PHOENIX (November 3, 2020) - Tonight, Human Rights Campaign (HRC)-endorsed candidate Mark Kelly won the US Senate special election in Arizona. This is the second straight election cycle that the HRC has played a large role in flipping a US Senate seat in Arizona, first doing so in 2018 when the organization made significant investments in support of America's first-ever openly bisexual US Senate candidate, Kyrsten Sinema.

Mark Kelly has been a steadfast ally for the LGBTQ community throughout his life and in his work with Giffords [Law Center], an organization dedicated to helping protect Americans from gun violence. Kelly committed that should he be elected, he would co-sponsor and vote in favor of the Equality Act, crucial federal legislation that would finally guarantee explicit nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people under our nation's existing civil rights laws.

"Mark Kelly's victory proves that the march toward equality in Arizona is not a moment but a movement," said Human Rights Campaign President Alphonso David. "Arizonans know that the fight for equality is not over. Arizonans know that the fight for equality is not over. With Mark Kelly in office, we may finally have the opportunity to pass the Equality Act in the Senate and send it to a pro-equality president's desk, enshrining legal protections from discrimination for LGBTQ people across this country. This election, voters, volunteers, and pro-equality leaders like Mark Kelly came together to make their voices heard, knowing that we must finally deliver on our founding promise of full equality for all."

The Human Rights Campaign is America's largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people. The HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work, and in every community.

Courtesy of the HRC