Victory Fund helps 71 candidates win across the U.S.

Wed, Nov 5th 2008, 10:33

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

Washington, D.C.—Dozens of openly lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender candidates won election to public offices across the U.S. on Tuesday, according to the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund.  The group, which endorsed a record-breaking 111 candidates in 2008, said more than 70 percent of its endorsed candidates had won their races by early Wednesday. 

“This was a watershed election.  Our government became more representative and our democracy became stronger.  As  we near the 30th anniversary of the death of Harvey Milk, it’s enormously gratifying to see his dream realized in so many brave men and women heeding the call to run for office, and doing so openly, honestly and unafraid,” said Chuck Wolfe, president and CEO of the Victory Fund. 

Milk, a San Francisco Supervisor who was one of the first openly gay elected officials in the U.S., was shot to death in San Francisco City Hall in November 1978.  Milk urged his contemporaries to embrace the power of electoral politics as a path to change.

Among the winners in 2008:

• Jared Polis of Colorado became the first openly gay man elected to the U.S. Congress as a non-incumbent.  He joins Rep. Barney Frank and Rep. Tammy Baldwin, both reelected Tuesday night, as the only openly LGBT Members of Congress. 
• Kate Brown became the first openly LGBT Secretary of State in the U.S., and the second-highest ranking elected official in the state of Oregon.  Brown is openly bisexual.
• Sam Adams was elected mayor of Portland, Oregon earlier in the year.  He will become the first openly gay mayor of one of the 30 largest U.S. cities when he’s sworn in next year.
• Jason Bartlett, who came out as gay in his current term, was reelected to the Connecticut State House.  He is only the second openly gay African-American state legislator in the nation.
• Thomas Robichaux and Seth Bloom, both gay men, simultaneously became the first-ever openly LGBT elected officials in the state of Louisiana when they were elected to the Orleans Parish School Board in an October primary.
• John Perez became the first openly gay person of color elected to the California Assembly.
• Lupe Valdez was reelected to a second term as sheriff of Dallas County, Texas.  First elected in 2004, Valdez was the first woman, the first Latina and the first out lesbian ever to win the post.
• Kevin Beckner won a seat on the Hillsborough County Commission in Florida, unseating an anti-gay incumbent and becoming the first openly gay man elected in the county.
• Rebecca Kaplan will be the first out lesbian to serve on the Oakland, Calif. City Council after winning her race Tuesday.

In the closing days of the election season Victory Fund candidates in Michigan, Oklahoma, South Carolina and elsewhere were subject to gay-baiting political attacks. 

“This election was an affirmation of the African-American civil rights movement that is more than a century old.  The LGBT movement is much younger, and it’s clear we still have much work to do to win true equality.  The politics of fear and bigotry are not yet behind us, and we saw some heartbreaking examples of that in this election.  On a day that demonstrated Americans’ commitment to inclusivity and equality, the sabotage of several openly LGBT candidates and the devastating outcomes of three statewide marriage bans were disappointingly inconsistent.  I am confident that history will give us an opportunity to right those wrongs as we continue the journey toward full equality for all Americans,” Wolfe said.

• In Oklahoma, Corporation Commissioner Jim Roth was narrowly defeated in a statewide race after last-minute attack ads and mailers suggested he would push a “homosexual agenda” in his role as a regulator of the state’s energy industry.
• Garnet Lewis, who was seeking a seat in the Michigan State House, was subject to an onslaught of anti-gay attacks in print and radio media outlets during the final week of her campaign.  She lost her race.

Full election results are available at www.victoryfund.org.  Visit www.GayPolitics.com for information gathered from campaigns throughout the election season.

The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund works to grow the number of openly lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender elected officials at all levels of government.  At its founding in 1991, just 49 openly LGBT elected officials served in the U.S.  Today, that number has grown to more than 420.

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Below, see our election scorecard for 2008. Some of these races may change, as they are too close to call. A dot indicates the candidate won.

 

