Local
D.C. Council candidates court LGBT voters
Graham, Bonds face opposition in April primary
Council members Jim Graham and Anita Bonds are seeking re-election and facing Democratic opposition in the April primary. (Washington Blade file photos by Michael Key)
LGBT voters could play a key role in determining the nominees for at least three of the six D.C. Council seats up for grabs in the city’s April 1 Democratic primary, according to activists familiar with the candidates.
Similar to past years, nearly all of the candidates who are favored to win or who have a shot at winning their primary contests and the general election in November are strong supporters of LGBT rights.
In the April primary, D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large), Council member Mary Cheh(D-Ward 3), and Council member Kenyan McDuffie (D-Ward 5) are considered strong favorites to win in the primary and general election. Cheh is running unopposed in the primary.
Mendelson and Cheh are longtime supporters of the LGBT community and McDuffie has been supportive on LGBT issues since winning his seat in a special election in 2012.
Council member Anita Bonds (D-At-Large) and four-term Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), who’s gay, are running in competitive races in the primary, in the opinion of some political observers, although most knowledgeable observers consider them the clear front-runners.
Bonds, who has been involved in D.C. politics since the early 1980s, has a long record of support for LGBT rights. And Graham, the former head of the Whitman-Walker Clinic, has been among the Council’s strongest advocates on LGBT and AIDS issues during his more than 15 years as a Council member.
The remaining Council race on the primary ballot will be for an open seat in Ward 6, which is being vacated by Council member Tommy Wells, a Democrat who’s running for mayor. Three Democratic candidates running in the primary – Charles Allen, Wells’ former chief of staff; Darrel Thompson, and Shelonda Tillman – have expressed strong support on LGBT issues and are expected to compete for support from the large number of LGBT residents that live in Ward 6.
Graham’s longstanding reputation as a champion for his Ward 1 constituents — both gay and straight — would normally make him a shoo-in for winning election to a fifth term. But an 11-2 vote by his Council colleagues last spring to reprimand him on grounds that he violated the Council’s ethics rules in 2008 by improperly interfering with negotiations over a Metro development contract have raised questions over whether his support in the ward has eroded.
The Council’s vote to reprimand Graham came shortly after the city’s independent ethics board, headed by gay former D.C. Attorney General Robert Spagnoletti, issued an opinion saying Graham did not violate any laws but committed an ethical breach as a city official by intervening in the contract process.
Graham has disputed the claim that he did anything improper, saying he pushed for awarding the contract to one developer over another because the one he favored was better qualified to do the work on a project located in his ward.
Lesbian Democratic activist Barbara Helmick, a longtime resident of Ward 1, said she has voted for Graham in the past but is undecided on whether to vote for him this time.
“Certainly the ethics question has raised eyebrows,” Helmick said. “But Jim has done a lot as a Council member and he has basically done a good job for his constituents.”
Helmick, like other Ward 1 residents, said she’s looking at Graham’s two remaining opponents in the primary, civic activists Bryan Weaver and Brianne Nadeau. Both have been strong supporters of the LGBT community. A third opponent, Beverly Wheeler, a former aide to Council Chair Mendelson, dropped out of the race last week, citing family related issues.
Ward 1 is believed to have the largest concentration of LGBT residents among the city’s eight wards and is home to two LGBT community centers, one of which – Casa Ruby – reaches out to the LGBT Latino community. Activists say that Graham’s prospects for winning the primary would increase significantly if he can retain the support of LGBT voters who have backed him overwhelmingly in past elections.
No Republican, Statehood Green Party or Libertarian Party candidate entered the Ward 1 Council race this year, a development that means Graham would likely face one or more lesser known independent candidates in the November general election if he wins the Democratic nomination in the primary.
Bonds, meanwhile, is being challenged by four other Democrats in the primary in her race for one of two at-large Council seats that will be on the ballot in the November general election. In a process that has often confounded voters, one of the two seats is reserved for a non-majority party candidate under the city’s election law, which means a Democrat cannot compete for the second seat.
