Democratic Rep. John Tierney won re-election in Massachusetts and thwarted Richard Tisei’s historic bid for Congress.
Richard Tisei, a former state senator, is an openly gay Republican. Tierney was considered vulnerable for defeat because he was tied up in a gambling scandal.
Although there have been other gay Republicans serving in the U.S. House of Representatives, Tisei is the first whose sexual orientation was well known before the election. Former GOP congressman Jim Kolbe of Arizona, who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1985 to 2007, came out in 1996.
Source – USA Today
