Each year, more LGBTQ candidates run and are elected to serve in local, state, and federal offices. And 2022 is shaping up to be no different. 

As of the 2021 election cycle, there are more than 1,000 out LGBTQ representatives in the United States. Several LGBTQ trailblazers are running for office in 2022; here are five candidates to keep your eye on this year. 

Jasmine Beach-Ferrara 

Current position: Buncombe County Commissioner

Position sought: U.S. House of Representatives, District 14

After serving as Buncombe county commissioner in North Carolina, Jasmine Beach-Ferrera is making a change and running for the U.S. House of Representatives.

Beach-Ferrara, who is a lesbian, was elected in 2016 and reelected in 2020. She is also an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and the founding executive director of the Campaign for Southern Equality.

She said it’s been a “tremendous honor” to serve as a county commissioner. During her tenure, Beach-Ferrara has been pushing for policy focused on early childhood education and opioid epidemic response, as well as pandemic relief projects. 

“Local government is such a powerful part of how government happens in our country. It’s so immediate in terms of impacting people’s lives so quickly,” she said. “Personally, I really just love having the opportunity to serve in that way and it’s been a big motivator for me in terms of why I’m now seeking to serve on the federal level.”

If elected, Beach-Ferrara wants to focus on building bridges and listening to what her constituents need, which are needed priorities that have been lost under toxic leadership in the state, she said. 

While on the campaign trail, Beach-Ferrara said being out has been a big strength for her. 

“The power of people running and being out is that the moment you come out, you’re communicating a few things … honesty and authenticity, and letting people know that you are showing up exactly as you are,” she said. 

Robert Garcia

Current position: Mayor of Long Beach, Calif. 

Position sought: U.S. House of Representatives, CA-42

Mayor Robert Garcia is running for the U.S. House of Representatives. 

As the mayor of Long Beach, Calif., Garcia forged a national model for testing and the COVID-19 vaccination rollout. Long Beach was the first municipality to vaccinate educators in California. He is the first mayor of Long Beach to appoint a majority of women to board and commissions, as well. 

Garcia, who is gay, immigrated to the United States from Peru when he was five years old. Becoming a citizen was “the best thing that ever happened” to him, he said. Now, he is running for Congress to help give people the same opportunities given to him. 

“Patriotism is about helping people. It’s about taking care of your neighbor. It’s about standing up for the values that made this country and that includes supporting kids like me who are immigrants,” Garcia said.

If elected, Garcia wants to focus on building infrastructure as he has as mayor, expand LGBTQ rights and provide pathways to citizenship for folks that are undocumented. 

“I understand the immigration system because I went through it,” Garcia said. “I know how people struggle and how folks navigate a complex and burdensome system.”

Michele Rayner-Goolsby 

Current position: Florida House of Representatives, District 70

Position sought: U.S. House of Representatives, FL-13

Former Civil Rights Attorney Michele Rayner-Goolsby wants to bring a fresh perspective to Congress.

Currently serving as the first out queer Black representative in the Florida Legislature, her priority is advocating for her constituents. 

“People are hungry for a different type of leadership — that is rooted in community, that is rooted in transparency, that is rooted in accountability,” she said. 

Rayner-Goolsby’s experience as a Black queer woman is her “best strength,” she said. 

“I’ve had to fight and earn everything that I have ever had in my life,” she said. That shapes the way I think about policy and legislation.”

As a statehouse representative, Rayner-Goolsby has spearheaded COVID-19 vaccine pop-up distribution sites and passed legislation like an urban agriculture bill to bring community gardens to food deserts and a workforce development bill that establishes an apprenticeship approach to becoming a certified nursing assistant. 

If elected, Rayner-Goolsby wants to build legislation that outlasts her tenure, she said. She wants to pass comprehensive voting rights legislation, environmental justice protections and address the affordable housing crisis. 

“We have got to come up with creative solutions,” she said. “And we’ve got to have the political will to figure it out. It’s not the lack of resources, it’s the lack of political will.” 

Brianna Titone 

Current position: Colorado House of Representatives, District 27

Position sought: Colorado House of Representatives, District 27

Brianna Titone, an incumbent in the Colorado Legislature, is seeking reelection after serving District 27 for two terms.  

Titone is the first transgender person to be elected to the Colorado Statehouse. 

After seeing three trans people win elections in 2017, Titone was inspired to run for the statehouse seat. Her background as a geologist and personal identity combined to give her a unique and powerful skillset. 

“As a scientist, I’m able to understand and look at the data,” Titone said. “And as a trans person, I know how to be empathetic to people’s issues and problems.”

One of her biggest accomplishments was bringing back and passing the bill banning the “Gay and Trans Panic Defense” after the legislation was nearly killed. 

“I pleaded with the Senate and the House leadership to get that bill back on the schedule. And we were able to do it,” she said. “I wasn’t going to let that issue have to wait another year to be passed.”

 Titone has been on the frontlines in pushing against efforts to remove trans kids from sports, as well. 

“I’m a big advocate for communities coming together,” Titone said. “And sports is a great way for people to come together and rally around the people in their community. When we leave kids out or we force kids out of that kind of activity, we’re really undermining community.”

Todd Delmay 

Current position: Entrepreneur

Position sought: Florida State House of Representatives, District 100

Todd Delmay, a father, husband, and entrepreneur, has been on the frontlines of LGBTQ advocacy for years. 

Delmay, who is gay, adopted his son with his partner in 2010 when it was still illegal in Florida. Delmay’s husband adopted their son Blake as a single parent, and Delmay was told to bring friends and “blend in the background” to not arouse suspicion. Later that year the law was overturned and Delmay adopted Blake as a second parent, but the process was humiliating and upsetting, he said. 

In 2014, Delmay and his partner were one of the couples that sued for the right to marry in Florida. In 2015, Delmay and his husband were one of the first gay couples to marry in the state. 

“That was a pretty empowering moment,” Delmay said. 

Delmay is excited to bring his unique perspective as a gay parent to the statehouse, he said. Adoption rights, for example, is an issue Delmay can speak to personally.

“When LGBTQ people are in the room, it changes the conversation,” Delmay said. 

Delmay is the CEO of Delmay Corporation, an event technology and software company. If elected, Delmay hopes to support small businesses, pass legislation concerning the environment and fight for civil rights. 

“It’s important that the legislature always reflect the people because there are so many different perspectives,” Delmay said. “And if we have any hopes of turning the state blue, we need to make sure that we are speaking to everyone and that the legislature represents everyone.”