LGBTQ groups celebrated Rep. Kyrsten Sinema’s victory to represent Arizona in the Senate Monday, and deemed her election as the first openly bisexual person elected to the Senate a “game changer.”
According to LGBTQ Victory Fund, a group dedicated to electing LGBTQ people to various levels of government, Sinema’s victory means that Democrats should make a greater effort to nominate candidates from the LGBTQ community.
“An LGBTQ woman winning a U.S. Senate seat in a state that voted for Trump is a game-changer, both for the LGBTQ community and the Democratic party,” Annise Parker, president and CEO of LGBTQ Victory Fund, said in a statement Monday. “Kyrsten’s victory makes clear that an LGBTQ candidate who listens to voters and prioritizes their issues can win elected office anywhere — blue state or red state. It also signals to the Democratic party that nominating more LGBTQ candidates for high-level positions should be a strategic priority, because their openness and authenticity resonates with independent voters.”
Parker noted that Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., is also a member of the LGBTQ community and identifies as a lesbian.
“By doubling our influence with two passionate and tough LGBTQ women, however, the U.S. Senate will certainly find our community more difficult to ignore,” Parker said.
Sinema’s victory was also praised by the Human Rights Campaign, a nonprofit civil rights organization for the LGBTQ community.
“Arizona voters rejected Donald Trump and Mike Pence’s politics of bigotry and fear and made history by electing bold pro-equality champion Kyrsten Sinema as the nation’s first openly bisexual U.S. Senator,” Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin said in a statement Monday evening.
Sinema is not the only LGBTQ candidate elected last week. LGBTQ candidates won a series of races in the 2018 midterms including Democrat Sharice Davids of Kansas, an out lesbian and one of the first Native American women elected to Congress.
Democrat Jared Polis of Colorado also became the first openly gay person elected to serve as a governor in the U.S. He served in the U.S. House and is married to Marlon Reis.
Sinema, who was also the first bisexual woman elected to the House, grew up Mormon and attended Brigham Young University. She married BYU alumnus Blake Dain, but the couple divorced, according to Arizona Central. She is no longer Mormon and has claimed to be religiously “unaffiliated.”
Sinema, who has participated in several Ironman triathlons, defeated her Republican challenger Rep. Martha McSally on Monday evening. Although McSally initially appeared to be in the lead, Sinema ultimately received 49.68 percent, or 1,097,321, of votes while McSally received only 47.96 percent, or 1,059,124 votes, according to the Arizona secretary of state’s office.
