For years — starting with the election of Ron Oden, an openly gay man, in 1995 and then the passage of a domestic partnership ordinance — LGBT voters and their allies had been making slow but steady progress at Palm Springs City Hall.

Then in 2008, after the passage of a statewide initiative to ban same-sex marriage, the community erupted in anger. Hundreds of frustrated residents took to the streets.

It was an awakening for many of the area’s gays and lesbians that would transform the city’s politics. They organized and strategized.

Tuesday’s blowout victories by Lisa Middleton and Christy Holstege were the peak of that decades-long climb. The council that will be installed in December consists of three gay men, one transgender woman and a millennial woman who identifies as bisexual.

The city’s LGBT contingent is now the dominant political force — and completely in charge.

"You're now looking at a progressive city that remains business-focused," said James Williamson, who ran Middleton's campaign. "And I think that’s what we’re gonna see happen play out over the next 10 years."

As the number of registered Republicans shrinks and the number of registered Democrats and independents grows, a gap exists where the socially liberal, fiscally conservative voter used to stand.

“For a lot of progressives," Williamson said, "they’ve moved away from the kind of Kumbaya politics and they realize if they want the social programs they believe are important, we need to have a strong business-base to support those programs."

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Williamson, a Palm Springs Unified School District board member, is at the center of the new coalition alongside his husband and current City Council member Geoff Kors, who was electedin 2015 with more votes than any candidate in at least 16 years. The Desert Stonewall Democrats, a LGBT political group chaired by Ruth Debra, also played a major role in the last election, paying for advertising that ignored other Democrats in the race and targeted the lone Republican.

The endorsements and financial support of those progressive players and more, including Rep. Raul Ruiz and outgoing council member Ginny Foat, sent a clear signal to many Democrats that they ought to unite.

"The city has changed a great deal in the last decade," Kors said, "but regardless of party it's very accepting of LGBT people and that's evident in the fact that the candidates who won, their sexual orientation and gender identity was never really an issue."

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Holstege acknowledged that changing demographics and local party leadership played a role in her victory, but also credited her supporters who ran a grassroots campaign in a city that doesn't often see grassroots campaigns — contacting, by her count, 9,500 voters by phone or in-person.

"Lisa and I ran on being positive and forward-thinking and really talking about the issues and hope and change for a better Palm Springs," she said.

Middleton spoke of friends who moved here in the early 1970's and encountered poll workers who'd never met Democrats. In the last election, Hillary Clinton received more than 70 percent of the vote.

“There’s been a shift in Palm Springs from a red city to a purple city and now to a blue city,” she noted.

On Wednesday morning, Steve Kelly, a Cathedral City-based blogger and radio host, sparked debate on Facebook when he asked whether, ironically, the victories of two candidates backed by the city's nouveau elite made 2017 a "conservative" election.

"Like it or not," one person said, "we have the most diverse council in the history of Palm Springs." To which another replied: "And yet still no Latino or Black to represent the unspoken-of residents of Demuth Park or Desert Highland Estates."

Compared to the rest of the county, the makeup of the Palm Springs City Council is undoubtedly unique, but the fact remains that its members are all white. Four are bona fide progressives and one is a self-described moderate.

READ MORE: Middleton: 'This isn't a city that tolerates diversity. This is a city that celebrates diversity'

Mayor Rob Moon has often found himself on the losing side of 3-2 votes, along with outgoing Council member Chris Mills, but he declined on Wednesday to say whether he envisions being the lone no-vote on certain decisions.

Moon has objected to the council taking stands of national issues, as it did in June 2017, by casting support for the United States staying in the Paris climate agreement. “I don’t like using the dais as a platform for personal political posturing,” he said.

Of course, the majority of the topics that come before the council — such as street repairs and pedestrian safety improvements — aren’t inherently partisan.

“I will have no shortage of work to do on the basic, fundamental services of this city,” Middleton said.

As a millennial and attorney, Holstege said, she'll bring a different perspective to the board simply because of her age and training. She seems more partial, for instance, to allowing Uber and Lyft to pick up passengers directly at the airport.

"I ran to bring my own independent voice," she said.

Kors echoed the sentiment, noting occasions in which he's disagreed with his colleagues and saying the addition of Middleton and Holstege would continue the thoughtful discussion and debate the council has enjoyed of late.

"And that's a great way to govern, when people listen to each other, disagree, but come to a compromise while voting their conscience, and they're totally good with each other after," he said. "It's a policy difference, not a personal difference."

Although the election of an all LGBT council was years in the making, many observers were quick to credit President Trump with boosting the chances of progressives and sinking Republican Henry Hampton's campaign.

READ MORE: Palm Springs declares: Trump is undermining the fight against climate change

“Henry got caught up in the post-Trump election,” said Vic Yepello, an openly gay Democrat and Hampton supporter. “If this had happened four years ago or eight years ago or 12 years ago, he would have sailed in without a problem.”

Yepello, a real estate agent who’s worked with Hampton, said he liked the candidate's liberal views on LGBT matters and his stance on vacation rentals and more. He also liked the way Hampton talked about pulling back on city spending and thought the council could use some additional checks and balances.

In the end, Hampton chose not to distance himself from his party, and the outcome is a lesson to other Republican candidates looking to run in Palm Springs.

“In my humble opinion, they had better first become an independent,” Yepello said.

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Hampton’s poor showing appears to have been a sign that the GOP, with council member Chris Mills stepping down in December, is giving up on the city. There are 5,436 registered Republicans in Palm Springs, but only 2,527 — some of whom were Democrats — had cast ballots in Hampton's favor.

So why didn't conservatives show up?

"I’m wondering the same thing," said Don Genhart, a former president of the Sun City Palm Desert Republican Club who marched with Hampton in the recent pride parade. “It’s really sad. If they turned out, he probably would have won.”

Genhart gave high-marks, however, to Middleton and Holstege. “I think the two women who got elected will do some good, though. They seem very knowledgeable," he said.

Hampton also credited Middleton and Holstege for running well-organized campaigns that effectively reached voters and said Kors had been similarly well-prepared — and funded — in 2015. He didn't believe, however, that the criticism he received for being a registered Republican was a deciding factor in the election.

“I had a core group of supporters out there. They were going to vote for me no matter what,” he said.

Hampton was planning to spend the upcoming weekend hiking and attending a NASCAR race in Phoenix.

Corinne Kennedy contributed to this article.

Reach the reporters at jesse.marx@desertsun.com or barrett.newkirk@desertsun.com.