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The New York Times
Gay Candidate Wins a
Colorado Primary
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Kevin Moloney for The New York Times
Jared Polis, right, hugged Marlon Reis, his partner,
as his mother, Susana Polis-Schutz, clapped. |
By DAN FROSCH,
nytimes.com August 13, 2008
GayPASG e-mail August
16, 2008
DENVER — Jared Polis, a
33-year-old openly gay entrepreneur from Boulder, beat two opponents on Tuesday
night to win the Democratic primary to fill Representative Mark Udall’s seat in
Congress.
Mr. Udall, a Democrat, is running for the Senate, and if Mr. Polis is elected to
replace him in November, he would become the third openly gay or lesbian member
of Congress.
“I think this sends a signal to young gays and lesbians across the country that
they can consider a career in public service and they shouldn’t be scared away
from that merely because of their sexual orientation,” said Mr. Polis, who
introduced his partner, Marlon Reis, during a raucous victory party on Tuesday
night.
Mr. Polis, who poured more than $5 million of his own money into the campaign,
narrowly defeated Joan Fitz-Gerald, the former State Senate president, and Will
Shafroth, a conservationist, winning just over 40 percent of the vote.
Mr. Polis, who made a fortune co-founding an online greeting card Web site,
bluemountain.com, and was elected to the State Board of Education in 2000, is
favored to win in November against the Republican candidate, Scott Starin, as
well as candidates from the Green and Unity Parties, in the mainly Democratic
Second Congressional District.
“The Republicans don’t have a real shot at this one, and they know it,” said
Scott Adler, an associate professor of political science at the University of
Colorado, Boulder. “They would be wasting a lot of money putting dollars
into this race.”
According to the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, a group that supports gay
candidates for public office, Mr. Polis would be the first openly gay man
elected to Congress as a nonincumbent.
There have been five other gay and lesbian members of Congress, including the
current Representatives Barney Frank of Massachusetts and Tammy Baldwin of
Wisconsin, both of them Democrats. All but Ms. Baldwin did not go public
with their sexuality until they were elected.
In two other notable races in Colorado, Representative Doug Lamborn held off two
challengers in the Republican primary in the Fifth Congressional District.
And Secretary of State Mike Coffman defeated three opponents in the Republican
primary in the Sixth Congressional District for the seat being vacated by
Representative Tom Tancredo, a Republican who is retiring.
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