Jesse Marx and Barrett Newkirk

The (Palm Springs, Calif.) Desert Sun

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — 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.

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"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."

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 elected in 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."

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 1970s and encountered poll workers who'd never met Democrats. In the last election, Hillary Clinton received more than 70% 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.

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.

Contributing: Corinne Kennedy, The (Palm Springs, Calif.) Desert Sun. Follow Jesse Marx and Barrett Newkirk on Twitter: @marxjesse and @barrettnewkirk