News
9 races to watch as gays run for Congress
Baldwin seeks to become first openly gay senator
U.S. Representative Tammy Baldwin (D—Wisc.) is in a tight race against her state’s former governor, Tommy Thompson, for the state’s seat in the U.S. Senate. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
A record number of openly gay candidates running for Congress will face their critical test on Tuesday as many — including U.S. Senate candidate Tammy Baldwin — are seeing polls tighten as Election Day approaches.
HOW DO BARACK OBAMA AND MITT ROMNEY COMPARE ON LGBT ISSUES?
A total of nine openly gay, lesbian and bisexual candidates are seeking office in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate. With the retirement of gay Rep. Barney Frank, openly LGBT representation in Congress will look very different after next week.
Baldwin’s race is the most high-profile among these candidates because she’d be the first openly gay person elected to the U.S. Senate and the outcome of the race against Republican former Gov. Tommy Thompson may determine which party controls the chamber after the election.
Denis Dison, a spokesperson for the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, said all eyes will be on the race because — following the spike in polls that Baldwin enjoyed after her speech at the Democratic National Convention — the contest has become increasingly high-profile and competitive due to spending from outside conservative groups.
“I know groups like Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS and Americans for Prosperity — also the U.S. Chamber [of Commerce] — I think the total amount is about $13 million they have spent on ads attacking Tammy,” Dison said. “That has caused the race to get very close.”
N.H. MARRIAGE EQUALITY AT STAKE IN GUBERNATORIAL RACE
For her part, Baldwin made public on Oct. 30 her closing TV ad showing workers and families as well as footage of her campaigning with former President Bill Clinton.
“One big difference between Tammy Baldwin and Tommy Thompson is that she stood up to the special interests, and he’s stood up for them,” Clinton says in a voice over. “If you put people first, it works better than trickle-down economics.”
Another race that will be closely watched is Massachusetts’ 9th congressional district — where gay Republican challenger Richard Tisei seems poised to beat Democratic incumbent Rep. John Tierney.
WHERE ARE YOU WATCHING ELECTION NIGHT?
New York’s 18th congressional district is another race of interest to the LGBT community. Gay Democrat Sean Patrick Maloney is seeking to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Nan Hayworth, who has a pro-LGBT record in Congress and the backing of gay conservative groups.
In a statement to the Washington Blade, Maloney said the LGBT community should rally behind him because Hayworth has aligned herself with conservative groups.
“Tea Party Congresswoman Nan Hayworth doesn’t believe that my family is equal to hers or that members of the LGBT community deserve equal protection under the law,” Maloney said. “I think folks around the country, LGBT and otherwise, are tired of this extreme ideology.”
9 gay candidates to watch this election day
Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
REP. TAMMY BALDWIN
Race: U.S. Senate seat in Wisconsin
Opponent: Republican former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson
Significance: Baldwin, a Democrat, would be first openly gay person elected to the U.S. Senate.
Polls: 10/28 Rasmussen Reports — Thompson 48, Baldwin, 47; 10/22 Mason-Dixon — Baldwin 47, Thompson, 45.
Richard Tisei (Photo courtesy of Tisei campaign)
RICHARD TISEI
Race: U.S. House seat in Massachusetts, District 6
Opponent: Incumbent Democrat U.S. Rep. John Tierney
Significance: Tisei would be the first openly gay Republican elected to Congress as a non-incumbent and the only out Republican serving on Capitol Hill.
Polls: 10/1 Boston Globe — Tisei 37, Tierney 31.
Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
REP. DAVID CICILLINE
Race: U.S. House seat in Rhode Island, District 1
Opponent: Republican challenger Brendan Doherty
Significance: Cicilline, a Democrat, is pursuing his first re-election effort since becoming the fourth sitting openly gay member of Congress in 2010.
Polls: 10/10 Brown University — Cicilline 46, Doherty 40.
Sean Patrick Maloney (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
SEAN PATRICK MALONEY
Race: U.S. House seat in New York, District 18
Opponent: Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Nan Hayworth
Significance: Maloney, a Democrat, would be the first openly gay member of Congress from New York State.
Polls: 10/19 Siena College — Hayworth 49, Maloney 42.
O’MALLEY : MD MARRIAGE CAMPAIGN ‘IN GOOD SHAPE’
Mark Pocan (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
MARK POCAN
Race: U.S. House seat in Wisconsin, District 2
Opponent: Republican candidate Chad Lee
Significance: Pocan would replace Baldwin in the U.S. House.
Polls: The district is widely considered a Democratic safe seat and Pocan is expected to win.
Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
REP. JARED POLIS
Race: U.S. House seat in Colorado, District 2
Opponent: Republican challenger Susan Hall
Significance: Polis is set to become the most senior openly gay member of the U.S. House.
Polls: The district is widely considered a Democratic safe seat and Polis is expected to win re-election.
Kyrsten Sinema (Photo courtesy of Sinema campaign)
KYRSTEN SINEMA
Race: U.S. House seat in Arizona, District 9
Opponent: Republican candidate Vernon Parker
Significance: Sinema, a Democrat, would be the first openly bisexual person elected to Congress.
Polls: 10/16 Summit Consulting Group —Parker 44, Sinema 42.
Mark Takano (Photo courtesy of Takano campaign)
MARK TAKANO
Race: U.S. House seat in California, District 41
Opponent: Republican candidate John Tavaglione
Significance: Takano, a Japanese-American Democrat, would be the first openly gay person of color elected to Congress.