Gay D.C. Council member David Catania (I-At-Large) has held the so-called non-Democratic seat since 1997, when he won a special election to fill the then vacant seat. He has been re-elected four times since then, but this year Catania said he’s strongly considering giving up his Council seat to run for mayor.
As an independent, he doesn’t have to make a final decision on whether to seek re-election to the Council or enter the mayoral race until June. Many of the city’s political pundits believe Catania will run for mayor, clearing the way for others to compete for his Council seat.
Gay Republican activist Marc Morgan, a Ward 1 Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner, is running unopposed in the Republican primary for one of the two at-large seats. Should Catania run for mayor, Morgan could be in a strong position to compete for the non-Democratic seat.
A Libertarian Party candidate, who is running unopposed in his party’s primary, and one of two Statehood Green Party candidates running in that party’s primary, will be competing with Morgan for the non-Democratic seat in the November election.
Another openly gay candidate, Libertarian Party activist Martin Moulton, is running unopposed in the Libertarian primary for the city’s U.S. shadow representative seat. Moulton is expected to compete for the shadow seat in the November general election against Democrat Franklin Garcia, who’s running unopposed in the Democratic primary in April.
Out of the four Democrats running against Bonds in the primary, Nate Bennett-Fleming, who currently holds the U.S. shadow representative seat, is considered to be her strongest opponent. Bennett-Fleming has expressed strong support for LGBT rights and won the endorsement of the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the city’s largest LGBT political group, when he ran for the seat in 2012.
The city created shadow U.S. Senate seats and one shadow House of Representatives seat as unpaid lobbying positions to advocate for D.C. statehood and voting representation in Congress.
Although some consider the shadow seats to be of little value because they have no official connection with the U.S. Congress, Bennett-Fleming received more than 43,000 votes when he won the Democratic primary for the seat in 2012. In the 2012 general election, Bennett-Fleming received nearly 207,000 votes.
When Bonds won the at-large seat in a special election last April she received 18,027 votes, or 31.4 percent, in a seven-candidate race with one of the lowest voter turnouts of any D.C. election ever held.
The voter turnout is expected to be larger in this year’s April 1 primary and Bonds’ wider name recognition and longstanding involvement in city politics gives her an edge over Bennett-Fleming and the other three candidates, according to most pundits. But Bonds and her LGBT supporters say she is waging an aggressive outreach effort to capture the LGBT vote to boost her re-election prospects.
Elissa Silverman, a Democrat who came in second behind Bonds in the 2012 special election, reportedly is considering changing her party affiliation from Democrat to independent to run for the non-Democratic at-large seat in the general election.
Delaware
Vote to enshrine same-sex marriage in state constitution fails in Delaware
‘General Assembly turned its back on the people of this state’
The Delaware General Assembly on Tuesday failed to pass Senate Bill 100 (SB-100), an amendment that would add protections for same-sex and interracial marriage to the Delaware Constitution.
In order for the bill to pass, 28 out of 41 members needed to vote ‘yes,’ meaning all 27 Democrats and one Republican needed to vote in favor of the bill.
Rep. Eric Morrison (D-27) told the Blade that an anonymous Republican member agreed to vote in favor prior to the vote but ultimately did not follow through on that promise.
“It’s a shame,” said Rep. Morrison, who’s gay. He explained the difficult nature of passing this amendment with only three legislative days remaining in this session.
The bill needs to receive a two-thirds majority vote in two different sessions and the current two-year long session ends on July 1. Thus, if the bill does not pass before July 1, it will take a minimum of three years to pass the amendment.
The bill was introduced by State Sen. Russ Huxtable (D-07) on June 5, 2025.
Rep. Josue Ortega (D-03) was one of two Democrats to not vote in favor of the bill, voting ‘no.’ Rep. Ortega has not responded to the Blade’s request for comment.
