Gay congressional candidates - a record in 2004

Some call 1992 "The Year of the Woman."  I call 1998 The Year of the Queer.  Six openly gay candidates ran for Congress that year.  So far, 2004 beats even 1998.

Forget Clinton & Monica.  Fifteen years earlier, in 1983, Congressman Gerry Studds (D-MA) was forced out of the closet after it was discovered that he had had sex with a male page - 10 years earlier.  He was censured by Congress - as his colleagues read the censure, he stood in the House of Representatives and turned his back.  Later, he held a press conference with the page; they both pointed out that they were consenting adults acting in private, and it was nobody else's business.  Studds became a gay hero and served until 1997 (retiring just shy of The Year of the Queer).

In 1987, Barney Frank (D-MA) became the first congressman to come out on his own.  Both from Massachusetts, Studds and Frank served together as the only openly gay congressmen for almost a decade.

In 1996, Congressman Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) publicly acknowledge he is gay when he learned that the gay publication The Advocate was going to out him over his vote for the Defense of Marriage Act.  (The Advocate also outed Mark Foley (R-FL), who still has neither confirmed nor denied his homosexuality.  Both Kolbe and Foley still serve in Congress.)

Some will remember Michael Huffington, who served one term from 1993-1995.  But Huffington did not come out until after leaving Congress.

In 1998, we saw a record number of gay and lesbian candidates running for Congress.  In addition to Frank and Kolbe were the following:  Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Christine Kehoe (D-CA), Paul Barbry (D-OK) [Barbry had also run in 1996] and Grethe Cammermeyer (D-WA), the former Army colonel who successfully challenged discharge for being lesbian.  Tammy Baldwin became the first openly queer candidate to be out before being first elected to Congress (ok, poorly worded sentence, but you get the picture).  The others lost.

The year 2000 was another banner year, falling one short of the 6 candidates two years before.  In addition to the 3 incumbents, we had challengers Gerry Schipske (D-CA), Ed Flanagan (D-VT Senate).  Schipske lost by about 1700 votes; Flanagan garnered only 25% against Jeffords.

The year 2002 continued the trend.  We again had the three incumbents (Baldwin, Frank, Kolbe), plus Schipske's uphill battle against Dana Rohrbacher, Henry Perritt's (D-IL) ill-fated run against Mark Kirk.  (Only the incumbents won.)

This year promises to be another year of the Queer, with a record-breaking 7 candidates running, with 2 non-incumbents with good chances of winning seats.  We again have the 3 incumbents running.  Plus Jim Stork (D-FL), Tim Carpenter (D-WI), Cathy Woolard, who is running for Denise Majette's seat in Georgia, and Mike Evans (D-MO), running for Gephardt's district.

Three of these candidates (Woolard, Evans, and Carpenter) are running in solidly Democratic districts without an incumbent, meaning that if they win their primaries they're almost assured seats in Congress.  (Evans faces an uphill battle in the primary, though.)  Jim Stork is challenging an incumbent in a swing district, but he's a tough and proven campaigner.

Let's make this the Year of the Queer to remember.

•  Questions, comments, ratings

  here.

  by PeteyP on Thu Apr 22, 2004 at 10:15:05 PM PDT

  •  Wait

    Are you Todd Richmond, or in need of attribution?

    by Michael D on Thu Apr 22, 2004 at 10:55:22 PM PDT

    •  Not Tom

      Stole his opening line, but knew the rest of the story from living through it.

      by PeteyP on Fri Apr 23, 2004 at 07:30:10 AM PDT

      •  I should say

        living through it and reading about it during my "gay formative years."

        by PeteyP on Fri Apr 23, 2004 at 07:35:10 AM PDT

•  Woolard's Press Secretary

  Is blogger Greg Greene, of Greenehouse Effect.

  There are four candidates running for this seat, now, including the former incumbent, Cynthia McKinney, Woolard, and two State Senators, Nadine Thomas and Connie Stokes.

  by Drew on Thu Apr 22, 2004 at 10:34:26 PM PDT

•  I don't see any of these candidates

  getting the nomination. Maybe Cathy, if Cynthia and Nadine split the black vote. The others are underfunded and are dealing with the stigma of running in an election that will be run based at least partially on hatred of gays and gay relationships.

  Keeping enough anti-FMA members of Congress and making inroads in some statehouses with gay or gay-friendly policians should be more important to GLBT activists, especially in Massachusetts and also in places like Oregon, Wisconsin, and Maine. Knocking out as many anti-gay candidates or incumbents as possible, even one or two in some states, is important as well.

  by JamesB3 on Fri Apr 23, 2004 at 12:05:38 AM PDT

  •  C'mon

    James, I know you're a pessimist.  Stork raised more than $300,000 in 8 weeks.  Say what you will about anti-gay bias, but that's not underfunded.  Plus, Stork crushed a 14-year incumbent in a race for Mayor of Wilton Manors, FL.  Residents of the south Florida seat is unlikely to care much about his sexual orientation.  Stork is doing all the right things, targeting voters who voted in 2000 but not 2002 and registering 600 new Dems in his first weekend as a candidate.

