This Georgia education champion could be the first Black out gay man to represent the South in Congress

Many congressional districts need new representation, and one of them most in need is Georgia’s 13^th, says Everton Blair, a Black gay man who is one of several candidates challenging the incumbent in the Democratic primary there.

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“We have a member of Congress who is not doing the job,” Blair says of U.S. Rep. David Scott, who has represented the suburban Atlanta district since 2003. Scott has recently been criticized for not voting in several recent elections, including the 2024 presidential election. Concerns have been raised about his age — he’s 80 — and his absence from Congress due to health issues. In 2024, U.S. Rep. Angie Craig of Minnesota replaced him as the ranking member — the top Democrat — on the House Agriculture Committee. Craig, a lesbian, is running for a seat in the U.S. Senate.

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Blair would be the first Black out LGBTQ+ member of Congress from the South and the first male one. Julie Johnson, a white lesbian, was elected to the U.S. House from Texas in 2024. He is one of at least nine Democrats challenging Scott in the primary. A 10^th one, lawyer Ron McKenzie, recently suspended his campaign and endorsed Blair. Three Republicans are running as well, but the district is heavily Democratic.

Everton Blair is running for Congress in Georgia.Everton Blair for Congress

Blair is a former high school math teacher in the Atlanta public schools. His entry into public office was in the Gwinnett County Board of Education, which runs the largest school system in Georgia. He was elected to the board in 2018, becoming its youngest-ever member and the first person of color on the body. He was elected chair in 2021, and he did not seek reelection the following year.

Before joining the board, in addition to teaching, he coached superintendents across the country and was a policy fellow in President Barack Obama’s White House Initiative on Educational Excellence.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics from Harvard College, a master’s degree in policy, organizations, and leadership from Stanford University, and a doctorate in education leadership from Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Blair is proud of his work on the school board. He saw it through the COVID-19 pandemic — “that was the most trying time for our school system in our lifetime,” he says — and through a change in superintendents, for which he led the search. Each year, the board increased salaries for teachers, paraprofessionals, social workers, and psychologists without raising property taxes, he says, and when he left, the system had surplus funds.

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Blair came out publicly when he was elected to the board. “A lot of people assumed I was straight,” notes Blair, who is single. His coming-out gave students and teachers a sense of belonging, he says: “It opened space for people to be authentically them.”

If he is elected to Congress, strengthening public education will be one of his priorities, he says. Affordable housing, health care, and economic development are up there, too. “We need a representative who can connect good jobs to the district,” he says. In the current economic climate, residents are working harder for less money than previously, he asserts.

Resisting President Donald Trump’s destructive and authoritarian actions is also high on the list. “I’m very frustrated with Trump’s efforts to dismantle everything,” Blair says. “I don’t see the current [Democratic] leaders responding directly and passionately enough.”

Everton Blair speaking to supporters as he runs to be the first Black out gay man in Congress.Everton Blair for Congress

“We have got to jam this administration,” he says. “We’ve got to put sand in the gears of all the chaos they’re stoking.” That includes abolishing agencies that have abused their power, like Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he says, and impeaching members of their administration who deserve it, such as Attorney General Pam Bondi. “We’ve got to be using the power of the office,” Blair says.

He says he is not only the youngest candidate in the race but the most progressive, and he calls himself a “homegrown leader,” having been born and raised in the district. His parents and extended family live in the district as well. “I bring a lot of lived experience,” he says.

The boundaries of the 13^th district were redrawn after the 2020 census. It previously covered areas west and south of Atlanta, but now it includes a swath of the city's suburbs. Over the years, its demographics have changed, shifting from heavily white and Republican to heavily Black and Democratic, Blair notes.

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Scott has been an LGBTQ+ ally, earning high scores on the Human Rights Campaign’s Congressional Scorecard, but Blair says, “We need a champion who’s not just an ally, but who’s a member of our community. It’s a lot harder to discriminate against me when you look me in the eye as a colleague.” Blair has been endorsed by the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund.

In Georgia, if no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote, there must be a runoff between the top two vote recipients. Polling indicates that the Democratic primary will go to a runoff, and Scott may not make it, Blair says. The Republican and Democratic primaries will be held on May 19, and the general election on November 3.

If Blair advances and eventually wins, he promises to advocate for his constituents and resist authoritarian forces. “We need a stronger set of Democrats who are willing to fight for their communities,” he says. “We have to make sure we’re sending the strongest, most authentic, and surest fighter.”