Rep. Madinah Wilson-Anton (D-27) was the other Democrat missing from the ‘yes’ votes. She did not vote on the bill.
Sponsor of the measure, Rep. Claire Snyder-Hall (D-14), made a technical decision to reverse her vote from a ‘yes’ to a ‘no’ last-minute in order to keep the bill alive.
In a Facebook post, Rep. Snyder-Hall said that, “The General Assembly turned its back on the people of this state.”
“When we had the chance to add an extra layer of protection from attempts to turn back the clock and strip our constituents of the rights that Democrats fought for decades to secure, we failed,” said Snyder-Hall.
However, Snyder-Hall said that the failure to pass this bill is not the end. “There are still three legislative days left in the 153rd General Assembly and I am hopeful that we will be able to get the votes required to pass this incredibly basic — but important — bill.”
Maryland
Queer candidates, allies win Md. primary races
Evan Glass lost Montgomery County Executive race
Several LGBTQ candidates secured spots on Maryland’s November ballot following Tuesday’s primary elections, though a handful of history-making campaigns fell short.
Congresswoman April McClain Delaney, who is running for re-election in the 6th Congressional District, won in the Democratic primary with 43.65 percent of the vote. Her main opponent, former Congressman David Trone, lost with 37.33 percent of the vote.
When Trone was last in the U.S. House of Representatives, he was a staunch supporter of LGBTQ rights, backing legislation such as the Equality Act. However, Delaney has also supported LGBTQ rights in her position, with the Human Rights Campaign endorsing her for standing up for the LGBTQ community and for “stands ready to fight against MAGA-led attacks.” Robin Ficker won the Republican primary with 42.61 percent of the vote.
In the 5th Congressional District, voters chose who will replace retiring U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer.
Hoyer was a major advocate for LGBTQ rights during his time in office and opposed the Trump-Vance administration’s transgender military ban. He helped pass the state’s marriage equality law in a referendum in 2012, alongside his daughter, who came out as lesbian in the same year.
Adrian Boafo won the Democratic primary for Hoyer’s seat with 31.97 percent of the vote. Boafo is a former state delegate for Prince George’s County. Boafo had received endorsements from both Hoyer and Gov. Wes Moore. The former state delegate will face Republican Chris Chaffee in November.
Queer candidate Evan Glass lost in the primary election for Montgomery County Executive to Will Jawando, an at-large member of the County Council, and Andrew Friedson, a councilmember for District 1 in Montgomery County.
Jawando is ahead as the final votes are counted.
Moore is running for a second term in office. He won the Democratic primary, alongside Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller with 87.79 percent of the vote. Moore and Miller will face off against Republicans Dan Cox and Rob Krop.
Cox ran against Moore in the 2022 gubernatorial race.
Josie Caballero, a candidate running for the at-large seat on the Montgomery County Council, lost with 9.24 percent of the vote. Caballero would have been the first trans woman elected to office in Maryland if she had won. Former Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich won the primary race with 14.62 percent of the votes.
For House District 4, voters can pick up to three candidates. In the Democratic primary, this included Andrew Duck, Jerry Donald, and Alleria Stanley. If elected in the general election as one of three House of Delegates members, Stanley would become the first trans person elected to the General Assembly.
In the Republican race, all three candidates will advance to the general election.
Gay and lesbian candidates running for re-election to the General Assembly overwhelmingly won their Democratic primary races.
State Del. Joe Vogel, who is running for re-election to Montgomery County’s District 17, was one of three candidates chosen by the Democrats and will be on the ballot in November. He received 28.41 percent of the vote, with Ryan Spiegel receiving 28.45 percent. No Republicans ran in the primary, so none will be on the November ballot.
Christopher Reed, who also ran for the House in District 17, is openly queer but received only 10.93 percent of the vote. All three candidates who will move on to the general election are incumbents in the seat.
