Human Rights Campaign Pennsylvania State Director Ryan Matthews released the following statement:

“The Human Rights Campaign is proud to once again endorse Representative Benham as she seeks reelection to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. She has been a trailblazer, both prior to her election, as an advocate for LGBTQ+ and autistic people in the commonwealth, and following her election as the first woman who is openly LGBTQ+ and autistic in the legislature. She has quickly become a leading voice on LGBTQ+ issues in the Pennsylvania House, working with her colleagues to advocate for an anti-discrimination law as well as introducing legislation to improve education on dating violence and human trafficking.”

Representative Benham released the following statement:

“I deeply appreciate the continued support of the Human Rights Campaign as I seek reelection. We need to continue to fight for equity for all, and I’ll be proud to be a part of that continued fight in my second term, with the support of HRC.”

Representative Benham was first elected to the Pennsylvania House in 2020 to represent a district that includes a portion of Pittsburgh and several of its suburbs. Immediately after being sworn in, she began fighting for COVID-19 related unemployment insurance for her constituents and has a record of providing exceptional constituent service. She is also a cofounder of the Pittsburgh Center for Autistic Advocacy, an LGBTQ+-led organization that seeks to advance the equity of autistic people.

HRC’s Commitment to Pennsylvania

Equality Voters, including the 3 million in Pennsylvania, are a voting bloc of demographically and geographically diverse people who are united by the advancement of LGBTQ+ equality. Equality Voters are younger, more racially diverse, and more female than the general electorate, they recognize and trust the HRC brand, and they are more likely to identify with issue-specific organizations than candidates or political parties.

HRC has had staff and resources on the ground in Pennsylvania since 2017. Across the country, HRC PAC works every day to elect pro-equality leaders who support policies that will support the rights and lives of LGBTQ+ people. During the 2020 election cycle, HRC staff on the ground recruited 5,800 individual volunteers nationwide who completed 28,500 hours of voter contact in more than 2,650 volunteer events. HRC engaged in robust digital and online GOTV efforts, including sending over 2.7 million person-to-person text messages, a massive increase from 2018 when approximately 500,000 texts were sent. HRC sent over 2.5 million mail pieces, had over 930,000 phone conversations with voters, and engaged more than 200,000 voters through HRC’s voter dashboard at hrc.org/vote.