From the editor: this Virginia House of Delegates election has several out candidates on the ballot across the Commonwealth, including two here in Hampton Roads. Rodney K. Nickens, Jr. is running for the District 90 seat, which is composed primarily of voters in Chesapeake, and Blaizen Buckshot Bloom for the seat in the adjacent District 89.
Both districts have traditionally voted overwhelmingly red, but both candidates believe that visibility matters and regardless of the outcome are out and open about their identities. We asked them to provide us with an overview of their campaign platforms and their experience in politics.
Rodney K. Nickens, Jr.
I got my start in activism in 2008, organizing in the fight for marriage equality — long before it was popular or politically safe to do so. Back then, I was just a young, passionate believer in the idea that love is love and everyone deserves dignity, no matter who they are or who they love. That early experience shaped the leader I’ve become — someone who believes in showing up, speaking out, and building power from the ground up.
Today, I’m running to represent Virginia House District 90 — my hometown community of Chesapeake — as the first openly LGBTQ+ Black person to ever run for this seat. If elected, I would help make history in Virginia, bringing a new, bold, and unapologetically inclusive voice to the General Assembly.
But this race isn’t about titles — it’s about truth. It’s about making sure the folks who’ve been pushed to the margins are finally at the center of the conversation. It’s about making sure our Black, brown, queer, and trans family members have a seat at the table — not just in Pride season, but year-round, in policy, in budgets, and in decisions that impact our lives.
From marching for LGBTQ+ rights to building coalitions through Pride in the Peake and BIPOC Pride, I’ve seen what’s possible when we stand together. I’m proud to now serve on the board of Equality Virginia, where we’re fighting every day to ensure that Virginia remains a place where LGBTQ+ people can live openly, safely, and freely.
As we look toward November 2025, I want to be clear: we cannot afford to sit this one out. Our rights, our healthcare, our schools, our families, and our futures are on the ballot. And when we vote, we bring our whole selves to the table — our joy, our pain, our resilience, and our dreams.
To every LGBTQ+ Virginian reading this — especially those who’ve ever felt unseen or unheard — I’m running for us. For those who’ve paved the way. For those coming up now. And for the generations yet to be born. We are the legacy. We are the movement. And we are just getting started.
LEARN MORE ABOUT RODNEY’S CAMPAIGN
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Blaizen Buckshot Bloom
I grew up in an economically challenged family. My father is a disabled Navy veteran who experienced the worst of our underfunded VA, turning an injury that didn’t need to incapacitate him into one that took him mostly out of commission for a decade. My mother survived a string of abusive relationships that instilled in me a drive to stand up to bullies. She tried to support us on her single paycheck, but it was never enough. I didn’t discover I had Crohn’s Disease or Asthma until my late teens because I hid symptoms out of fear of creating a medical bill. It doesn’t need to be like that. I am running to be the youngest ever elected Democrat to the General Assembly because my experience of growing up disadvantaged in our district in our current climate gives me insight needed in Richmond.
I’ve also been an environmental advocate, LGBTQ+ advocate, and a student advocate. I helped kill the Atlantic Coast Pipeline Extension that endangered our poorer neighborhood and could have incinerated Thurgood Marshall Elementary school with a single spark. I ran for school board on a platform of REAL mental health assistance for our students, not the book bans and bullying of queer students some call mental health assistance. As a queer student who was discovering their own non-binary identity in the midst of this attack on queer youth, I knew first hand how toxic and harmful this was for our students, queer and otherwise.
I ran for Director of Soil and Water Conservation on a platform of balancing the needs of our rural and urban areas while building up environmental resilience and access. I also worked on Democratic Coordinated Campaign in one of the few parts of Virginia where we picked up seats.
If elected, I would be both the first openly non-binary person elected in VA and the youngest Democrat elected to the House of Delegates, but that’s not why I’m running. I am running for a Virginia where everyone can lead their biggest life, whether that means the freedom to be loudly queer or the ability to afford groceries, healthcare, and a decent place to live. I am running so that the next generation experiences a childhood better than my own.
LEARN MORE ABOUT BLAIZEN’S CAMPAIGN
