Perez among victorious in primary election

Wed, Jun 4th 2008, 09:01

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Denis Dison (202) 842-7308, denis.dison@victoryfund.org

Openly gay  California, Montana candidates win

 

California’s caucus of openly gay state legislators will likely gain at least two new faces after November’s general election, given results in primary voting Tuesday night.  Community activist John Perez won his primary to represent District 46 in the State Assembly and faces token opposition in November.  Perez would become the first openly gay person of color to serve in the Assembly.  Further north, San Francisco Supervisor Tom Ammiano took the Democratic nomination to fill the seat of Assemblymember Mark Leno, who was term limited.  Ammiano is the prohibitive favorite to win the seat this fall. 

 

Leno, meanwhile, won a hard fought primary campaign for a seat in the California Senate and is heavily favored to win this November.  He first won a seat in the Assembly in 2002, where he fought for civil rights for the LGBT community.  In recent sessions, Leno lead an effort to legalize marriage for same-sex couples, twice passing a historic bill only to have it vetoed by California’s governor.

 

In Montana, Sen. Christine Kaufmann won her Democratic primary to keep her seat in the Montana Senate.  Kauffman was appointed to the seat in 2007 after serving in the Montana State House for six years.  She is favored to win the general election this fall.

 

The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund backed Perez, Ammiano and Kaufmann.  It did not endorse Mark Leno because his race involved multiple openly gay candidates who were considered viable.

 

In other California races, Gary Haehnle won his race for a judgeship on the San Diego Superior Court and Dwayne Crenshaw won his primary for a seat on the San Diego Community College Board of Trustees.

 

The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund is the only national organization dedicated to increasing the number of openly gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender elected officials at all levels of government.  Since its founding in 1991, the Victory Fund has helped to grow the number of openly LGBT elected officials in the U.S. from 49 to more than 410.