Venton Jones, who is Black, gay and living with HIV, won his race for Texas State Legislature. He’ll serve as the representative for House District 100, which includes parts of Dallas and Dallas County.

He posted the following announcement on Facebook:

“Thank you to the voters of House District 100 for electing me as the next State Representative for House District 100. When I first started this race 330 days ago, I ran to serve the community that gave everything for my story to be possible.

“Growing up as a Black, gay and HIV-positive man from Oak Cliff, I never would have thought I would be able to serve my community in this capacity...EVER. The faith that my community put in me to serve is something that I never took lightly, and it will be the fuel that will drive my fight to represent the people of HD 100 in Austin.

“Special thanks to my team, my family and anyone that helped make this win possible.

“Now the work begins. I look forward to serving HD 100 and the State of Texas during the 88th Legislative Session. Let’s do this work and work hard to put COMMUNITY FIRST!”

According to a press release, Jones won with about 85% of the vote. Jones will be formally inaugurated on January 10 at the Texas State Capitol in Austin.

He will be one of the first openly gay Black men to serve in the state legislature. Jones will be the only Black state legislator openly living with HIV in the United States.