The midterm elections are now just weeks away and LGBTQ+ organizations have chosen their political endorsements. The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) PAC and Equality North Carolina Action Fund PAC (ENC) are supporting politicians that challenge MAGA Republicans and advocate for LGBTQ+ equality.
NORTH CAROLINA
On September 16, HRC PAC endorsed Democratic candidate Roy Cooper for the U.S. Senate. Cooper served two terms as governor of North Carolina. Before that, he served as a member of the State House of Representatives and four terms as North Carolina’s state attorney.
HRC believes that with Cooper in North Carolina’s seat, all communities will be represented.
Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson explained, “North Carolinians deserve a fighter who leaves no one behind. That fighter is Roy Cooper…” She added, “He is ready to serve North Carolina, including the 748,000 LGBTQ+ North Carolinians, at a crossroads in history, bringing his experience to a U.S. Senate that desperately needs more pro-equality voices…”
Cooper seems like a politician North Carolina has trusted. He gained a 51 percent majority in his 2017 gubernatorial campaign and served for eight years. The Carolina native expanded Medicaid and expressed his grievances with the Republican-led General Assembly.
If elected, the Senate candidate says he would lower the prices of groceries, utilities, healthcare and more for all of North Carolina. “I’m running to make stuff cost less for all North Carolina families,” said Cooper. “I believe that when we all work together, we can build a state and nation that works for everyone.”
With HRC’s financial and social support, the nonprofit trusts that Cooper will turn North Carolina blue. “A victory by Cooper in November is essential to securing a pro-equality majority in Congress to combat the authoritarian, discriminatory policies of the Trump administration.”
For the North Carolina Supreme Court race, Equality North Carolina PAC endorsed Associate Justice Anita Earls.
Like HRC, ENC is a nonprofit that focuses on advocacy and lobbying. The organization has supported North Carolinians since the 1990s, and the 2026 midterm is no exception.
The nonprofit wrote, “Right-wing extremists are weaponizing the law as a partisan tool to dismantle DEI, eliminate healthcare access, and strip away basic rights. Equality NC is the engine on the ground funding and organizing to stop them…”
The nonprofit has used its funding to support Democratic candidates, like Justice Earls, to repress the discriminatory and fascist push of MAGA.
With 30 years of experience as a civil rights attorney, Earls has spent her life fighting for everyone, especially marginalized communities. She aided citizens who have been mistreated in the workplace and the parents of children who were denied equal education. She sought equal justice for all in state and federal courts.
Earls assumed office as associate justice on Jan. 1, 2027, and is now running for reelection.
“I spent my career as an attorney fighting to protect and defend the freedoms of everyday North Carolinians. Now, as your Justice, I’ve continued to uphold the rights enshrined in our state constitution,” explained Earls.
Though she is outnumbered by Republicans and the only African-American on the Supreme Court, Justice Earls will continue to push for equality in education and healthcare while advocating for a fair and impartial judiciary.
In a Ballotpedia survey, she wrote, “I am running for one simple reason – so that our judicial system lives up to the basic promise of equal justice under the law and to protect the rights of every North Carolinian. I served on the North Carolina Equal Access to Justice Commission because I believe that the biggest change North Carolina needs to make to its judicial system is to improve access to civil justice for all citizens.”
SOUTH CAROLINA
The Johnson Amendment, passed in 1954, explicitly states that charitable nonprofits (501c3) may “not participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of statements) any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office.”
That means a number of national and state LGBTQ+ organizations cannot make political endorsements.
There are, however, ways of getting around that law, mainly by establishing an associated political action committee (PAC) or some other organization that would not be subject to the Johnson Amendment.
For example, Advocates for Trans Equality (A4TE), while a nonprofit, is structured in such a way to allow for endorsement. A4TE was founded in 2024 by the merger of the National Center for Transgender Equality and the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund.
But A4TE has made no endorsements in any upcoming races in South Carolina.
The LGBTQ+ Victory Fund is another nonprofit that is structured in such a way as to allow endorsement. The main focus of the Victory Fund is to increase the number of out LGBTQ+ elected officials in all levels of government. The Fund has not endorsed any candidates in the Palmetto State, either.
LGBTQ PAC (LPAC) is an organization dedicated to “increasing the political power and engagement of LGBTQ women and their allies.” While posting endorsements in several federal, state and local elections, there are none for South Carolina.
EQUALITY PAC is the political action committee of the Congressional Equality Caucus and focuses on electing openly LGBTQ individuals and allies to the U.S. Congress. They have not endorsed any congressional candidates in the Palmetto State.
NOW PAC is an organization that endorses candidates who favor and champion LGBTQIA+ rights.
The group endorsed Catherine Flemming Bruce in South Carolina’s U.S. senatorial primary to fill the seat now held by Lindsey Graham’s sister, Darline. Graham (R) is facing Annie Andrews (D) in the general election, and latest polling has the two virtually tied. Bruce, having lost in the primary to Andrews, is running as a write-in candidate.
Andrews, an outspoken supporter of trans youth, has supported gender-affirming healthcare; she has spoken against surgical interventions for minors and has opposed the participation of biological men in women’s sports.
The National LGBTQ Task Force does not offer endorsements, but simply a “voter’s guide.”
The Human Rights Campaign has endorsed more than 40 pro-equality candidates for the general election in key competitive U.S. House races but has not endorsed any South Carolina candidates.
Latest polling has Democrat Jermaine Johnson, who Qnotes has previously reported on, behind Republican Alan Wilson by seven percentage points in the race to fill the Governor’s chair in South Carolina. The state has not elected a Democrat to the office since Jim Hodges, who was elected in 1999. Nikki Haley (R) defeated Vincent Sheheen (D) in 2010 by 4.5 percent.
Johnson, currently a State representative, did vote against SC H4624, a 2024 bill restricting gender-affirming healthcare. While not endorsing, several LGBTQ+ advocacy groups in the state have publicly thanked Johnson for that support. The only explicit LGBTQ issue addressed by Johnson’s campaign is that of “hate crime” legislation.
This story is brought to you by Rosedale Health and Wellness and Dudley’s Place.
