Jared Polis Wins CO Congressional Primary

Jim Burroway

August 13th, 2008

We’ve had so many “firsts” in the past decade or so that it now takes a lot more words to distinguish each new first from the one before. So here goes.

According to the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, Jared Polis of Colorado will likely become the first openly gay man to be elected to the U.S. Congress as a non-incumbent. (Tammy Baldwin was the first out candidate to do this back in 1998.) Polis won the Democratic primary last night for Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. As the Democratic nominee in an overwhelmingly Democratic district, Polis is nearly certain to win the seat in November.

This is further evidence of mainstreaming of gays and lesbians in middle America. While many who consider themselves progressives dismiss the “flyover states” as backwards and homophobic, voters in Wisconsin and Colorado have demonstrated that they have no problem with electing an openly gay person to fill a seat in Congress.

Trevor

August 13th, 2008

Wonderful. Now if we could just exorcise Marilyn Musgrave from Colorado and give Obana (*shudder*) Colorado’s electoral votes we may get somewhere.

Michael Ditto

August 13th, 2008

Jared and I have been friends since we were 20 years old (our birthdays are just a couple weeks apart, though I take some pleasure in knowing he’ll always be older than I am!).

He’s a great guy…highly motivated, ambitious, conniving, scrappy, selfless, ruthless, and well-connected.

He’ll be a great representative for my mom who lives in his district (I live in Diana DeGette’s district), and though his predecessor Mark Udall’s shoes will be tough to fill, Jared will do a great job.

Now we just have to work ourselves to the bone to make sure Mark Udall wins Wayne Allard’s Senate seat and Colorado will be a far friendlier place for GLBT Americans.

L. Junius Brutus

August 13th, 2008

I welcome this, but he’s a bit too radical for my taste. Ironically, this is Pat Schroder’s old seat, if you remember, one of the persons who caused the demise of the Freedom of Choice Act, because it didn’t go far enough. I sympathize with that goal, but you’ve got to grab what you can get and not hold out for the impossible.

Michael Ditto

August 13th, 2008

Actually that’s incorrect, if you’ll look at my previous comment. This is not Pat Schroeder’s old seat, it is Mark Udall’s old seat. Diana DeGette holds Pat Schroeder’s old seat.

And Pat Schroeder wrote the Freedom of Choice Act and was an original cosponsor. She also wrote the Family and Medical Leave Act. She is a solid, accomplished liberal, but is no radical. So I’m not sure what you’re talking about there.

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