LGBT candidates fare well in Tuesday’s primaries

The Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund announced Wednesday that 29 of the 33 openly LGBT candidates in Tuesday’s primaries won their races.

The biggest victory by far had to be that of David Cicilline, the openly gay mayor of Providence, Rhode Island. Cicilline, 49, was in a four-man race for the Democratic nomination to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy. Cicilline took 37 percent of the vote to win the Democratic mantle but now must enter another four-way race for November. If he prevails, Cicilline will become the fourth openly gay member of Congress.

Two of the three current openly gay members of Congress had no opponents in Tuesday’s elections—that was Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Jared Polis of Colorado.

Barney Frank of Massachusetts had an opponent, as he sometimes does, but he trounced Rachel Brown—the woman who famously interrupted a Frank town hall meeting last year to compare President Obama to Hitler—with 81 percent of the vote. Frank did take the unusual tack of sending out a campaign brochure just prior to the vote. A spokesman, Harry Gural, said Rep. Frank just wanted to make sure people know “who she really is.” Brown, an associate of Lyndon LaRouche, was running in the Democratic primary.

Frank faces a more difficult challenger in Republican Scott Bielat, 35, who began running against Frank during the Republican primary, playing the age card. Bielat uses the campaign slogan RetireBarney.com. Frank turned 70 this year, but has shown no interest in retiring.

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