Congressional
•	CO	Jared Polis	US House of Reps, CO-2
•	MA	Barney Frank	US House of Reps, MA-4
	SC	Linda Ketner	US House of Reps, SC-1
•	WI	Tammy Baldwin	US House of Reps, WI-04
Statewide
	DE	John Brady	Insurance Commissioner
	OK	Jim Roth	Corporation Commissioner
•	OR	Kate Brown	Secretary of State
State Legislative
•	AR	Kathy Webb	State Representative, AR
•	AZ	Kyrsten Sinema	State Representative, Dist. 15
•	AZ	Matt Heinz	State Representative, Dist 29
	CA	Greg Pettis	State Assembly, Dist 80
	CA	Laurette Healey	State Assembly, Dist. 40
	CA	Kriss Worthington	State Assembly, District 14
•	CA	Christine Kehoe	State Senate, Dist. 39
•	CA	Tom Ammiano	State Assembly, Dist. 13
•	CA	John Perez	State Assembly, Dist 46
•	CA	Mark Leno	State Senate, Dist 3
	CA	Christopher Cabaldon	State Assembly, Dist. 8
•	CO	Sue Schafer	State Representative, Dist 24
•	CO	Mark Ferrandino	State Representative, Dist. 2
•	CT	Beth Bye	State Representative, Dist 19
•	CT	Mike Lawlor	State Representative, District 99
•	CT	Jason Bartlett	State Representative, Dist 2
	FL	Mark LaFontaine	State House, District 92
	GA	Keisha Waites	State House, Dist 61
•	Guam	Benjamin Cruz	Senator At-Large
•	ID	Nicole LeFavour	State Senate, Dist 19
•	IL	Deborah Mell	State Representative, Dist 40
•	IL	Greg Harris	State Representative, Dist 13
	KS	Inga Taylor	State Representative, Dist 84
•	MA	Carl Sciortino	State Representative, District 34
•	MA	Sarah Peake	State Representative, Dist 4
•	MA	Cheryl Rivera	State Representative, 10th Hampden District
	MA	Sara Orozco	State Senate
•	MA	Kate Hogan	State Representative, Dist 3rd Middlesex
•	ME	Larry Bliss	State Senate, Dist 7
	MI	L. Garnet Lewis	State Representative, Dist. 98
•	MO	Michael Colona	State Representative,MO
•	MO	Jeanette Mott-Oxford	State Representative, Dist 59
•	MT	Christine Kaufmann	State Senate Dist 41
•	NC	Julia Boseman	State Senate, Dist 9
•	NH	Ed Butler	State Representative, Dist Carroll County 1
•	NH	David Pierce	State Representative, District 9
•	NH	Jim Splaine	State Representative, Dist 16
	NM	Victor Raigoza	State Senate 10-NM
	NV	Andrew Martin	State Representative, Dist 13
•	NV	David Parks	State Senate, District 7
•	NY	Micah Kellner	State Assembly, Dist 65
•	NY	Thomas Duane	State Senate, Dist. 29
•	NY	Matthew Titone	State Assembly, Dist 61
•	NY	Danny O'Donnell	State Assembly, District 69
•	OK	Al McAffrey	State Legislature, Dist 88
	PA	Kevin Lee	State Representative, Dist 163
	PA	Fern Kaufman	State Representative, Dist 26
•	RI	Frank Ferri	State Representative
	SD	Gregory Kniffen	State House, Dist. 12
	TX	Brian Thompson	House of Reps, Dist 46
•	UT	Christine Johnson	State Representative, Dist. 25
•	UT	Jackie Biskupski	State Representative, Dist 30
•	VT	Jason Lorber	State Representative, District Chittenden 3-3
•	VT	Edward Flanagan	State Senate
•	WA	Joe McDermott	State Senate, Dist. 34
•	WA	Marko Liias	State House, Dist 21
•	WA	Jamie Pedersen	State House, Dist 43
Municipal/County
•	CA	David Roberts	Mayor, Solana Beach
	CA	Maddy Hirshfield	Sonoma County Supervisor
•	CA	Rebecca Kaplan	Oakland City Council, At-Large
•	CA	Jamie McLeod	Santa Clara City Council
•	CA	Darryl Moore	Berkeley City Council, District 2
	CA	John Karczynski	Anaheim City Council, At-Large
	CA	Christopher Clark	Mountain View City Council
•	CA	Christopher Cabaldon	West Sacramento Mayor
•	DC	Jack Jacobson	Area Neighborhood Commissioner
•	DE	Dennis Barbour	Rehoboth Beach City Commissioner
•	FL	Heather Carruthers	Monroe County Commission, Dist 3
•	FL	Kevin Beckner	Hillsborough County Commission
•	MI	Sandi Smith	Ann Arbor City Council
•	MI	Dave Coulter	Oakland County Commission
•	MT	Aaron Kampfe	Red Lodge MT City Council At-Large
•	NJ	Ed Zipprich	Red Bank City Council
•	NJ	John Kashwick	Closter City Council, At-Large
•	NJ	Bruce Harris	Chatham Borough Council
•	NY	Bill Hanauer	Mayor, Village of Ossing
•	NY	Janis Castaldi	Village Trustee, Ossing
•	OR	Sam Adams	Portland Mayor
•	OR	Rick Brissette	Lincoln City Council
	TX	Glen Maxey	Travis County Tax Assessor Collector
•	TX	Lupe Valdez	Sheriff, Dallas County
•	TX	Randi Shade	Austin City Council, Place 3
	TX	Justin Nichols	Plano City Council - Place 1
•	VA	Lawrence Webb	Falls Church City Council At-Large
	WI	Patrick Flaherty	Milwaukee Common Council, Dist 3
School Board
	CA	Dwayne Crenshaw	San Diego Community College BOT
	CA	Greg Rodriguez	Palm Springs Unified School District Board of Education
•	CA	John Lindner	Franklin-McKinley School District Board of Education
•	CA	Sarah Gonzales	Hayward Unified School District
•	LA	Thomas Robichaux	Orleans Parish School Board, Dist 7
•	MN	Carla Bates	Minneapolis School Board
Judicial
	AR	Gary Sullivan	Little Rock District Court
•	AR	Alice Lightle	Little Rock District Court
•	CA	Gary Haehnle	San Diego Superior Court, Seat #19
	CA	Victoria Kolakowski	Alameda County Superior Court Judge
•	FL	Victoria Sigler	Circuit Court Judge
•	IL	Sebastian Patti	Circuit Court of Cook County, Judge
	NC	John Arrowood	Judge, NC Court of Appeals
•	NY	Frank Nervo	N.Y. County, 1st Municipal Court District
•	OH	Mary Wiseman	Montgomery County Common Pleas Court
•	TX	Steve Kirkland	Judge, 215th District Court
	TX	Andres Pereira	Judge, 190th Civil District Court
•	TX	Rosemary Lehmberg	Travis County District Attorney
	WA	Jean Rietschel	King County Superior Court, Position No 37