Mar 07, 2008  |  By: LOU CHIBBARO J  | COMMENTS     

Ten years after Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) became the first and only openly gay person to win election to a first-term seat in Congress, four gay men and a lesbian are running for Congress this year and political observers say each faces an uphill fight.

Although three other open gays, including Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), have repeatedly won re-election to seats in the House of Representatives, each of them first won their seats before they publicly disclosed their sexual orientation.

Supporters of the gay congressional candidates running this year say they are hopeful that at least one or more of the five will break through what some have called a “glass ceiling” that has prevented another open gay from winning a first-term congressional seat since Baldwin’s victory in 1998.

A sixth gay candidate — lesbian Democratic activist Robin Deibert — lost her bid for a U.S. House seat in Western Maryland’s 6th Congressional District in the Feb. 12 Democratic primary. Deibert, an information technology specialist and Army veteran, came in third place in a five-candidate race, receiving 9.9 percent of the vote.

Like Deibert, four of the five openly gay congressional candidates still in the running — three Democrats and one Republican — must overcome opponents from their own party in upcoming primaries in order to win the right to compete in the November general election.

Some of their supporters, especially backers of the gay Democrats, have complained that party leaders have shown a bias toward their straight opponents in the upcoming primaries. Supporters of the gay Democratic candidates have also expressed concern that national gay groups, such as National Stonewall Democrats and Human Rights Campaign, have yet to endorse any of the gay congressional candidates.

Sole endorsement

The Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, a Washington-based group that raises money for gay candidates, has so far endorsed only one of the congressional gay hopefuls — Colorado Democrat Jared Polis, who is running for that state’s 2nd District House seat in the Boulder area.

The seat became vacant after Rep. Mark Udall (D-Colo.), who has a strong record in support of gay rights, gave up the seat to become a candidate for the U.S. Senate. Democrats hold a solid majority in the district and Polis would be expected to win against a Republican challenger if he secures the nomination.

But he faces a hotly contested race for the nomination, with Colorado State Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald emerging as his main opponent. Polis, 32, founded and later sold an Internet service company, becoming a millionaire in the process. He has since founded two non-profit education organizations and taken on the role of a philanthropist — all while remaining active in Colorado politics.

His well-financed congressional campaign and his backing by a long list of prominent political leaders in Colorado and other states gives him the best shot among the openly gay candidates of winning a seat in Congress in 2008, according to political insiders. Baldwin is among those who have endorsed him.

With the exception of Polis’ race, where the seat he is seeking is vacant, the incumbents in the other four congressional races where gays are running have received “0” ratings on gay issues from HRC.

The Reid factor

Accountant and government auditing specialist Andrew Martin, who is running for the Democratic nomination for the 3rd District House seat in Nevada, which includes parts of Las Vegas, said endorsements by national gay groups could be especially helpful in his race.

Martin has been praised by the head of the Stonewall Democrats of Southern Nevada, a subsidiary of the national Stonewall group, as a highly qualified candidate with more than 20 years of experience in financial oversight of large corporations and federal government agencies.

Yet Nevada Stonewall president Judy Corbisiero said rules set by state and county Democratic committees in Nevada prevent her group from endorsing candidates in primaries. The Nevada Stonewall group operates as an official component of the Nevada Democratic party.

Corbisiero has joined Martin in expressing concern that the state’s Democratic Party establishment rushed to endorse Martin’s primary opponent, former county prosecutor Robert Daskas.

Nevada political insiders say U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), one of the state’s most powerful politicians, handpicked Daskas on grounds that he would have a better shot at defeating incumbent Rep. Jon Porter (R-Nev.). Porter is considered vulnerable this year in a district where Democrats now outnumber Republicans.

“I have tremendous local support from people who are not part of the ...