October 22 2025, 08:15 
Dakarai Larriett is not your conventional candidate for the U.S. Senate, least of all from Alabama.
The gay, Black 43-year-old entrepreneur and community activist founded a pet aromatherapy business, studied dance at a progressive high school in Birmingham, champions the rights of trans people in the Cotton State, and embraces his ghost sightings as a gift.
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Rep. Eric Sorensen lost a job for being gay. It made him a “better person” & now he’s in Congress.
He’s also sunny, charming, and attractive, and has surrounded himself with an experienced team of political veterans in his campaign for U.S. Senator from Alabama. If his prediction of a blue wave in 2026 holds true, he might just have a chance against the hardcore, law & order MAGA Republican he’ll likely face next fall.
The candidate also carries the burden of what he calls an unlawful
Larriett recently spoke to LGBTQ Nation from his home office in the Loft District in Birmingham.
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LGBTQ Nation: You’re a successful business owner with an MBA from NYU and a stellar resume at major corporations, and you’re young with lots of options to make your mark in the future. Why wade into politics for the first time at maybe the most combative time in modern American history?
Dakarai Larriett: You know, it was a calling that came from my false arrest last year, and I knew this was the moment.
Because so many people are resonating with the story, and it’s happened to so many people, where they felt like the government was not working for them, and I decided that, with everything happening and with what I believe will be a blue wave in 2026, it was time for Alabama to have a new voice.
Let’s talk about your case and your appeal. You were arrested in Michigan last year on suspicion of driving under the influence — you weren’t, as seven field sobriety tests and a blood sample showed. Among other humiliating things, you were forced to defecate in front of officers to prove you weren’t concealing drugs.
You sued over your treatment, but the judge threw out your case “without prejudice,” basically saying that the officers were just doing their jobs. How weren’t they doing their jobs, and what do you believe was the motivation for your treatment?
This is why we have to repeal and completely eliminate “qualified immunity.”
What the police did was edit and redact the video from the night, present that to the judge, and then the judge took their picture of the evening and turned it into a summary judgment. That’s where we are.
Even from the video that they shared with the judge, there were glaring violations, including mocking my name. I was called “Daiquiri.” “I hope you’re not drinking Daiquiris.” One trooper called me that with this very embarrassing, humiliating accent. And throughout the night, I was taunted and slurred.
One of the key issues was all these comments about “fruity.” “It smells fruity in here.” There was no alcohol involved. I was sober. The officer clearly made that up, “smelling fruity.”
A segment in the video has about three minutes when the trooper is searching through his vehicle and mentions that he couldn’t find his “stash.” He was clearly attempting to plant in my vehicle.
And a night or two after the incident, we found the trooper’s social media, and that ultimately was part of the lawsuit. It revealed years and years of homophobic, transphobic, misogynistic, and racist posts, and it just solidified that this was a bigoted person. And essentially, they spun their side of the story, and the judge was able to look the other way.
How hopeful are you about your appeal?
I’m very confident. Clearly, there’s a racket happening there in that state. This was a criminal operation, and they are protecting the state police. They’ll make the right decision and give us our day in court.
Did anyone in particular inspire you to declare for U.S. senator from Alabama?
If I think about the key person that inspired me, sadly, it was Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and her lack of action.
I voted for her when I lived in Michigan, and was quite inspired by her leadership, but I had three meetings with her office about my matter. The head of the Michigan State Police is appointed by her. They report to her, and she refused to take any action or accountability, and basically said they had no jurisdiction over the matter.
And I even went up to Attorney General Dana Nessel, an openly lesbian, progressive leader within the state of Michigan — no response, and on and on and on. No one took accountability. So seeing the inaction of our leaders, leaders that I admired and voted for, inspired me to do my own run.
Do you consider yourself a one-issue candidate?
Well, that is the spark that inspired me to run. But when I think about this role, it’s about being an advocate for the people and listening. It’s a service, and I’ve done 20 years of service in the community, both volunteering and serving on boards, so it’s really the same thing.
The role is critically important, and we need to have the right people that are going to challenge the status quo.
How big a role does your LGBTQ+ identity play in your campaign strategy?
Well, you know, initially, the team wanted to be very muted about it. And given the history here in Alabama, that was somewhat understandable.
But in terms of the actual role, per se, it’s a different life experience that needs to be valued, and it brings an empathy that I don’t see from some of my opponents, especially Steve Marshall, the attorney general, who’s running on the Republican ticket. He’s constantly attacking our trans community. If it’s not bathroom bans, it’s representation in books and media, or gender-affirming care. It really is about being able to challenge situations in which minorities are not being treated fairly, and bringing a new sensitivity to government.
I am so touched that on our biggest single day of fundraising, we raised $5,500 with what I like to call my “coming out text.” I was a little apprehensive at first, and it was just phenomenal. It was our single biggest day ever. So we’re really turning this into a national campaign. That’s how you win statewide elections.
When I last checked, there’s no mention of you being gay on your campaign website. Why is that?
If you take a look at my blog section, I talk quite a bit about it. So we’re 100% out, and that’s something, as I mentioned before, the team originally discouraged. But in the end, I think it makes the most sense to be fully transparent and to lead with those things that we ultimately will be attacked on.
