CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Corpus Christi's City Council has seen milestone firsts in its makeup – the first Hispanic person elected, as well as its first female mayor.
As we move toward election season, at least one candidate is looking to add a new one – first openly gay council member.
Community advocate Eli McKay officially entered the race for the District 1 City Council spot currently held by Everett Roy on Saturday.
They say their motivation to run was simple.
"I feel like a lot of underserved communities are not being represented by the current leadership and I hope that I can change that," they told 3NEWS in an interview before the announcement.
McKay ran and lost in 2020. While they didn't advertise their sexual identity during that cycle, they also didn't shy away from it.
"I have always been openly gay,” they said. “I came out to my parents when I was 19 years old.
Austin elected Randi Shade, its first lesbian councilwoman, in 2008, and Jimmy Flanagan, its first gay councilman, in 2016.
San Antonio elected its first gay councilman, Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, in 2021.
When it comes to LGBTQIA+ individuals holding elected seats of power here in Corpus Christi, specifically city council, political analyst Bill Chriss said the fact that an openly gay candidate hasn’t yet been seated isn’t necessarily because of who they love.
"Left or right, Democrat or Republican -- those kinds of identifications mean more to people in the voting booth than sexual identification and gender identification," he said.
Chriss said it all boils down to strategy.
"Political ideology and sexual orientation are two different things,” he said. “When you make sexual orientation part of your political ideology, then it becomes fair game."
District 2 councilwoman Sylvia Campos said that when it comes to running for council, transparency is key to winning.
"It's not easy to run for city council,” she said. “The 'why' is very important, so for me, it depends on one's self and why you want to run."
Eric Holguin has campaigned to represent the area for state and national seats, losing both elections. He said having LGBTQIA+ representation is crucial, especially considering the recent political landscape.
"Whenever you don't have people that are representative of that community at those tables they're going to get erased," he said.
Digital director Ana Tamez contributed to this story.