Grammatically Correct: The writer's essential guide to punctuation ...

PUNCTUATION
Put semicolons between all main elements in a series even if only
one of them contains internal commas. That is, be consistent: Don't
use a semicolon just in the one place where it seems to be needed,
and commas elsewhere.
The competition drew contestants from Georgia and Alabama in the
south; New York, New Hampshire and Connecticut in the northeast;
and Oregon in the northwest.
USE A SEMICOLON TO SEPARATE INDEPENDENT CLAUSES
THAT ARE LINKED BY CONJUNCTION-LIKE WORDS
Certain words and phrases act like conjunctions in that they establish
a relationship between clauses, but they are not conjunctions. (Actually,
they are categorized as adverbs, because they modify the words
they are associated with.) Their defining characteristic is that they
indicate a particular relationship between the information they belong
with and information elsewhere. A scan of the list below (which
is by no means complete) should make this trait clear.
accordingly for example instead otherwise
afterwards furthermore later preferably
also hence likewise rather
anyway however meantime similarly
as a result ideally meanwhile specifically
besides in brief moreover still
certainly in conclusion namely subsequently
consequently in contrast nevertheless that is to say
conversely in fact next then
currently in short nonetheless therefore
earlier in particular notwithstanding thus
eventually indeed on the other hand to wit
finally initially ordinarily understandably
Any of these words or phrases can act as an introductory element
to a clause, and many of them can also appear either embedded in
the middle as a parenthetical element or at the end as a concluding
element. In all these positions, they usually would be set off by
commas.
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