US: Jared Polis’s win expands the list of LGBT candidates winning primaries

The LGBT community has often felt ignored or set back in the Trump administration. President Trump's refusal to recognize LGBT Pride month and his support for a ban on transgender Americans enlisting in the military, among other things, have led LGBT activists to urge voters to back more liberal positions and candidates.

Primary season has illuminated some bright spots for LGBT activists, including setting up a historic one in November. Rep. Jared Polis (Colo.) won the Democratic nomination for governor of Colorado on Tuesday, positioning him to be the first openly gay man elected governor.

Polis will face Republican Walter Stapleton, a two-term state treasurer, in the general election. The race leans Democratic, according to the Cook Political Report.

There have been a handful of other gay politicians to ascend to their state's top position. But none were sent there by their constituents. Former New Jersey governor Jim McGreevey came out as gay in 2004, the day he resigned following a sex scandal. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, who is bisexual, took office in 2015 after her predecessor resigned.

Polis's victory follows several other wins by gay candidates since Trump took office in 2016. Andrea Jenkins made history in 2017 as the first openly transgender black woman elected to public office in the United States. Jenkins was elected to the Minneapolis City Council in November, becoming one of several openly transgender candidates to win a race on Election Night. The same year, Danica Roem, a Democrat, ousted one of Virginia's most socially conservative lawmakers to become the first openly transgender person to be seated in a state legislature. Read more via Washington Post