Also moving past the primary election is state Del. Ashanti Martinez, who represents House District 22 in Prince George’s County. He is the sole incumbent to run for re-election in the race.
State Del. Gabriel Acevero, who represents House District 39 in Montgomery County, will move on to the general election, along with state Del. Anne Kaiser of District 14 in Montgomery County and state Del. Kris Fair of House District 3 in Frederick County.
State Del. Luke Clippinger of House District 46 in Baltimore City will move on to the general election as well, earning 33.69 percent of the vote. The race for House District 46 includes three Democratic candidates who will advance immediately, as well as one Republican who will advance.
State Sen. Mary Washington (D-Baltimore County) won the Democratic primary unopposed. When she was first elected to the House of Delegates in 2010, Washington became Maryland’s first openly LGBTQ African American elected official. With no Republican opponent, she is expected to keep her seat in November.
Other LGBTQ candidates ran for local and state seats for the first time, with many hoping to make history in state politics.
Matt Menter, who was running in House District 41, will not advance to the general election. In a race with eight candidates, Menter failed to break into the top three. In the past, Menter served on Baltimore City’s LGBTQ Commission.
Spencer Dixon ran as a Democratic candidate House District 32 and will advance to the general election alongside incumbent Mike Rogers and J. Sandy Bartlett. Dixon is an openly gay man and has worked on Democratic political campaigns in Maryland in the past.
Jamar Day ran for an at-large seat on the Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners, but with 11.44 percent of the vote, he will not advance to the general election. If elected, he would have been the first openly queer member of the board, as he identified as pansexual.
Joe Toolan ran for the Anne Arundel County Council’s District 6 seat in the Democratic primary but fell short with 12.78 percent of the vote. Toolan previously served as the first chair of the Maryland Commission on LGBTQIA+ Affairs.
Gavin Buckley, the candidate who won the Democratic primary for Anne Arundel County Council District 6, is the former mayor of Annapolis.
Byron Macfarlane won the Democratic primary for Howard County’s Register of Wills with 61.79 percent of the votes. Macfarlane has held this position since 2010, when he became the first openly gay person elected in Howard County.
Gabrielle Zwi, a nonbinary candidate, ran for an at-large seat on the Democratic Central Committee in Montgomery County. The top eight candidates will advance to the general election in this race, and so far, according to the Maryland Board of Elections, Zwi is among them.
Jamie McGonnigal is running for the Prince George’s County Board of Education for District 3, but the primary for his election was canceled. Therefore, he will be on the ballot for the general election. If elected, he would be the first openly gay man to serve on the board.
Delaware
Del. AG Jennings seeks third term touting LGBTQ support, decline in crime
‘To discriminate against trans children is child abuse’
(Editor’s note: This is the second of a two-part report on the race for Delaware attorney general. For last week’s interview with Democratic candidate Dwayne Bensing, visit washingtonblade.com.)
Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings spoke to the Washington Blade to discuss why she should be elected to a third term.
Born and raised in Wilmington, Del., Jennings’ career in criminal prosecution spans decades. Prior to being sworn in as Delaware’s attorney general in 2019, Jennings worked as a prosecutor under the Delaware Department of Justice for years before being named Delaware State Prosecutor.
As a prosecutor, Jennings worked to convict the serial killer responsible for the murders of five women in New Castle County. This case was the first that DNA analysis was used as evidence in a Delaware court.
“My focus for years has been reducing violent crime in our state, in particular gun violence. Over the course of my tenure, we have seen a dramatic drop in violent crime,” said Jennings.
According to the Criminal Justice Council, under Jennings’s leadership in 2024, Delaware saw its lowest violent crime rate on record.
“We are seeing violent crime going down to historic lows in the state of Delaware, and in particular in our largest city, the city of Wilmington,” said Jennings.
At the end of 2023, homicides had decreased in Wilmington by more than 50% and shootings in Dover had declined by 23%. Additionally, the state’s prison population fell by nearly 25% since 2019 and the recidivism rates declined by 60%.
