Embracing Equality Wins Elections 2025 and the Path Forward

MAGA-aligned politicians running this year were faced with the daunting task of defending Trump’s abysmal economic record, rising healthcare costs and the fallout from a month-long government shutdown. Instead of leveling with voters and addressing these issues in any meaningful way, they opted to break out their old, tired playbook to try and win by cynically dividing voters through wedge issues and scapegoating LGBTQ+ people. But HRC saw this strategy coming well in advance and was ready to face it head-on. We didn’t back down from this fight, and neither did our slate of endorsed candidates.

From the start of this year’s campaign season, HRC chose to invest strategically in candidates and causes that would advance equality, address issues that matter most to voters and help demonstrate that attacks on LGBTQ+ communities are a losing strategy. That work began by supporting Abigail Spanberger in her campaign to become Virginia’s next governor. In 2018, Spanberger won her first election to Congress in a historically conservative district, defeating a Tea Party-backed Republican incumbent. Integral to that success was her skillfulness in breaking through partisan distractions and outside noise to communicate directly with voters about the issues affecting their daily lives. Once in Congress, Spanberger established a strong personal brand as a pragmatic planner and problem solver while cosponsoring the Equality Act and strongly advocating for the Respect for Marriage Act. She would go on to win reelection twice before announcing a run for governor.

From day one of her campaign, Spanberger stood proudly with HRC on the side of equality, supporting nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people and pledging to work with the General Assembly to enshrine marriage equality in Virginia’s constitution. On the campaign trail, Spanberger offered consistent, disciplined messaging that rejected divisive narratives and remained laser focused on everyday issues affecting Virginians, like healthcare, safety and the cost of living. That strategy allowed her to build trust across broad coalitions and diverse communities throughout the commonwealth.

By contrast, Spanberger’s opponent, Winsome Earle-Sears, took her cues from the MAGA playbook, opting to sideline voters’ primary concerns to instead fan the flames of bigotry and lies about LGBTQ+ people. By November, Sears’ campaign had spent more than $9 million on anti-transgender messaging and ads demonizing LGBTQ+ Virginians over participation in sports, schools and public accommodations. It’s a familiar gambit we’ve seen the MAGA crowd run for years: rely on fear and misinformation to distract when your candidates can’t offer voters anything of substance.

But these attacks fell flat when Spanberger refused to take the bait and responded in force. In a September campaign ad, Spanberger called out the lies and shifted the focus to core values like respect and freedom, stating simply, “I believe we need to get politics out of our schools and trust parents and local communities.” Then, on the October debate stage, Spanberger called out her opponent’s anti-LGBTQ+ record directly, citing Sears’ longstanding opposition to same-sex marriage and support for firing employees over being gay, which Sears then interrupted to confoundingly declare, “that’s not discrimination.”

On November 4th, Virginia voters saw through the divisive rhetoric and elected Abigail Spanberger as the commonwealth’s first woman governor by a resounding 15% margin. Virginians simultaneously elected a pro-equality lieutenant governor, attorney general and sent 16 HRC-endorsed House of Delegates candidates to Richmond, significantly expanding the chamber’s pro-equality majority. 

In New Jersey, a similar story unfolded. HRC-endorsed candidate Mikie Sherrill rose above a pattern of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric infused into debates, online ads, and local mail throughout her campaign to become the state’s next governor. Her opponent even platformed a senior campaign adviser who called for a renewed ban on same-sex marriage earlier this year. However, like Spanberger, Sherrill never wavered in her support for LGBTQ+ people, and fought to ensure issues like healthcare access, affordability and opportunity for all New Jerseyans remained front and center on the campaign trail. Now governor-elect, Sherrill will undoubtedly be a voice for integrity, compassion and action in Trenton.

Across the country in California, voters overwhelmingly passed HRC-backed Proposition 50, which will allow the state to redraw its congressional map in response to the Texas legislature doing the same at Trump’s behest earlier this year. This was a crucial win that gives pro-equality voices a fighting chance to take back control of the U.S. House of Representatives in 2027. The resounding 27.8% margin of victory was yet another clear sign that voters are fed up with the chaos and partisan games pushed by the current administration and are hungry for real leaders to take charge in Washington.

HRC was proud to lend our support in all three contests through targeted investments and a powerful ground game.

For months, HRC worked tirelessly across communities and coalitions to activate equality voters, build enthusiasm and continue to shift the narrative on LGBTQ+ issues. Our combined efforts mobilized over 13.7 million equality voters and led to a seismic, sweeping victory for pro-equality candidates and initiatives on election day. This year’s election results confirmed what pro-equality voices have long known - and what the data overwhelmingly tells us - that fearmongering and division may win attention, but embracing equality wins elections. 

Now, it's on us to keep the momentum going. The 2026 midterm elections present LGBTQ+ communities and allies with our clearest opportunity yet to fight back at the ballot box against the division and vitriol spread by the Trump administration. It’s all but inevitable that they and their MAGA allies in Congress will once again turn to attacking our communities while trying to cling to power next year. But we now have a proven blueprint for victory. This year’s results showed that attacks on us can be effectively countered and disarmed – not by abandoning LGBTQ+ people or dismissing our needs, but by answering divisive rhetoric with the truth and centering campaigns around shared values of equality, freedom and opportunity for all. That’s because voters want candidates who are serious about addressing kitchen table issues – not fanning the flames of culture wars.

HRC is gearing up to take full advantage of our opportunity in 2026. We’re ready to once again stand shoulder to shoulder with allies and coalition partners to build on this year’s many successes and put to bed any lingering narrative that standing with LGBTQ+ people is a political liability. On the contrary, our people power has proved to be an essential ingredient to any winning coalition. With just under a year to go until election day, HRC has already begun offering support in key races that will help decide control of Congress for the rest of Trump’s administration. But we’ll need your support to finish the job.

Winning next year’s elections will require uplifting voices from all corners of the country in solidarity with protecting LGBTQ+ lives and our hard-earned freedoms. Unfortunately, we expect anti-equality politicians to continue to desperately pour millions of dollars into distracting and dividing the American people. The lies and vitriol they have directed at LGBTQ+ people have been deeply harmful and carry heavy, sometimes devastating consequences. But our communities have always held something far more powerful and enduring: the truth and dignity that comes from telling our stories, sharing our humanity and showing up every day as our authentic selves.

That’s why HRC is working to collect names and stories from advocates and allies alike as part of our One Million Voices for Equality campaign. Voters can only fear what they don’t know or don’t understand – making the sharing of our lived experiences with friends, neighbors and colleagues all the more important. When joined together, our stories demonstrate how deeply woven LGBTQ+ people are and have always been into the fabric of American life. Ultimately, our shared humanity will serve as an antidote to the culture of distrust and extremism that has poisoned our politics. But it will require people from all walks of life to step up and lend their voices, time and abilities to the cause.

HRC’s nationwide network of 3.6 million members, volunteers and supporters are what fuel our fight and allow us to harness the full power of equality voters. They represent the beating heart of our organization and make long term progress for full lived equality achievable. The 2026 midterm elections represent one of the clearest opportunities yet to seize back power from those who don’t see our communities as worthy of pursuing and embodying the American Dream. Join us in this effort and together, we’ll continue to do what LGBTQ+ people have done throughout history – overcome division, apathy and bigotry to forge a better future for ourselves, our families and our communities.