For the first time, the United States has an openly gay governor.
Democratic legislator Jared Polis, 43, became the first openly gay man to win a governorship in the United States yesterday. He defeated Republican candidate Walker Stapleton in the 2018 midterm elections in Colorado.
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Democratic legislator Jared Polis, 43, became the first openly gay man to win a governorship in the United States yesterday. He defeated Republican candidate Walker Stapleton in the 2018 midterm elections in Colorado. His election comes amid clashes between the LGBTQ+ community and the administration of President Donald Trump, which has focused on changing gender definitions that would reverse some transgender rights gained during the Obama administration.
Polis, of Jewish descent, changed his name from Jared Schultz to Jared Polis at age 25 to honor his grandmother. At 16, he entered Princeton University, and by 20, he had created a website that made him a millionaire entrepreneur before he even graduated.
During the election campaign, Polis championed universal healthcare, free early childhood education, and Colorado's progress toward becoming a 100% renewable energy state.
Polis is one of hundreds of LGBTQ candidates who participated in these midterm elections, including 21 for Congress and four for governorships. “LGBTQ candidates have run in unprecedented numbers in every state across the nation, and it’s already an inspiration for more LGBTQ people to get involved,” said Annise Parker, president of the LGBTQ Victory Fund, before the elections. She added, “This rainbow of candidates is certainly concentrated in blue states and districts [the color that identifies Democrats], but there are increasingly more LGBTQ leaders in conservative areas rising up with the determination to be public servants.”
Other LGBTI candidates
Kate Brown became the first bisexual governor when she was elected in Oregon in 2015, while another governor, Jim McGreevey of New Jersey, came out and admitted his homosexuality before resigning in 2004. But Polis is the first openly gay candidate to be elected governor.
Milestones and defeats
Polis's victory was not the only milestone at the American polls: a majority of women are entering Congress, including two Muslim women: Rashida Tlaib, 42, and Ilhan Omar, 36.
Latinos also set a record: they have the youngest congresswoman in history. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 29-year-old Latina Democrat, became the youngest congresswoman in U.S. history last night.
Democrat Ayanna Pressley also became the first black woman to represent the state of Massachusetts, and a Republican candidate, Jeannette Nuñez, will be the first Cuban-American lieutenant governor of Florida.
Nuñez would not have been a pioneer in her position if Democrat Andrew Gilum had won the battle in Florida, but it would still have marked another historic first: that of the first black governor in that state.
The list of defeats also prevents the country from registering the milestone of Stacey Abrams becoming the first Black woman to govern a state nationwide, and Christine Hallquist becoming the first transgender woman governor under the same circumstances. Both candidates lost to their Republican opponents in Georgia and Vermont.
Another loser was Texas' lesbian Democratic candidate, Lupe Valdez. Governor Greg Abbott won a second term.
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