J. D. Ford (born November 6, 1982) is an American politician, currently a member of the Indiana Senate."Democrat J.D. Ford becomes first LGBT candidate elected to Indiana General Assembly"
WXIN, November 6, 2018. Elected in the 2018 elections, he represents Senate District 29 as a member of the

United States Democratic Party The Democratic Party is one of the Two-party system, two Major party, major contemporary political parties in the United States. Founded in 1828, it was predominantly built by Martin Van Buren, who assembled a wide cadre of politicians in eve ...

. He earned a bachelor's degree from

University of Akron The University of Akron is a public research university in Akron, Ohio. It is part of the University System of Ohio. As a STEM-focused institution, it focuses on industries such as polymers, advanced materials, and engineering. It is classified ...

in criminal justice and political science and a master's degree in education from

Purdue University Northwest Purdue University Northwest (PNW) is a public university with two campuses in Northwest Indiana, one in Hammond and another in Westville. It is part of the Purdue University system and offers more than 70 undergraduate and graduate degree p ...

. He was the first, and so far only, openly

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

person elected to Indiana's state legislature. He first ran for Indiana Senate District 29 in 2014 and lost to Republican incumbent Mike Delph but won four years later in a rematch. In September 2020, he made a guest appearance on the podcast ''The Popular Vote.'' In November 2020, he was elected as the Caucus Chair of the Indiana Senate Democrats. For the 2024 legislative session, Senator Ford serves on the following committees: Education and Career Development (Ranking Minority Member), Elections (Ranking Minority Member), Ethics, Family and Children Services (Ranking Minority Member), Health and Provider Services, Local Government, and Rules and Legislative Procedure In addition to these committee assignments, Ford was an Interim Senate Minority Member of the Legislative Council.

Electoral history

, + Indiana Senate 29th District: Results 2014–2018 ! Year ! ! Democratic ! Votes ! % ! ! Republican ! Votes ! % ! ! Third Party ! Party ! Votes ! % , - ,

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, , , , J. D. Ford , , 12,685 , , 46% , , , Mike Delph , , 15,094 , , 54% , , , , , , - ,

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

, , , , J. D. Ford , , 31,974 , , 57% , , , Mike Delph , , 24,403 , , 43% , , , , , , - ,

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

, , , , J. D. Ford , , 22,636 , , 52% , , , Alex Choi , , 21,175 , , 48% , , , , ,

References

1982 births American gay politicians 21st-century American legislators 21st-century Indiana politicians Democratic Party Indiana state senators LGBT state legislators in Indiana Living people {{Indiana-politician-stub