If you win the Democratic nomination next summer, as you mentioned, you’ll likely face Alabama’s current attorney general, Steve Marshall. Marshall is a hardcore MAGA loyalist who denied that President Biden was duly elected; sent robocalls to “Stop the Steal” protesters to converge on the Capitol; sued the mayor of Birmingham over his protest of a Confederate Memorial in the city; and has that argued that people or groups who assist women leaving Alabama for an abortion, where it’s outlawed, should be legally prosecuted. Where do you start to go after a guy like Marshall?
Well, an interesting thing about our state is we profess to be Christian in our faith. Something like 73% of us are people of faith here. So we’re going to really level with Alabamians that these policies are misaligned with our values, and I especially have to go back to the demonization of the trans community.
These are people who just want to live a normal life of dignity and respect, and they deserve that. And I will always fight for our community and every minority community to be treated with respect. All communities deserve respect.
A recent Alabama Public Library Service proposal would force libraries to pull works featuring “positive depictions” of trans people from their shelves. Why should elected officials and their state bureaucrat enforcers decide what’s appropriate to include in library collections? Are Alabamians too dumb to decide what to read?
This is, again, another overreach within the state and an attack on free speech. And again, trans individuals exist. They exist and deserve dignity and respect and representation. So that’s something that I’m already speaking out against, and certainly will as senator.
You grew up in a family of Jehovah’s Witnesses, but you also attended progressive schools in Birmingham. How did that dichotomy shape your character?
It was really interesting because the weekends and the church nights were filled with Bible study and dressing up and proselytizing, and then at school, I was able to start to see a little bit of acceptance in a way that I would not have at home. And I think that made it ultimately easier to come out.
When did you realize that you were gay?
I knew that I was different in middle school, but in terms of actually having the words to describe it and to know for sure, that happened after doing a summer internship in New York and actually getting to see that there are successful, happy, gay people living their lives outside of the bubble that I was raised in here in Alabama.
What was your family’s reaction to your coming out?
Well, my mom said she suspected it, and my dad said you’re going to get AIDS and die. And that was sort of the beginning of an impasse that lasted for a couple years.
Ultimately, it thawed a bit when I came home for my grandfather’s funeral and brought my boyfriend with me. From there, it was sort of like the whole family and extended family saw him and me together in our dynamic, and it was probably the easiest way to come out, because you can’t really be homophobic when everyone’s grieving at the same time.
Do you have a partner now, or are you available? And what are you doing about it?
I am happily divorced, and I’m a dog dad, and not at all seeking a partner.
So were you married and then divorced?
Yes. Marriage equality has only been around for so long, so, yeah, it’s unusual to find somebody who’s also gone through the divorce process as well, right?
We’re still friends, but marriage was not in the cards for us.
I came across an interview you had with a conservative influencer named Jesse Lee Peterson.
(Laughing) Yes.
So, he is a Black for Trump, and he asked some rapid-fire questions, including, “Do we need more white babies?” “What is a man?” and “Have you ever seen a ghost?” You took it like a champ. Did you know what you were walking into with that interview, and was it a helpful initiation into the rough and tumble of campaign interviews?
(Laughing) It was a good initiation. So, Jesse is like a shock jock, and I looked at some of his interviews from before, but what I didn’t realize was, he warms you up for the first 10 minutes, and then he tries to basically get you to walk off. And those are the most popular interviews. So, yeah, after the 10-minute mark, he starts asking you more and more incendiary questions to trigger you. So that was — it was quite an experience, and I just treated him like a crazy uncle, you know?
But you were deferential.
You can be respectful with your crazy uncle.
You did say that you’ve seen two ghosts. So, our readers want to know: who were they?
One, I was in Ireland on St. Patrick’s Day, 2022, and I saw this weird stream of light in my photos after leaving the Blarney Stone Castle. And when I zoomed in, I saw the body and face of St. Patrick. So I’m talking about papal hats with the cross in it, eyes, nose, mouth, gown. It’s uncanny. And I literally — even when I look at it today — I get chills.
But I put it away, and I was like, I don’t want to be perceived as crazy. I spoke to my grandmother about the experience, and it was kind of a really interesting bonding moment, because then she admitted to me that, well, “You know what? In 1963, I saw a UFO.”
Who was that second ghost that you saw?
So that one, I’m so upset because I did not have my contacts in. I was literally taking my contacts out, and I saw an apparition pass me and exit through my hotel door. It was so dramatic that I threw on my glasses and ran into the hallway to see it, and it was gone by then.
Where was that sighting?
A hotel in Bangkok.
Okay, so you’ve had two overseas sightings.
Yes. And I’m starting to embrace them as a gift and not something to be embarrassed or ashamed about.
All right, last question. What’s the one thing you’re looking forward to most about representing Alabamians in the US Senate if you’re elected next November?
Being able to truly put people first.
I am not someone who is married to the idea that I need to be in the Senate for the next 80 years, you know? If I put people first, and those policies don’t get me reelected, so be it. It’s six quality years of service, of putting people first and investing in Alabama’s education, healthcare, and economic opportunity. Those are the issues that our polling and discussions show are most important, and that’s what we’re building this campaign about. So that’s what I want to do. I want to serve the community.
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