Ft. Lauderdale just elected its first openly-gay mayor by a landslide
Ft. Lauderdale mayor-elect Dean Trantalis. Image via Trantalis' campaign Facebook.

On Tuesday, another consequential special election happened 1,100 miles away from Pennsylvania — and resulted in the election of a major Florida city's first openly-gay mayor.


Ft. Lauderdale county commissioner Dean Trantalis won the city's special mayoral election by more than 5,000 votes.

The election was called to replace the South Florida city's longtime mayor Jack Seilor, who in 2014 opposed a symbolic resolution in favor of gay marriage and last year took part in a prayer breakfast with a notoriously homophobic group.

Trantalis won 64 percent of the city's vote against Vice Mayor Bruce Roberts, who formerly served as the city's police chief.