Long Beach, California (the state's seventh largest city) elected its first openly gay mayor last night. Long Beach is the thirty-sixth most populous city in the USA, and now is the third city within the fifty most populous cities in the USA to have a gay mayor. The population of Long Beach is about 468K. Garcia is also the first Latino elected as mayor of the city of Long Beach.
From JMG:
Long Beach City Councilman Robert Garcia made history Tuesday night when he narrowly defeated businessman Damon Dunn in the race for mayor to become the first Latino, the first openly gay and the youngest person to be mayor of Long Beach. "I think you run, not necessarily to be the first, I know that there are certainly historical implications of my election," Garcia said. "I’m in this to be mayor of everyone, no matter the age or the color of their skin or who they love." Garcia believes the city’s diversity is one of its assets. "We have one of the largest Cambodian communities outside of Cambodia, a large Latino community, a large LGBT population, and we have everyone. I really think that’s what makes Long Bea
From
NBC Los Angeles:
Garcia received 52 percent of the votes cast Tuesday, with about 1,900 more people voting for him than for Dunn. He will replace current mayor Bob Foster. Today’s election was a runoff after the two competed with eight others in the primary election.
Both candidates would have made history if elected. Dunn, a former professional football player and real estate investor, would have become the first African-American to hold the position.
"It says a lot about the city of Long Beach, about the diversity, about the open-mindedness to have the two candidates that we have that made the runoff," Dunn said.
11:26 AM PT: The Advocate also has an article about Mr. Garcia being elected.
http://www.advocate.com/...