THESE ARE THE 2012 ENDORSED CANDIDATES TO FUND WHO WON:
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA (D) RE-ELECTED PRESIDENT
This race was always expected to be very close. Obama beat Romney by 3.9% of the popular vote and earned 332 of the necessary 270 electoral votes needed to win. Perhaps the most important thing he did for equality was in May 2012 when he announced his support for marriage equality. This led to a sweep of all four statewide same gender marriage ballot measures.
TAMMY BALDWIN (D-WI) WON ELECTION TO THE U.S. SENATE
When Baldwin announced her intentions to run for Senate, the donor community enthusiastically supported her despite her uphill battle.
She ran a great campaign against a very formidable opponent and won by 5.6% to become the first out lesbian (and the first out LGBT) U.S. Senator in history.
CONGRESSMAN DAVID CICILLINE (D-RI) WON RE-ELECTION TO THE U.S. HOUSE
Political experts thought Cicilline was going to be a one term Congressman. As such, he faced a major primary challenge, yet he prevailed. Then he faced a strong opponent in the general election and was far back in the polls.
But he and his superb campaign team came from behind and pulled it off, winning by a comfortable 10 points.
STATE SENATOR KYRSTEN SINEMA (D-AZ) FOR U.S. HOUSE
Sinema was declared the winner on November 12th, after six days of counting, winning 48-45%.
She is the first openly bisexual elected to Congress. Expect a close race as she attempts re-election in 2 years.
CAROL SHEA-PORTER (D-NH) WON ELECTION TO THE U.S. HOUSE
In a rematch of the 2010 race that she lost by 12 points, Shea-Porter fought to win back the seat she had once held and prevailed with a 3.7% margin.
This win, along with Annie Kuster's, created a first in America: a state's federal delegation is entirely female: in New Hampshire, both House seats and both Senate seats are held by women.
ANNIE KUSTER (D-NH) WON ELECTION TO THE U.S. HOUSE
Kuster, who was also in a rematch of a race she lost by under 1% in
2010, finished this year winning by 5.1%.
She is part of New Hampshire's
aforementioned all female federal delegation. Oh, and her friend Maggie
Hassan was also just elected New Hampshire's governor proving New
Hampshire can really make herstory.
SEAN PATRICK MALONEY (D-NY) WON ELECTION TO THE U.S. HOUSE
The out gay husband and father faced incumbent freshman Nan Hayworth, who was endorsed by the Log Cabin Republicans.
Yet Maloney, who was endorsed by eQualityGiving, Victory Fund, Bill Clinton and the NY Times, prevailed by a 3.4% margin.
MARK TAKANO (D-CA) WON ELECTION TO THE U.S. HOUSE
Takano is also openly gay, and he won by over 12% of the vote.
The race for this newly created district that barely tilts Democratic was predicted to be much closer, particularly since the June primary resulted in a 55-45 preference for Republicans.
PATRICK MURPHY (D-FL) WON ELECTION TO THE U.S. HOUSE
Murphy was certified by the State of Florida as the winner by 2,146
votes (0.65%) on November 21st. The same day, his opponent Allen West conceded the seat to Murphy.
Allen West may run again for this seat, and so expect eQualityGiving to again support Patrick Murphy as an Endorsed Candidate to Fund.
LOIS FRANKEL (D-FL) WON ELECTION TO THE U.S. HOUSE
A very successful fundraiser and seasoned politician, Frankel ran for an open seat which had been flipping red to blue to red the past several elections.
She made no excuses for her lifetime support of LGBT equality and won the election by 9 points.
These candidates had once been Endorsed Candidates to Fund. But when it became apparent they were going to win, they were removed from the funding list so that donors could concentrate on giving to those still in close races:
STATE REPRESENTATIVE MARK POCAN (D-WI) WON ELECTION TO THE U.S. HOUSE
Pocan was co-endorsed in the primaries, but we removed him from the funding list for the general since his district is heavily Democratic.
He ended up winning by 36 points.
What's special about this win is that openly gay Pocan now holds the seat that Tammy Baldwin relinguished to run for Senate.
COUNTY COMMISSIONER MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM (D-NM)WON ELECTION TO THE U.S. HOUSE
After
winning a very close and competitive primary, Lujan Grisham was
expected to go neck and neck to the end in the general. But when it
became apparent that she had a big lead, we removed her from our funding
list so that donors could concentrate on giving to those in the closest
races.
She ended up winnng by 18 points.
SENATOR BOB MENENDEZ (D-NJ) WON RE-ELECTION TO THE U.S. SENATE
He won 59-40 (19 points).
These Endorsed Candidates to Fund lost:
FORMER SURGEON GENERAL DR. RICHARD CARMONA (D-AZ) LOST HIS RACE FOR U.S. SENATE
He lost to Congressman Jeff Flake 46% to 50% (4 points).
DR. DAVID GILL (D-IL) LOST HIS RACE FOR THE U.S. HOUSE
Dr Gill lost by 46.6% to 46.2% - one of the closest races in the country.
STATE REPRESENTATIVE KEITH FITZGERALD (D-FL) LOST HIS RACE FOR THE U.S. HOUSE
Fitzpatrick lost to incumbent Vern Buchanan 54-46 (8 points).
JESSICA EHRLICH (D-FL) LOST HER RACE FOR THE U.S. HOUSE
Ehrlich lost to incumbent Bill Young 58-42 (16 points).
