What Races Will The LGBT Community Be Watching Very Closely Today?
Buzzfeed’s Chris Geidner posted an excellent and detailed piece, “14 Races LGBT People Will Be Watching Closely On Tuesday,” and we’re sharing some excerpts here, along with some thoughts and background. Head over to Buzzfeed for Geidner’s take, and, of course, photos!
This election is a game-changer for America’s LGBT community, one which will decide if the civil rights that have finally been acknowledged by our elected representatives and our president will continue to be enabled, one that will show America that people from the LGBT community are capable and welcome in all houses of Congress, one that will show LGBTQ children and teens that we’re all people, and that we all deserve the same rights, if these races are decided in our favor.
Overall, in addition to the presidential race, there is one Senate race, one state supreme court justice race, seven House races, and four marriage ballots that are of extra special concern for LGBT people.
NATIONAL
1. PRESIDENT: We’re cautiously optimistic that President Obama will win re-election, assuming there’s no funny business going on with voting machines.
2. U.S. Senate — Wisconsin: Baldwin v. Thompson: Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin is set to become the first openly-gay U.S. Senator. She’s running against a Wisconsin former governor and heavyweight Republican, Tommy Thompson, who benefitted greatly from his time serving in George W. Bush’s administration.
3. U.S. House of Representatives — Colorado: Polis v. Lundberg: Openly-gay U.S. Congressman Jared Polis is favored to win re-election.
4. U.S. House of Representatives — Rhode Island: Cicilline v. Doherty: Openly-gay U.S. Congressman David Cicilline faces a tough re-election race against Republican Brendan Doherty.
5. U.S. House of Representatives — New York: Hayworth v. Maloney: Openly-gay candidate Sean Patrick Maloney is attempting to unseat GOP Congresswoman Nan Hayworth, whose district lies north of NYC. The ads, which we’ve seen here in NYC, are brutal.
6. U.S. House of Representatives — Arizona: Parker v. Sinema: “Democratic House candidate, Kyrsten Sinema, a state senator, is facing off against Republican Vernon Parker in Arizona,” Geidner writes. “A Sinema win would make her the first out bi member of Congress — and the only out LGBT woman in the House in the 113th Congress.”
7. U.S. House of Representatives — Massachusetts: Tierney v. Tisei: If Richard Tisei wins he will be the first Republican elected to Congress as an openly-gay man. He’s been endorsed by several LGBT groups, including the Victory Fund, despite the fact that his stance on LGBT issues is to the right of his non-LGBT Democratic opponent.
8. U.S. House of Representatives — Wisconsin: Lee v. Pocan: Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin gave up her seat to run for the Senate (above) and Mark Pocan, who is also gay, is favored to win.
9. U.S. House of Representatives — California: Takano v. Tavaglione: Openly-gay Democrat Mark Takano is favored to win election to the U.S House against Republican challenger John Tavaglione. Chris Geidner notes a win for Takano “would make him the first out LGBT person of color in Congress.”
STATE MARRIAGE REFERENDA
10. Washington: Christine Gregoire, Governor of the state of Washington, signed into law a same-sex marriage bill that was quickly thrown onto today’s election ballot by anti-gay religious right forces. While polling is favorable for a win, it could be very close.
11. MARYLAND: Also very close, Maryland‘s same-sex marriage bill, (similar story,) in March was signed into law by Governor Martin O’Malley after a contentious debate in the legislature. If the word “cockmonster” means anything to you, you know the Maryland debate has never ended.
12. MAINE: Maine was one of the first states to pass a same-sex marriage law in 2009, only to have voters rescind it at the voting booth later that year, a heartbreaking, crushing defeat. Now, voters seem poised to pass a same-sex marriage equality bill, and the religious right and NOM are pouring money into the state attempting to defeat it — with lies, mistruths, and misdirection, of course.
13. MINNESOTA: Home of Michele Bachmann, Minnesota is the only state this year attempting to further exclude same-sex couples from marrying. The Republicans have managed to place on the ballot an amendment that would add a ban on same-sex marriage into the Minnesota constitution. Does the name Kally Yanta ring a bell? Geidener notes, “Close, though PPP shows it 52-48 for us.”
14. IOWA: Iowa was one of the first states to legalize same-sex marriage because their Suupreme Court — in a unanimous decision — ruled their ban on marriage equality violated their constitution. So, of course, NOM and radical right wing Republican “pro-family” haters like Bob Vander Plaatz got to work — on removing supreme court jstices from office, the first time that’s ever happened sucessfully. They were successful in removing three, now they’re back for another. Despicable.
Supreme Court judge David Wiggins is likely to lose his job for correctly interpreting Iowa’s constitution.
Of course, we’re all hoping to see Congressman Allen West, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, Congressman Steve King, and Congressman Louie Gohmert get defeated tonight, but we’re not holding our breath.
Vote!
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Image: Obama For America
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Maine Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Graham Platner is under fire after releasing a video declaring that new allegations against him are false, yet he is “taking time to reflect” on a path forward.
Politico on Monday afternoon reported that a woman who dated Platner, Jenny Racicot, “says he forced her to have sex with him nearly five years ago despite her repeated objections, an allegation Platner denies.”
“Racicot said she had an on-and-off relationship with Platner,” Politico reported, “for more than two years before he entered her rural Maine home uninvited one night in late 2021, deeply intoxicated, and forced himself on her while she repeatedly told him to stop. She said she cut off contact with him after telling him the encounter was not consensual.”
