BREAKING! U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud (ME-2) Comes Out As Gay

Mike Michaud is a Democratic congressman from Maine and candidate
for Governor.  He publicly confirmed he is gay on Monday November 4.

Mike Michaud is a 6-term Democratic Congressman representing the 2nd Congressional District of Maine who is also running for the Democratic Nomination for Governor of Maine (and has been the leading contender in most polls). In articles published on Monday Michaud revealed that he is gay.

Growing up in a large Franco-American Catholic family, it’s never been in my nature to talk about myself. I write this now merely to let my opponents and the outside interests who fund them know that I am not ashamed of who I am. And if seeing someone from my background, in my position, openly acknowledge the fact that he’s gay makes it a little bit easier for future generations to live their lives openly and without fear, all the better. 

I don’t plan to make my personal life or my opponents’ personal lives an issue in this campaign. We’ve had enough negativity in our politics and too many personal attacks over the last few years. We owe it to the people of Maine to focus on how we get our state back on track.

Michaud has a reputation as one of the most conservative Democrats in Congress, with a 10% rating from NARAL Pro-Choice America and is a card-carrying member of the Blue Dog caucus in the U.S. House. Wow, a 58-year-old, openly gay, pro-life Democratic candidate for Governor of Maine.

Michaud's announcement means there are now 7 openly LGBT members of the U.S. House of Representatives, with Michaud having the most seniority.

It should be an interesting to watch how various political constituencies react to Michaud's announcement!

Hat/tip to Chris Geidner

Next Congress To Have 7 Out LGBT Members!

The 113th Congress of the United States will have a record seven people who are either lesbian, gay or bisexual. In the U.S. House there will be four newly elected Members who are LGB: Sean Patrick Maloney (NY-18), Kyrsten Sinema )AZ-09), Mark Pocan (WI-05) and Mark Takano CA-41). In addition, there are 2 LGB incumbents who will be returning to the U.S. House: Jared Polis (CO-02) and David Cicilline (RI-01).

And in a dramatic first, lesbian Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (WI-05) gave up her congressional seat and ran (against former governor and Bush cabinet member Tommy Thompson) for the open U.S. Senate seat to represent Wisconsin. She not only became the first openly LGB person to be elected to the U.S. Senate but the 5th Congressional District of Wisconsin became the first congressional district in the United States to be represented by two different openly gay U.S. representatives (Baldwin and Pocan).

Two other important historic firsts will be achieved on January 3rd, 2013 when the new Congress is sworn in. Takano will be the first-ever openly LGBT person of color congressmember and Sinema will be the first-ever openly bisexual member of Congress, one of the youngest, at age 36, and one of the few who claims to be religiously unaffiliated.

The 6 openly LGB members of the U.S. House make up 1.4% of the 435-member body, which is still an under-representation of the 3.4% of Americans who are willing to tell a pollster that they are LGB or the 9% of Americans who are estimated to be LGB.

Baldwin will be 1 of 100 United States Senators, but in a body which allows a single member great latitude to wield disproportional power over federal legislation and public policy.

WI-SEN: Lesbian Tammy Baldwin Takes Lead

Tammy Baldwin is the first openly lesbian person elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. She has represented the 5th Congressional District of Wisconsin surrounding Madison for over a decade but announced this time last year that she would run for the open U.S. Senate seat vacated by retiring Democrat Herb Kohl. Baldwin has done a good job of raising money, easily won the  Democratic nomination and was even able to pass on her congressional seat to another openly LGBT person, Mark Pocan.

However, Wisconsin is the most politically polarized state in the country due to the shenanigans of Republican Governor Scott Walker and the Democratic party's use of recall elections to fight back. This had the effect of energizing Republicans, damaging Baldwin's standing in her U.S. Senate race against 4-time former Governor Tommy Thompson and even putting the entire formerly blue state in play in the presidential contest as well. (Although the latter may be due to the selection of fellow Wisconsin congressman and rabid "Objectivist" Paul Ryan to the presidential ticket.)

Anyway, yesterday came news that for the first time Baldwin is pulling ahead of Thompson in the race, as shown in not one, but two, polls.

