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Will Colorado have the first openly gay Congressman?


bascule

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Jared Polis is the Democratic nominee for Congressman for Colorado's 2nd congressional district, which just so happens to be the one I live in. He's amassed quite the personal fortune in the local startup community and runs a local startup incubator called TechStars. He's also openly gay.

 

I think he's a pretty interesting individual and pretty much a shoe-in, given his constituency and the present political climate. Hopefully he'll be received well in Congress, provided he wins.

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The title of the thread is a bit ambiguous: I presume you mean Colorado's first openly gay Congresscritter (Congressman is a sexist term, Congressperson sounds stupid, and Congresscritter derogates them all in one swell foop.) If you mean the first openly gay Congresscritter period, the answer is no. Barney Frank/MA, Jim Kobe/AZ, and Tammy Baldwin/WI beat your guy to the punch.

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I'm curious how people in Colorado's 2nd are reacting to the candidate. (And how they feel about losing their Udall.)

 

That district has an interesting political makeup because it's comprised of residential Denverites and Front-Range mountain-dwellers. Colorado traditionally is politically somewhat split between mountain-dwelling progressives (not backwards types, I'm talking about ski bums and resort owners) and metro-area, hardcore Christian conservatives (Focus on the Family is based down the road a bit in Colorado Springs). It's a bit of a microcosm for the country as a whole. But the 2nd district is interesting because it crosses that divide.

 

Of course, as I understand it it's become more conservative over the years, with Denver expanding west into the hills, hasn't it?

 

(I don't mean to steal bascule's thunder on this, it's just that my sister used to live in Summit county (she lives near Aspen now) so I've got some background in the area. I'm sure bascule knows a lot more about it than I do.)

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Congressman is a sexist term

 

Oh f*cking christ let's not go down that road...

 

If you mean the first openly gay Congresscritter period, the answer is no. Barney Frank/MA, Jim Kobe/AZ, and Tammy Baldwin/WI beat your guy to the punch.

 

Reading about this a bit more, it sounds like ^^^ came out after being elected, as opposed to Polis who's running for his freshmen term in Congress as openly gay.

 

I'm curious how people in Colorado's 2nd are reacting to the candidate. (And how they feel about losing their Udall.)

 

I don't know about the rest of the district, but there's a certain degree of resentment about his voting record in Boulder.

 

That said, all that resentment aside you can certainly expect the people around here to support him as Senator. Whatever resentment there was towards Udall is vested several dozen times upon Schaffer. Most people here are extremely bitter about Allard and Republicans in general.

 

But the 2nd district is interesting because it crosses that divide.

 

The 2nd District is heavily Democratic. I don't even know who the Republican candidate is, nor does it really matter. The election itself is a bit of a dog and pony show as a Republican doesn't stand a snowball's chance in hell of getting elected here.

Edited by bascule
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Reading about this a bit more, it sounds like ^^^ came out after being elected, as opposed to Polis who's running for his freshmen term in Congress as openly gay.

 

That could be. I'm pretty sure "out" gays have run for House seats before, but perhaps not won. It's an interesting point if true.

 

 

I don't know about the rest of the district, but there's a certain degree of resentment about his voting record in Boulder.

 

That said, all that resentment aside you can certainly expect the people around here to support him as Senator. Whatever resentment there was towards Udall is vested several dozen times upon Schaffer. Most people here are extremely bitter about Allard and Republicans in general.

 

The 2nd District is heavily Democratic. I don't even know who the Republican candidate is, nor does it really matter. The election itself is a bit of a dog and pony show as a Republican doesn't stand a snowball's chance in hell of getting elected here.

 

Cool, thanks.

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(grin) "How will his sexual orientation inform his presidency?"

 

Oh wait, he's not running for president... Representativenacy? I need a word, lol.

 

How about representativeship? That way we can substitute the 'p' for a 't' whenever we need to ridicule them.

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