In a video posted to social media eleven minutes after the Politico story dropped, Platner says, “I wanted to directly address the troubling, serious, and false allegations against me. Any accusation of nonconsensual behavior is categorically false.”
He said he and his supporters “were united in a love of Maine, a belief that our politics must change, in a focus on defeating Susan Collins.”
“So, regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting, but mindful the political reality will inflict, we are taking the time to reflect on the best path forward for the state that I love, the people that I love, the movement I belong to, and the goal of defeating Susan Collins.”
“Those were the goals when we launched this campaign. And they remain my goals today.”
“Throughout it all, you never turned your back on me. And I will not turn my back on you now. Every one of you deserves to see that vision come to fruition and see Susan Collins defeated. And we will use every tool at our disposal to do so.”
The Bulwark’s Tim Miller, a political commentator who served as the communications director for the Jeb Bush 2016 presidential campaign, blasted Platner.
“I’m sorry but ‘we are taking time to reflect on the best path forward’ is not an option on the table,” Miller wrote. “Either it’s false and you campaign with vigor or it’s true and you get out / apologize to everyone you let down.”
Journalist Ryan Grim, commenting on Platner’s video, noted that Platner “strongly suggests he is considering dropping out. Already Troy Jackson and Chellie Pingree, both gubernatorial candidates, are being kicked around in Maine circles as potential replacements.”
Several others, including Puck News’ Peter Hamby, predicted Platner will be dropping out.
Platner had postponed several campaign events before the Politico story was published.
— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) July 6, 2026
President Donald Trump is facing backlash after posting a video of children — including showing their unblurred faces — graduating from kindergarten, with some of the girls purportedly wearing hijabs.
“President Trump posted a captionless video of graduating kindergarteners on Truth Social on Monday, goading his supporters into verbally attacking little children simply for being Muslim,” The New Republic reported. “The clip is from Gateway STEM Academy, a majority-Black K-8 public charter school in St. Paul, Minnesota. It shows about 21 children in caps and gowns on stage singing a song together. Most of the girls are wearing hijabs.”
The original post of the video which Trump reposted reads: “Public school in St. Paul, Minnesota. Every girl is in a hijab … in kindergarten.”
Trump did not add any comments. TNR called the post “Islamophobic, weird, and creepy,” while noting that the comments section of Trump’s post was filled with calls “by racist, xenophobic MAGA supporters” to “deport the children and ban hijabs.”
TNR also noted that it “should come as no surprise that Trump isn’t above attacking children who just learned how to read, but this post is still particularly discomforting—and will certainly contribute to the already potent level of anti-Muslim sentiment in the U.S. and in Minnesota.”
Critics blasted Trump.
“There is something deeply unsettling about the president of the United States—the most powerful person in the world—going after kindergarten schoolchildren in Minnesota because they wore hijabs, as Trump has done this morning on his website,” The Bulwark’s Sam Stein wrote.
One social media commentator wrote, “Trump posted an unblurred video of more than a dozen Muslim kindergartners to Truth Social, exposing the children’s faces while targeting them for their religion.”
Another added, “Trump is a bigot. The president took to Truth Social to attack kindergarteners in hijabs. These are little kids. The president isn’t just a bigot, he’s also a coward.”
The original video was posted to the X social media platform in June.
U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) at the time commented, “If you are in a public school in America, you should be speaking english.”
Image via Reuters
President Donald Trump’s apparent efforts to delay releasing the $5.8 million civil judgment to E. Jean Carroll are being met with a warning by the journalist’s legal team, who suggest there could be a legal maneuver for Trump to employ to forgo paying the judgment in either of the two cases he lost.
According to The Guardian, on July 4, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered Trump to release the $5.8 million judgment, which is in escrow, to Carroll by this coming Tuesday — or explain why he would not do so.
Carroll’s attorneys think Trump may be trying to buy time to mount another legal strategy, telling the judge that Trump’s request for an extension “appears to be little more than yet another play for time.”
“The case is separate from Trump’s appeal of a Manhattan civil jury’s 2024 award of $83.3m to Carroll for defamation,” The Guardian explains. “But her lawyers have suggested a legal scenario in which the president might seek to conjoin the cases and further delay payment of both.”
Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan (no relation to the judge) wrote, “We can only assume that defendant is seeking … to buy time so he can try to concoct some new basis to put off paying plaintiff presumably in connection with his forthcoming petition and motion for a rehearing.”
Trump’s former attorney, Justin Smith, in one of his final acts, wrote to the Supreme Court suggesting that his client would be appealing the $83.3 million civil judgment.
Smith argued that the Supreme Court “may wish to consider the petitions together,” given they involve the same parties.
The larger judgment case involves possible questions of presidential immunity, and that has Carroll’s attorneys concerned.
“A conjoined case, Carroll’s lawyers fear, could result in both judgments being wiped out,” The Guardian reports.
The president has also made clear he is no fan of Judge Kaplan, after the jurist made several rulings that “angered” Trump.
“What else can you expect from a Trump Hating, Clinton appointed judge, who went out of his way to make sure that the result was as negative as it could possible be,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in 2023, “speaking to, and in control of, a jury from an anti-Trump area which is probably the worst place in the US for me to get a fair ‘trial’.”
Image via Reuters
Platner Scorched Over ‘Taking Time’ Video After New Accusation
Trump Sparks Fury Online After Posting Unblurred Video of Muslim Kindergartners in Hijabs
One Legal Maneuver Threatens to Undo Everything E. Jean Carroll Won
Inside the Group Helping MAGA Voters Walk Away — And What Finally Pushed Them
