Post submitted by Charles Girard, Digital Organizer

In an incredible turnout of pro-equality voters, Americans across the country elected at least eight out transgender people to office during yesterday’s election.

These historic wins took place in states across the country from Georgia to Pennsylvania, as Americans rejected the vitriolic rhetoric that Donald Trump and Mike Pence continue to spew.

HRC applauds the following openly transgender candidates who won a wide variety of races:

Andrea Jenkins, Minnesota (Minneapolis City Council)
Voters elected Jenkins to the Minneapolis City Council as the first openly transgender woman of color elected to public office in the U.S.

Danica Roem, Virginia (Virginia House of Delegates)
Roem unseated anti-LGBTQ Delegate Bob Marshall, and her electoral victory will make her Virginia's first out transgender public official and the nation's only out transgender state representative.

Gerri Cannon, New Hampshire (Somersworth School Board)
Cannon joined the Somersworth School Board yesterday. According to her LinkedIn page, she is planning on running for New Hampshire State Representative.

Lisa Middleton, California (Palm Springs City Council)
Middleton’s victory in the Palm Springs City Council election made her the first openly transgender person elected to a non-judicial office in the state of California.

Stephe Koontz, Georgia (Doraville City Council)
Koontz won a spot on her hometown city council, becoming her city’s first openly transgender elected official.

Tyler Titus, Pennsylvania (Erie School Board)
Titus’s win makes him the first out transgender person elected to office in Pennsylvania after a successful write-in campaign to join the ballot.

Phillipe Cunningham, Minnesota (Minneapolis City Council)
Cunningham earned a spot on the Minneapolis City Council. He is the first transgender man elected to a major city's council in the U.S.

Raven Matherne, Connecticut (Stamford Board of Representatives)
Matherne joins her local Board of Representatives as the state’s first openly transgender lawmaker.

These candidates represent not only regional voters, but the 1.4 million transgender Americans across the country.

“For trans youth across the country, Danica Roem’s election isn’t just a headline or even history,” HRC National Press Secretary Sarah McBride told The New York Times. “It’s hope. Hope for a better tomorrow.”

At a time when the Trump-Pence regime continues to attack underrepresented Americans, these candidates prove that LGBTQ people and their allies are resist, vote and win.

Late Wednesday afternoon Minneapolis finished tabulating their City Council results and determined Phillipe Cunningham the winner of the Ward 4 race. This post has also been updated to include Raven Matherne.

Top row (left to right): Danica Roem, Gerri Cannon, Andrea Jenkins, Raven Matherne
Bottom row (left to right): Stephe Koontz, Phillipe Cunningham, Lisa Middleton, Tyler Titus