A post shared by Kent Bombard (@kabombard)A small city in rural Minnesota made history in last week’s election, but it also has many people scratching their heads.Pine City is located in east central part of the state, about an hour outside of the Twin Cities.
The quiet rural community, which is home roughly 3,700 people, voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump, with 62% casting their ballots for the 78-year-old, 34-time convicted felon.But when it came to picking local leadership, voters swung in the complete opposite direction and elected the city’s first out gay mayor.Stay woke with our briefing while staying informed on all things LGBTQ+ entertainment, life, and more!Kent Bombard, who was initially appointed to the position back in July when the previous mayor stepped down, was formally elected after receiving nearly 50 percent of the vote and beating out not one, not two, but three different challengers.“This has been my hometown my entire life, so it’s awesome to be able to feel like I can still fit in,” he told local media after his victory, “and I can still belong and that I’m not a weird outlier in my hometown or in my community.”Bombard lives with his husband Aaron and runs a tech consulting company.
He’s one of just two current out gay mayors among the state’s 854 cities. He says Pine City is a lot more open-minded than many people might assume, despite voters there going for Trump.The city is home to the first rural gay pride celebration in Minnesota, which it has hosted every year since 2005 and which has grown year after year.