To kick off LGBTQ History Month, U.S. Olympian Adam Rippon encourages voters to support the historic number of LGBTQ candidates and commit to vote this November through the DNC’s IWillVote initiative.

This primary season, more LGBTQ candidates have won Democratic primaries than ever before, including:

• At least 16 openly LGBTQ non-incumbents for Congress

  • In total, at least 21 openly LGBTQ people have won Democratic primaries  for federal office across 14 different states

• At least 9 openly LGBTQ non-incumbents have won Democratic primaries for statewide/territory office.

  • In total, at least 13 openly LGBTQ people won Democratic primaries for statewide office across 12 states.

The DNC’s IWillVote program is an unprecedented new campaign with four initiatives: Commit to Vote; Voter Registration; Voter Education and Protection; and Get-Out-The-Vote. Under the program, the DNC, in partnership with state parties and outside organizations, aims to reach 50 million voters before Election Day to engage, educate, and mobilize them to vote for Democrats up and down the ticket. So far, the DNC has reached nearly 45 million voters, with just over a month until Election Day.

In 2014, 47 million fewer people voted than in 2012. This initiative aims to engage those “midterm drop-off” voters in an effort to boost turnout this November.