For statewide races, the maximum you can donate depends on the state. For candidates to Congress and President, the maximum total that you can give to federal candidates in 2011-2012 is
$46,200 ($2,500 to individual candidates). This is why it is critical
to focus your giving on candidates that are pro-equality before giving
to candidates that may not be 100% on our issues.
These
candidates up for election or re-election in 2012 deserve to be endorsed since they
are pro-equality, but funding their campaigns is not as strategic
because they are not in a competitive race (i.e. they consistently
poll ahead of or behind their opponent(s) by more than 10 points). Should any eQualityGiving Hero or other endorsed candidate find themselves in close races, they will be listed as an Endorsed
Candidate to Fund, and an alert will be sent to inform the donors.
These Endorsed Candidates are pro-equality incumbents and won re-election handily as expected:
GOVERNOR PETE SHUMLIN - Vermont
SENATOR KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND - New York
SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS - Vermont
SENATOR DIANE FEINSTEIN - California
DEMOCRATIC MAJORITY LEADER NANCY PELOSI - California
CONGRESSMAN EARL BLUMENAUER - Oregon
CONGRESSWOMAN DONNA EDWARDS - Maryland
CONGRESSMAN KEITH ELLISON - Minnesota
CONGRESSMAN JOHN GARAMENDI - California
CONGRESSMAN ALCEE HASTINGS - Florida
CONGRESSMAN RUSH HOLT - New Jersey
CONGRESSWOMAN BARBARA LEE - California
CONGRESSMAN JOHN LEWIS - Georgia
CONGRESSWOMAN CAROLYN MALONEY - New York
CONGRESSMAN JIM MCGOVERN - Massachusetts
CONGRESSWOMAN GWEN MOORE - Wisconsin
CONGRESSMAN JIM MORAN - Virginia
CONGRESSMAN JERROLD NADLER - New York
CONGRESSWOMAN CHELLIE PINGREE - Maine
CONGRESSMAN JARED POLIS - Colorado
CONGRESSWOMAN LUCILLE ROYBAL-ALLARD - California
DELEGATE ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON - District of Columbia
These Endorsed Candidates are pro-equality but not in close races and are expected to either win or lose by a wide margin:
THERE ARE NO CANDIDATES IN THIS CATEGORY AT THIS TIME
If you have given to one of these Endorsed Candidates, please post your reasons why in the Giving For Equality Blog. A few sentences about your motivation and strategy will be very compelling for other donors.
Keep up to date on how to reach legal equality faster by signing for our spam-free eQuality alerts. Even better, register to have access to confidential information on this website (benefits of registration). Registration is free, and your information is not given to anyone.
Congresswoman Shelley Berkley is a pro-equality candidate and in a close race. Furthermore, she is an Equality Hero. However, her campaign never responded to multiple requests to complete our endorsement process. As such, we could not list her as an endorsed candidate. We certainly hope that donors recognize the need to get her elected by way of other information, just as CT has.
What about adding Shelley Berkley who is running for the Senate in Nevada. ? she is a strong pro LGBT rights advocate.
Mr Wall's comments regarding the current endorsed candidates are appreciated. Many of these races are very fluid, and it is often tough to measure a candidate's chances of winning re-election this early in the election cycle.
Some of the races he pointed out have candidates that are in the process of earning our endorsement. This requires a careful evaluation with a questionnaire, an interview, and an analysis of the candidates prospects of winning. eQualityGiving is in the process of producing the next set of endorsed candidates, and the updated list is likely to reflect several of Mr. Wall's suggestions.
Your list of endorsed candidates Pro Equality Candidaes expecting easy re-elections in 2012 is dated and flawed.
David Cicciline of Rhode Island is not a safe bet for re-election at this point. I would rate him no better than 50 -50 at this point in fact. Voters blame him for Providence fiscal troubles (he is former Mayor). Cicciline is likely to face a serious primary challenge (rematch with Anthony Gemma?). And the Republicans are offering a serious pair of opponents for the general election. To claim Cicilline is expected to handily win re-election defies the facts quite frankly.
Two on your list are retiring: John Olver and Barney Frank of Massachusetts. Frank just retired yesterday of course, but Olver retired a couple weeks back at this point.
Alcee Hastings of Florida is another on the list who faces big hurdles. First he is under an ethics investigation (sexual harassment claim) in the House. Plus, the recently released first draft of the new Florida House districts puts incumbents Hastings and David Rivera (R-also very corrupt) in the same district. There is rarely a safe incumbent when facing another incumbemt.
Jesse Jackson Jr. faces a significant primary challenge from former Rep. Debbie Halvorson in a new district that now stretches to the Wisconsin border and is more racially balanced than Jackson has represented to date. Jackson is still favored to survive a primary at this time, but to say he is expected to win handily again falls short of the electoral reality of a serious primary challenge.
Dennis Kucinich. Kucinich has announced for the newly drawn Ohio 9th and faces a huge primary battle with the more Senior Democrat Marcy Katpur in a primary. Not only is Kucinich not expected to win election handily, Katpur is considered by most the favorite to win the Democratic primary in the new Ohio 9th.
It is hard to have confidence in a site that is not accurately portraying House races to potential donors.
PATRICK MURPHY (D-FL) WON ELECTION TO THE U.S. HOUSE
SENATOR BOB MENENDEZ (D-NJ) WON RE-ELECTION TO THE U.S. SENATE
