This was a record-shattering year for LGBTQ+ candidates for political office. But Elliot Imse can’t help but think of the candidates who never ran.

Two hundred candidates endorsed by the LGBTQ Victory Fund, which works to increase the number of queer elected officials, won this November, while 29 other races are still undecided.

Still, many of those candidates faced an ugly reality: Being an out LGBTQ+ person seeking office in the United States makes you a prime target for discriminatory attacks.

“This year, we saw a dramatic increase in the number of homophobic and transphobic attacks on our candidates compared to anything we’ve seen in the last few cycles,” Imse, the senior director of communications for the Victory Fund, said. “And not only were they more frequent, but more blatant than we’ve seen in the last few cycles.”

Across the nation, LGBTQ+ candidates confronted ads that demonized them, playing on decades-old stereotypes that queer people are sexual predators and pedophiles — outsiders in the communities they seek to represent. Read more via The 19th*