Above: Jennifer Webb, Victory Fund candidate running in Florida House District 69
Florida is on the verge of making history with five openly LGBTQ legislative candidates running in this year’s general election. Currently, Florida only has one LGBTQ legislator – Rep. David Richardson – making the 2016 general election an unprecedented opportunity to dramatically increase LGBTQ representation.
Alongside Richardson – who is seeking re-election – the other state House candidates are:Beth Tuura, House District 47Carlos Guillermo Smith, House District 49Jennifer Webb, House District 69Ken Keechl, House District 93
If all five win, Florida will move from low LGBTQ representation to being on par with just six states that have five or more openly LGBTQ legislators: California, Colorado, Maine, Maryland, New York and Washington state.
Victory Institute research demonstrates that more openly LGBTQ state legislators leads to less anti-LGBTQ bills and higher levels of equality overall. With Florida rated as a low equality state, adding more LGBTQ representatives in the state House could have a big impact on equality for LGBTQ Floridians.
