Second Transgender Candidate Wins Spot on Minneapolis City Council
A second transgender candidate has won a spot on the Minneapolis City Council.
Phillipe Cunningham narrowly won a northwestern Minneapolis ward by defeating longtime incumbent and council president Barb Johnson. His victory wasn’t announced until Wednesday afternoon, due to the instant-runoff voting system Minneapolis uses.
Cunningham is a 29-year-old transgender man. His victory follows one by Andrea Jenkins, a transgender woman who easily won a seat on the City Council Tuesday night.
It adds to a banner night for transgender people in public office. Danica Roem became the nation’s first openly transgender state lawmaker by winning a Virginia Statehouse seat.
Victory Fund, a group that advocated for LGBT candidates, said Jenkins was the nation’s first openly transgender woman elected to a major city’s governing board.