No matter what the outcome, the November 6 election will be notable for the record number of LGBTQ Texans on the ballot this year. An estimated 33 Texas candidates are running for national, state and local seats. Depending on what part of town they live in, voters in San Antonio will see up to four…
Your Ballot is Your Voice: Early Voting Begins on October 22
Early voting for the November General Election begins on Monday, October 22 and ends Friday, November 2. Voters can cast ballots at the Bexar County Elections Department and at numerous other locations around the city. This year’s election presents a challenge to Bexar County voters who must decide scores of races including governor, U.S. Senator,…
After Runoff, Three LGBT Texans Will Run for Congress
Three LGBT Congressional candidates from Texas scored victories in the Democratic Party runoff on May 22 and will now advance to face Republican challengers in the November election. Lorie Burch from Plano, Gina Ortiz Jones from San Antonio and Eric Holguin from Corpus Christi easily won their races with large majorities. One candidate, Mary Street…
Keeping Up with Gina Ortiz Jones, Who Wants to Unseat Congressman Will Hurd
Originally published in the San Antonio Current. Editor’s Note: Jade Esteban Estrada is the author of Glitter Political, a series of articles detailing San Antonio’s elections. As a professional homosexual, I admit to feeling a little star struck when I see Gina Ortiz Jones, candidate for Texas’ 23rd Congressional District, waving at me through the…
Stonewall Democrats Make Two Endorsements in Runoff Races
The Stonewall Democrats of San Antonio voted two new endorsements at their March 19 meeting in races slated for the May 22 Democratic Primary Runoff. Stonewall gave the nod to Mary Street Wilson in the runoff for U.S. Representative District 21 and to incumbent Paul Elizondo for County Commissioner, Precinct 2. Wilson, a former math…
Primary Election Night Snapshots
Almost 160,000 votes were cast in the March 6 Joint Primary Election in Bexar County. What is notable about this election is that nearly 56 percent of those were Democratic votes. It also was the first time in nearly a decade since Democrats outvoted Republicans in Bexar County early voting. It was a record year…
Local LGBT Candidates Look Toward Primary Election
As the primary election nears on Tuesday, March 6, nearly 50 LGBT candidates around the state, including three from San Antonio, are making last minute pitches. These candidates are running in races for Congress, the state government and legislature, and positions in county and city government. This year, nearly three times more LGBT candidates running…
LPAC Endorses Two Texas Candidates
LPAC, a national political action committee dedicated to building the “power of lesbians and queer women who champion LGBTQ rights,” has endorsed nine candidates in races across the country including two in Texas. In November, LPAC endorsed Gina Ortiz Jones of San Antonio who is running for a seat in the U.S. Congress in Texas…
More LGBTQ Texans than ever are running for office, magazine says
By Rishika Dugyala, The Texas Tribune January 24, 2018 A self-described “gun-toting, truck-driving, true Republican,” Shannon McClendon avidly followed state politics and served as a five-time appointee for various boards under former Texas Gov. Rick Perry. But until now, she never pushed herself to run for elected office. “I’m a Republican who happens to be…
2017 in Review: A Year in the Life of LGBT SA
A select month-by-month recap of stories about our community reported here and elsewhere in 2017. JANUARY Jeffrey James is Fiesta Cornyation’s King Anchovy LII The board of directors of Fiesta Cornyation, billed as “the raunchiest, cheapest event of Fiesta,” announced in January that this year’s King Anchovy LII was Jeffrey James, the proprietor of James…