11/05/2026
The Florida LGBTQ+ Democratic Caucus is celebrating huge midterm victories for our LGBTQ+ candidates, who handily flipped seats and won by overwhelming margins across the state. Caucus Vice President Luis Salazar has been elected to the State House from Hillsborough County in District 64, Samwell Vilchez Santiago took House District 43 in Orange County, and former Dolphin Democrats President Todd Delmay ousted a Republican turncoat in Broward’s District 101.
Florida now has its largest ever contingent of out legislators, while the Republican supermajority in the State House has been broken, something that will protect LGBTQ+ Floridians statewide, as the Republicans will no longer be able to ram through its slate of hate.
There are two more state house races deserving of special celebration: in Miami’s House District 106, where an embarrassment to our community, Republican Fabian Basabe, lost a re-election bid to longtime community ally Lucia Baez Geller. Then there are House Districts 36 and 39, where two Republicans were ousted after making the focus of their careers passing bills promoting bigotry.
While we celebrate our victories, we also salute three champions for equality who, without significant national party support, turned statewide races that weren’t expected to be close into real nailbiters. Angie Nixon lost a special election for the U.S. Senate by a narrow margin, some 200,000 votes statewide, to the ethically challenged incumbent Ashley Moody. We’re hoping Angie will run again in two years, and that she’ll get the national attention she deserves.
David Jolly and Jose Javier Rodriguez took on two of the worst of the see-no-evil corruption ignoring Republicans, and also came up just short of victory.
Meanwhile, Florida moved some 20 points towards Democrats in just two years, a migration that shows how at every level Floridians are suffering from the incompetence, corruption and inconsistency that has been the hallmark of the Trump/DeSantis government.
Our message: can’t stop, won’t stop.
The 2028 campaign starts now.
And if you haven't joined us yet - here's the link!
https://lgbtqdems.org/membership/