Jennings explained “This job takes commitment, dedication, and lots of experience in the criminal justice system, because it’s our job to make sure that the criminal justice system is fair and equal to everyone.”
Within her efforts to reduce violent crime, Jennings said that she has especially focused on fighting gun violence.
“I have made a priority in my administration to go after the gun lobby and to make sure that the state of Delaware has gun safety laws that are effective in reducing violent crime and that also are effective in protecting people, most especially our children,” she said.
“The No. 1 cause of death for children in our country are guns, and as long as that’s the case, my work is not done,” she added.
Jennings said that she wants to protect children in particular from gun violence and that this fight remains a work in progress.
“We are beating the gun lobby in the legislature and in the courts, and we are seeing dramatic results in terms of reductions in gun violence that takes a lot of work that is ongoing,” said Jennings.
Fighting the Trump administration remains an integral part of Jennings’s work as attorney general, as she has sued the Trump administration more than 40 times.
“The Trump administration’s lawsuits could have cost Delaware almost a billion dollars in federal funds if we had succumbed to their extortionist threats, and we didn’t do that.” said Jennings.
“We sued opioid manufacturers and distributors, getting $250 million to this state to fight addiction as a result of that. We will continue to do all the work that Delawareans expect us to do,” said Jennings.
“We’re successful, and we’re going to continue to be successful,” Jennings said regarding her legal battles with the Trump administration.
In terms of support for the LGBTQ+ community, Jennings has previously sued HHS for discriminating against transgender Delawareans.
Last summer, Jennings sent a letter to Nemours Children’s Hospital imploring them to reconsider its decision to stop providing gender-affirming care services to new transgender youth patients. Her primary opponent, Dwayne Bensing, criticized this letter for not being strong enough in protecting the trans community.
The Blade asked Jennings about how she plans to continue to be an ally to the LGBTQ+ in a third term. She responded by saying: “We need to keep fighting to ensure that there are constitutional amendments that further protect children and protect marriage equality in our state, and we’re fighting to make sure those amendments are on the way.”
“To discriminate against trans children, in my mind, is child abuse. That’s what we’ve been fighting in the courts,” said Jennings.
Jennings emphasized the importance of protecting LGBTQ+ youth by noting, “Our children deserve an environment where they are treated with compassion and equality.”
“It’s going to take a very strong attorney general who knows what she is doing to continue this fight,” said Jennings.
The Blade also asked Jennings about her oversight of the restructuring of OpenAI. Originally founded as a nonprofit corporation in Delaware in 2015, OpenAI announced its goal to transition to a for profit corporation in May of 2025.
“It is the duty of the attorney general to ensure that a corporation is fulfilling its charitable purpose,” said Jennings. “OpenAI’s charitable purpose is to use it to benefit all of humanity. That’s a big mission.”
Jennings worked closely with California Attorney General Rob Bonta to oversee OpenAI’s transition from nonprofit to for profit.
“We got deeply involved in Open AI’s restructuring process to make sure the charitable corporation would be capitalized well to fulfill their mission of benefiting humanity and that they would prioritize safety. Those two goals were achieved.”
The restructuring process was approved by Jennings and Bonta in October of 2025. They appointed three independent directors to oversee OpenAI’s actions. “These three are independent directors who report to us several times a year,” said Jennings.
“We achieved a far superior result, because we are in the boardroom, we’re able to see what [OpenAI] is doing.”
“We have the full ability to go after OpenAI if they don’t fulfill our urges and we get the ability to oversee them on an ongoing regular basis,” said Jennings.
Jennings reiterated her desire to continue her work as attorney general: “These fights have to continue uninterrupted by people who know what they’re doing.”
“It is an honor and a privilege to have been voted in by Delawareans these last two terms, and I’m asking them to put me in again. I’m fighting hard,” said Jennings.
The primary election for Delaware attorney general is Sept. 15.
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