 percent. Just over one-third of all LGBTQ+ candidates running this year were bisexual, pansexual, or queer. Lesbian representation dipped from 26.7 percent to 16.1 percent.
Regarding racial and ethnic diversity, 37.6 percent of LGBTQ+ candidates this year are from nonwhite ethnic groups, up from 30.9 percent in 2020. However, this continues to lag in representation, as people of color make up 42.6 percent of the U.S. population, and all racial groups saw a slight decline from 2022 midterm election, as the total number of candidates in 2022 was slightly higher than in 2024.
Hispanic/Latine candidates were the largest nonwhite group, at 14.1 percent of the total, followed by Black/African American candidates, at 12.1 percent. The number of Middle Eastern/Arab candidates grew from 1 in 2020 to 7 in 2024, multiracial candidates from 30 to 52, and Asian American and Pacific Islander candidates from 23 to 34.
Victory Fund tracked at least 1,017 LGBTQ+ candidates who ran for local, state, or federal office in 2024, a slight increase over the 2020 count of 1,006 and a slight decrease from 2022 midterms. As of this report, Victory Fund has endorsed 483 candidates this year. They are running or have run in every state but Nebraska and in Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. After being sorted out in primaries, there are now at least 668 LGBTQ+ candidates who will appear on the November ballot nationwide, up from 574 in 2020. This year’s total includes 444 Victory Fund candidates.
LGBTQ+ candidates are overwhelmingly Democratic, at 90.6 percent. Republicans represent 2.2 percent of the total and independents 3.6 percent.
“2024 is a pivotal year for our democracy, and we’ve already seen the power of hateful vitriol, misinformation and anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric infecting the electoral process,” Victory Fund President and CEO Annise Parker said in a press release. “Our work is the antidote, and we are proud to see so many LGBTQ+ candidates running to serve nearly everywhere in our nation — including nearly 400 candidates for state legislatures. We know what’s at stake — our rights, freedoms and democracy itself. Out LGBTQ+ candidates for office bring critical values and perspectives to their work in leadership. These candidates represent our nation’s future, reflect our nation’s diversity and show that LGBTQ+ people are vital, instrumental voices in our halls of power.”
