Rep. Marcus Brandon (D-Guilford) is the first openly gay man elected to the legislature and the first to hold office in the House. He’s also the first openly gay and African-American candidate ever elected to a state-level office. Despite all these exciting “firsts,” the reality is that Brandon comes into his new job as a freshman in a party that has been relegated to a political minority after experiencing a dynasty-like chain of unbroken political authority for nearly a full century.