Gay Democrat & Gay Republican Face Off for Congressional Seat
Two gay candidates, one a Democrat, the other a Republican, are vying to represent a New York district in the U.S. House of Representatives.Democrat Robert Zimmerman and Republican George Santos are running for the seat in the state’s Third Congressional District, which includes most of Long Island’s north shore.
The incumbent, Democrat Tom Suozzi, is not seeking reelection. It’s the first time two out members of the LGBTQ+ community are running against each other in a general election, NBC News notes.
The district leans Democratic, but the race is competitive.“It was going to happen sooner or later,” Donald Haider-Markel, a political science professor at the University of Kansas, told NBC. “The question was always finding an LGBTQ Republican who can get support in a primary.” Santos had no opposition in the Republican primary.The two candidates have very different ideologies.
Santos’s website shows conservative positions on taxes, energy, and other issues, while Zimmerman’s stances are liberal. Santos’s site doesn’t mention LGBTQ+ issues or reproductive rights, but he has made statements against abortion rights, and he has posted an Instagram video expressing support for Florida’s “don’t say gay” law.