    Carpenter has beat expectations before, beating better funded and better known candidates.  He's also overcome anti-gay attacks during campaigns, and has represented much of the district in the WI House and Senate.

    by PeteyP on Fri Apr 23, 2004 at 07:49:13 AM PDT

    •  Sorry, I don't see it.

      It's much easier to win a race for mayor than it is to represent Congress. Even Stork said people asked him to run for the Florida statehouse (although he was right not to if you ask me, why bother with such blatant gerrymandering).

      The incumbent isn't unpopular and is even supported by a number of GLBT voters. Stork saying "I'm gay" and "I'm hot" (which seems to be his main campaign theme) isn't going to win people over. People always vote for the incumbent unless they've done something wrong or the national mood is shifting. Neither is the case here.

      Carpenter seems like a truly remarkable human being. I'd love to see him in Congress. But he is not even the candidate who is being backed by the party, like Tammy Baldwin was. He's the very underfunded "outisder" in a 4-way primary. Remember all the talk about how Harry Sampson was going to win the primary in Maryland because he was the man to beat and connected with people and all the rest? He didn't even get second place! Voters in the real world have different objectives than we do.

      Flynn has party backing and money. He will win. Not to mention that if a white gay man runs against a black man in a mostly-black district, the black man will have a strong chance to win. There is no one more hated, from my admittedly limited experience and from friends I have, in the black community than a white gay man. We are seen as the root of all evil. The Democrats would have to spend a lot of money on what would otherwise be a safe seat.

      Just because gay candidates are running for Congress doesn't really say a lot. I was reading an article with Cheryl Jacques and she said HRC was going to "educate" people about DOMA proving that same-sex marriage is already illegal. Talk about the gay community having lowered expectations. They obviously realize that getting anti-FMA candidates elected or trying to defeat pro-FMA candidates is the most important task we have.

      by JamesB3 on Fri Apr 23, 2004 at 08:05:18 AM PDT

      •  Oh please.

        Way to oversimplify Stork's candidacy - I expect that from the superficial gay media, not from you.  Simply because the gay media focuses on Stork's looks doesn't mean his campaign "theme" is "Vote for me, I'm gay and hot" any more than it means Stephanie Herseth's campaign theme is "Vote for me, I'm a babe."  Stork's website doesn't even mention th word gay.  I expect better (and less shallow) arguments out of you.

        People always vote for the incumbent unless they've done something wrong or the national mood is shifting.

        Not so.  People vote for the incumbent unless they are given a reason to vote for someone else.  That hasn't been the case in recent races against Shaw.  It's also about getting more people out to vote who won't vote for the incumbent but also won't come to the polls unless given a reason.  That's already happening here.

        As for Carpenter, the reasons I think he has a better chance than you are summarized rather nicely on The Victory Fund's website.  I'm not saying he's a sure thing, but I give him a pretty good shot.  And I think you're giving the black community short shrift (and painting with a rather large brush).  Sure, there's a lot a anti-gay bias in the black community, but you are overstating it (nothing more hated?  c'mon).  Maybe some black people wouldn't vote for a gay man, but I doubt they would vote for a Republican (in the general) because of it, and I seriously doubt that it would be enough to swing the election.  Remember, people were worried that Tammy Baldwin's being a lesbian would cause her to lose an otherwise safe Dem seat in 1998.  It didn't.  Carpenter has already proven he can attract votes in the conservative areas of his district, despite being gay.

        by PeteyP on Sat Apr 24, 2004 at 09:47:20 AM PDT

•  For what it's worth...

  In 2002 there was another gay candidate for Congress, Kevin Feldman, for CA district 30.

  He was running against Henry Waxman, though, so he had absolutely no chance in hell.  I only knew about him because he came and spoke to UCLA's queer group.

  by boy asunder on Fri Apr 23, 2004 at 03:22:24 AM PDT

  •  Thanks

    I forgot about him.

    by PeteyP on Fri Apr 23, 2004 at 07:32:17 AM PDT

•  Not sure if your list is supposed to be exhaustive

  But if it is, don't forget Steve Gunderson!  I believe he was elected at least once after being outed.  Of course, he was eventually pushed out/resigned based on pressure from the christian right (I don't remember the whole story there).

  by Ickey shuffle on Fri Apr 23, 2004 at 05:52:36 AM PDT

  •  Thanks!

    I forgot him too.  Steve (R-WI - what is it with Wisconsin?) was outed in 1994(?) by "B-1" Bob Dornan on the House floor - Dornan accused him of having a revolving door on his closet.  Steve was reelected once (in 1994) but retired in 1997.

    by PeteyP on Fri Apr 23, 2004 at 07:38:00 AM PDT

    •  I think that-

      too many ppl have convinient revolving doors on their closets.

      by brackie79 on Wed Jun 09, 2004 at 09:42:13 AM PDT