Polls: 8/21 EMC Research — Takano 42, Tavaglione 38
GAY DELAWARE STATE SENATE CANDIDATES POISED TO MAKE HISTORY
Nicole LeFavour (Photo courtesy of LeFavour campaign)
NICOLE LEFAVOUR
Race: U.S. House seat in Idaho, District 2
Opponent: Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson
Significance: LeFavour, a Democrat, isn’t endorsed by the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund.
Polls: The district is widely considered a Republican safe seat and Simpson is expected to win.
Virginia
Va. Senate committee approves resolution to repeal marriage amendment
Outgoing state Sen. Adam Ebbin introduced SJ3
The Virginia Senate Privileges and Elections Committee on Wednesday by a 10-4 vote margin approved a resolution that seeks to repeal a state constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
Outgoing state Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) introduced SJ3.
Same-sex couples have been able to legally marry in Virginia since 2014. Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin in 2024 signed a bill that codified marriage equality in state law.
A resolution that seeks to repeal the Marshall-Newman Amendment passed in the General Assembly in 2021. The resolution passed again in 2025.
Two successive legislatures must approve the resolution before it can go to the ballot. Democrats in the Virginia House of Delegates have said the resolution’s passage is among their 2026 legislative priorities.
Iran
Grenell: ‘Real hope’ for gay rights in Iran as result of nationwide protests
Former ambassador to Germany claimed he has sneaked ‘gays and lesbians out of’ country
Richard Grenell, the presidential envoy for special missions of the United States, said on X on Tuesday that he has helped “sneak gays and lesbians out of Iran” and is seeing a change in attitudes in the country.
The post, which now has more than 25,000 likes since its uploading, claims that attitudes toward gays and lesbians are shifting amid massive economic protests across the country.
“For the first time EVER, someone has said ‘I want to wait just a bit,” the former U.S. ambassador to Germany wrote. “There is real hope coming from the inside. I don’t think you can stop this now.”
Grenell has been a longtime supporter of the president.
“Richard Grenell is a fabulous person, A STAR,” Trump posted on Truth Social days before his official appointment to the ambassador role. “He will be someplace, high up! DJT”
Iran, which is experiencing demonstrations across all 31 provinces of the country — including in Tehran, the capital — started as a result of a financial crisis causing the collapse of its national currency. Time magazine credits this uprising after the U.N. re-imposed sanctions in September over the country’s pursuit of nuclear weapons.
As basic necessities like bread, rice, meat, and medical supplies become increasingly unaffordable to the majority of the more than 90 million people living there, citizens took to the streets to push back against Iran’s theocratic regime.
Grenell, who was made president and executive director of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts last year by Trump, believes that people in the majority Shiite Muslim country are also beginning to protest human rights abuses.
Iran is among only a handful of countries in which consensual same-sex sexual relations remain punishable by death, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Virginia
Mark Levine loses race to succeed Adam Ebbin in ‘firehouse’ Democratic primary
State Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker won with 70.6 percent of vote
Gay former Virginia House of Delegates member Mark Levine (D-Alexandria) lost his race to become the Democratic nominee to replace gay state Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) in a Jan. 13 “firehouse” Democratic primary.
Levine finished in second place in the hastily called primary, receiving 807 votes or 17.4 percent. The winner in the four-candidate race, state Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker, who was endorsed by both Ebbin and Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger received 3,281 votes or 70.6 percent.
Ebbin, whose 39th Senate District includes Alexandria and parts of Arlington and Fairfax Counties, announced on Jan. 7 that he was resigning effective Feb. 18, to take a job in the Spanberger administration as senior advisor at the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority.
Results of the Jan. 13 primary, which was called by Democratic Party leaders in Alexandria, Arlington, and Fairfax, show that candidates Charles Sumpter, a World Wildlife Fund director, finished in third place with 321 voters or 6.9 percent; and Amy Jackson, the former Alexandria vice mayor, finished in fourth place with 238 votes or 5.1 percent.
Bennett-Parker, who LGBTQ community advocates consider a committed LGBTQ ally, will now compete as the Democratic nominee in a Feb. 10 special election in which registered voters in the 39th District of all political parties and independents will select Ebbin’s replacement in the state senate.
The Alexandria publication ALX Now reports that local realtor Julie Robben Linebery has been selected by the Alexandria Republican City Committee to be the GOP candidate to compete in the Jan. 10 special election. According to ALX Now, Lineberry was the only application to run in a now cancelled special party caucus type event initially called to select the GOP nominees.
It couldn’t immediately be determined if an independent or other party candidate planned to run in the special election.
Bennett-Parker is considered the strong favorite to win the Feb. 10 special election in the heavily Democratic 39th District, where Democrat Ebbin has served as senator since 2012.
Va. Senate committee approves resolution to repeal marriage amendment
Rise of Chalamet continues in ‘Marty Supreme’
Zach Wahls stood up for us, now let’s stand with him
Grenell: ‘Real hope’ for gay rights in Iran as result of nationwide protests
Rollback of health IT standards will harm LGBTQ patients
Ford’s ‘First Look’ festival showcases three new productions
Mid-Atlantic Leather kicks off this week
PHOTOS: ‘ICE Out For Good’ Sunday protests
Mark Levine running in ‘firehouse’ Democratic primary to succeed Adam Ebbin