The first was an internal poll conducted for the Baldwin campaign which puts her up 50-45 among likely voters, with a margin of error of 3.5 points.

Baldwin leads Thompson, 50 percent to 45 percent, while 5 percent of respondents are undecided. The Democrat's lead is not considered statistically significant because it is inside the poll's margin of error. 

Thompson is considered the favorite in the race, thanks to his history of appealing to independents and moderate Democrats and his four gubernatorial victories. After emerging from a crowded GOP primary last month, Thompson led Baldwin in several independent polls.

The second was a poll by PPP which shows Baldwin ahead 48-45, with a margin of error of 3 points.

In the U.S. Senate race, Baldwin was backed by 48 percent of respondents, while 45 percent supported Thompson. 

The poll found 53 percent of respondents had a negative impression of Thompson, while 40 percent had a favorable view of him. It found Baldwin's favorable-unfavorable split was 44-45.
The survey also found 90 percent of respondents were committed to their choice in the Senate race.

Electing an openly LGBT person to the United States Senate would be an historic moment, and thanks to the rules of that deliberative (and dysfunctional) body would allow Senator Baldwin to thwart almost all anti-LGBT legislation, and perhaps promote pro-LGBT bills as well.

Hat/tip to Gay Politics

RI-01: Gay Congressman Easily Wins Primary

Openly gay Congressman David Cicilline running for re-election for the first time easily survived a primary challenge from fellow Democrat Anthony Gemma which many people had expected the former openly gay mayor of  Providence, Rhode Island to lose. Cicilline received over 62% of the vote compared to 30% for the challenger.

Cicilline joins a slew of other openly LGBT candidates for Congress who have won party primaries this year: Mark Pocan (Wisconsin), Mark Takano (California), Richard Tisei (Massachusetts), and Krysten Sinema (Arizona). The only other openly LGBT incumbent besides Cicilline running for re-election isJared Polis from Colorado. Tisei is the only openly gay Republican running for Congress, the rest are Democrats. Sinema is the only self-identified bisexual, the others are identify as either gay or lesbian.

Tammy Baldwin is giving up her congressional seat to run for the United States Senate; that seat will likely be held by Mark Pocan.

Florida Elects Its 1st Openly Gay State Legislator!

On Tuesday, besides Marc Pocan winning his Wisconsin primary to become an openly gay Congressman there was other good news out of the primary elections. In Florida, for the first time ever there will be at least one, and possibly as many as three or four, openly LGBT members of the state legislature starting in January 2013.

David Robinson won a 4-way primary to represent District 113 in the Florida House of Representatives. Since there is no Republican opponent running, he is certain to become the first openly gay person elected to the state legislature in the history of Florida.

According to the Washington Blade, in House District 49 Joe Saunders faces Marco Pena., in House District 53 John Paul Alvarez faces incumbent John Tobia (R-Melbourne) while in House District 120 Ian Whitney has a chance to join Robinson in Tallahassee.

Pretty amazing that Florida will go from having never had an openly gay state representative and will have at least one and possibly four next year!

Mark Pocan Will Be 8th Openly Gay U.S. Rep. Ever

Mark Pocan turned 48 years old yesterday, the same day he won the Democratic primary in the 2nd Congressional district of Wisconsin last night. Pocan will take the place of Tammy Baldwin who represented the college town of Madison and its environs for 14 years in Congress as the first (and only) openly lesbian member of Congress. Baldwin is giving up her seat to run for open Wisconsin U.S. Senate seat.

Pocan will become only the 8th person in history to serve in Congress as an openly LGBT member of that body when it convenes on January 3, 2013. Other (non-incumbent) openly LGBT candidates hoping to join the U.S. House of Representatives this cycle are Mark Takano (CA-41), Krysten Sinema (AZ-9), Sean Patrick Maloney (NY-18), and Richard Tisei (MA-6). Incumbent U.S. Representatives David Cicilline (RI-1) and Jared Polis (CO-2) are running for re-election. Longtime incumbent Barney Frank (MA-05) is retiring.