In January, the Georgia Legislature is likely to welcome its first openly transgender, nonbinary and Japanese-American lawmaker, and all these firsts could be courtesy of one person.
Bentley Hudgins, whose experience includes serving as Georgia state director for the Human Rights Campaign, was the top vote-getter in last month's Democratic primary election to represent House District 90, which includes parts of DeKalb County.
Hudgins defeated fellow Democrat Leisa Stafford with just over two-thirds of the vote. Republican Samantha Boston, a commodity analyst, is running on the Republican ticket. The district is one of the most Democratic in the state. The district's current state representative, Saira Draper, is running for state Senate.
Hudgins said they don't take the historic aspects of their candidacy lightly at a time when the state and federal governments are passing laws targeting immigrants and the rights of transgender people, but they said their eyes are on the work ahead.
"To me, it shows that the voters are tired of the hate and they just care about somebody's qualifications," Hudgins said.