The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund today announced it has wrapped up endorsements for 2012 elections, bringing the total number of endorsed openly LGBT candidates this year to a record-breaking 175. Among those, 8 candidates are endorsed for U.S. House and Senate races.

“We’re just a few weeks away from making history,” said Chuck Wolfe, president and CEO of the Victory Fund.  ”For the first time ever, LGBT Americans could have an authentic voice in the U.S. Senate and a record-high number of openly LGBT House members on both sides of the aisle.”

In addition to the federal candidates, Victory has endorsed 97 state legislative candidates in 30 states, and dozens more at the municipal, county, judicial and school board level.

“Whether at the local, state or national level, LGBT officeholders are helping to add significant power to legislative fights to win equality for all Americans.  These candidates will make sure that progress continues, and that’s why their victories this year are so important,” Wolfe said.

Read about Victory’s endorsed candidates at victoryfund.org.

The Victory Institute is proud to announce the fourth class of the Victory Congressional Internship, a selective program that provides outstanding undergraduate LGBT leaders with a unique experience on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

These 4 students will spend the fall semester interning on Capitol Hill, engaging in community service projects and attending leadership and professional development trainings. Click here to apply for the Spring 2013 class.

The Fall 2012 Victory Congressional Interns are (listed from left to right in picture):

Ladimir Geake

U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions

Ladimir is a senior at Hawaii Pacific University studying social work and the social sciences with a focus on LGBT and disability populations. He most recently worked with the Life Foundation of Honolulu to establish the Gay-Straight Alliance Hawaii program. Through this program, the Life Foundation has funded and aided in the creation of fifteen Gay-Straight Alliances in Hawaii’s universities and high schools.

Emily S. Ryan

Senator Jeff Merkley

Emily S. Ryan is senior at Marylhurst University where she focuses her Interdisciplinary Studies coursework on social and environmental policy. Emily’s previous experience includes work with Basic Rights Oregon on issues of racial justice, service as the Board Co-Chair for the Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon, and Treasurer for Asian Pacific Islander Pride.

Moya Mapps

Representative Michael Honda

Moya is a rising senior at Stanford University studying philosophy and political theory. She works as a staff member in Stanford’s unofficial LGBT housing cooperative and is also a core member of Stanford Students for Queer Liberation. Through Students for Queer Liberation, Moya has organized discussions on race, gender and sexuality and recently coordinated a campus-wide clothing drive for homeless queer youth.

Christopher Frost

Representative Keith Ellison

Christopher is a rising junior at Harvard University studying American History and Literature with a focus on issues of race, gender, and sexuality. Chris serves as a senior staffer in the Harvard Model Congress and volunteers with several Boston-area mentoring programs including the Boston Refugee Youth Enrichment project and the MIT Office of Engineering Outreach Program.

By Stuart Milk

Harvey Milk was my uncle, but he’s also my hero. His election proved what we’re capable of when we stand up for ourselves, stop listening to the naysayers and rally our community to action.  We’re capable of winning – and making history.

That’s exactly what Tammy Baldwin is doing. This week brought the fantastic news that she’s pulled into the lead in her fight to represent Wisconsin in the United States Senate. Four separate polls confirm a big shift in this race, and with just 7 weeks to go, victory is in sight.

Tammy first ran for office in Wisconsin when she was just 24 – less than a decade after my uncle made history in San Francisco. She won that race, joining a handful of gay and lesbian American trailblazers who refused to hide who they were in order to serve their communities.

Twelve years later, Tammy became the first woman in Wisconsin history to be elected to Congress, and the nation’s first out lesbian ever to serve on Capitol Hill.

Now, with our help, Tammy will break a glass ceiling that has existed for more than two centuries. She will fight for the people of Wisconsin, but Tammy will also represent millions of LGBT Americans who have never had an authentic voice in the Senate.

Like my uncle Harvey, Tammy has faced doubters who thought she couldn’t be honest about herself and win. But in every single campaign, she has proved them wrong. Now we’re seeing the proof that this race is winnable too – and that history can be made again.

It’s time for all of us to come together and take the next big step for equality. When Tammy raises her right hand to be sworn into the Senate this January, I know you’ll want to be a part of making that moment happen.  Join this historic campaign with a contribution, or volunteer one weekend in Wisconsin to help LGBT candidates running across the state.

Harvey Milk was a dreamer, and he dreamed big. But he never stopped there. He fought to make his dream a reality, and with the help of the Victory Fund and trailblazers like Tammy Baldwin, his dream lives on.

Photo:  Brook Pifer

Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., has surged to a five point lead in the race for the U.S. Senate in Wisconsin, according to a new poll conducted for the campaign.  Baldwin now leads former Gov. Tommy Thompson by 50% to 45%.

The dramatic shift in the race comes after aggressive advertising by the Baldwin campaign and other groups highlighting Thompson’s advocacy for corporate interests as a Washington lobbyist.  Voters now see Baldwin as much more likely to stand up for the middle class and protect Medicare.

Thompson had experienced a post-primary bounce in the polls, but that appears now to have completely dissipated.  ”Now that this race is down to just two candidates, the choice could not be clearer,” said Chuck Wolfe, president and CEO of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, which has endorsed Baldwin.  ”Tammy’s strength is her long record of standing up for Wisconsin’s working families, and voters are discovering that’s not what Tommy Thompson has been doing in recent years.”

UPDATE — 3:30pm:  Democracy for America and Public Policy Polling confirm the shift in Wisconsin.  Their new poll released this afternoon finds Tammy Baldwin leading Tommy Thompson 48% to 45%.  The polling memo is here.

Richard Tisei, an openly gay, pro-choice Republican running for Congress in Massachusetts, has written to state party officials to ask them not to adopt the national party’s platform, particularly as it pertains to social issues, according to a report in the Boston Globe:

Tisei, a moderate who is openly gay, said the national platform “espouses beliefs that exclude many in our party, includ­ing myself.”

“As a ‘live-and-let-live’ ­Republican, my philosophy is that the government should get off our backs, out of our wallets, and away from the bedroom,” he wrote in a letter to state GOP chairman Robert A. Maginn Jr.

Tisei would be the first openly gay Republican elected to Congress as a freshman.  Other openly gay Republicans who have served on Capitol Hill came out after being elected, and none have served in Congress since 2006.

The former state senator and GOP nominee for lieutenant governor in 2010 is endorsed by the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund.

UPDATE–10:32 pm:  The Massachusetts Republican Party tonight voted not to adopt the national GOP platform after objections from moderates and input from federal candidates Sen. Scott Brown and Richard Tisei, who is seeking a House seat.  The party could revisit the issue after the elections this November.