Mondaire Jones Loses Primary; Other LGBTQ+ Candidates Notch Wins
There were mixed results for LGBTQ+ candidates in Tuesday’s primaries in New York and Florida, with a notable loss for Mondaire Jones, one of the first Black gay members of Congress.Jones, first elected in 2020 from a district in the suburbs north of New York City, had moved to run in a newly created congressional district, the 10th, covering parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn.
He was one of several U.S. House members affected by court-ordered redistricting in New York State. In his original district, the 17th, he would have been up against another gay congressman, Sean Patrick Maloney.In the 10th Congressional District Democratic primary, Jones lost to Dan Goldman, who’d been a prosecutor in Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial.
There were 13 candidates running. Goldman, an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, had received the endorsement of The New York Times, although the Times did praise Jones as well.Jones and Ritchie Torres, an Afro-Latinx gay man, were the first two Black members of the LGBTQ+ community elected to Congress.
Torres, also first elected in 2020, was unopposed in the Democratic primary in the 15th Congressional District, located in the Bronx.The LGBTQ Victory Fund issued a statement lamenting Jones’s defeat. “The result in Mondaire’s race is deeply sad for the LGBTQ community,” said Victory Fund President and CEO Annise Parker. “We’ve lost a fierce advocate and LGBTQ pioneer in Congress who used every ounce of his political power to fight for a more equitable and fair America.
