Equality California congratulates the EQCA-endorsed winners in Tuesday’s statewide primary election. Of the 61 candidates endorsed by EQCA, 57 are guaranteed to advance to November’s general election. In addition, two EQCA-endorsed candidates appear to be likely to advance to the general election, but the races are still too close to call. Overall, as many as 59 of EQCA’s 61 endorsed candidates are likely to progress to the general election.

“This is exciting news for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and ally communities throughout the entire state of California,” said Rick Zbur, executive director-elect of EQCA. “California voters have shown that they expect their representatives to share their beliefs in full equality for all people. But our work is cut out for us through November, because many of our pro-equality candidates will be in close races and we need to make sure that we send them to Sacramento.”

All five proudly out legislative candidates moved forward: Speaker of the Assembly Toni Atkins (AD 78), San Francisco Supervisor David Campos (AD 17), Assemblymember Susan Talamantes Eggman (AD 13), Assemblymember Rich Gordon (AD 24), Campbell City Councilmember Evan Low (AD 28). If all of the out candidates win in the general election, the LGBT Caucus will maintain its current size of eight members.

Two races with EQCA-endorsed candidates remain too close to call — state controller and Senate District 28. In the state controller race, Assembly Speaker Emeritus John A. Pérez is poised to make history. If elected, he will be the first out LGBT person to win a statewide constitutional office in California. In SD 28, Glenn A. Miller is the first Republican ever endorsed by EQCA. In both races, these EQCA candidates placed in the top two and are likely to advance to the general election, but the races are tight, and final results will not be known until additional absentee and provisional ballots are counted.

For a full list of primary results for EQCA-endorsed candidates, please see: eqcapac.org/2014primary.

Equality California (EQCA) is the largest statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender advocacy organization in California. For more than a decade, Equality California has strategically moved California from a state with extremely limited legal protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people to a state with some of the most comprehensive human rights protections in the nation. Equality California has partnered with legislators to successfully sponsor 96 pieces of pro-equality legislation. EQCA continues to advance equality through legislative advocacy, electoral work, public education and community empowerment. www.eqca.org