Kyrsten Sinema elected first openly Bisexual member of Congress

by Mike Andrew - SGN Staff Writer

Democrat Kyrsten Sinema became the first open Bisexual to be elected to Congress when all the votes were counted in a tight race to represent Arizona's new Ninth Congressional District.

Sinema led her Republican challenger, Vernon Parker, from the beginning and her lead increased to nearly 6,000 votes by November 12, too great a lead for Parker to overcome.

She joins five other openly LGBT candidates elected to House seats this year. Jared Polis of Colorado and David Cicilline of Rhode Island won re-election; Sean Patrick Maloney defeated incumbent Nan Hayworth to win a seat in New York; Mark Takano will represent California's new 41st District; and Mark Pocan will succeed Tammy Baldwin in her Wisconsin Congressional district. Baldwin left her House seat to run successfully for the U.S. Senate.

Gay Republican Richard Tisei lost to Democrat John Tierney in the race for the Massachusetts House seat being vacated by Barney Frank.

Arizona's Ninth District was created in redistricting after the 2010 census, and includes Mesa, Chandler, Scottsdale, Tempe (home to Arizona State University), southern Phoenix, and the upscale town of Paradise Valley, where Parker once served as mayor.

A SOLID TRACK RECORD
Sinema is a veteran politician, having served in both the Arizona House and Senate. As a state representative, she sponsored a 2006 resolution urging Congress to pass the DREAM Act.

That same year, she co-chaired Arizona Together, the statewide coalition to defeat a ban on same-sex marriage and civil unions. Two years later, she led the campaign against a similar proposal, but was unsuccessful. She then led a successful campaign to defeat a proposal to eliminate equal opportunity programs in the state. As a state senator in 2010, she sponsored a bill to give in-state tuition to veterans.

In 2005 and 2006, the Sierra Club named Sinema 'Most Valuable Player,' and in 2005 she was named Stonewall Democrats' Legislator of the Year. In 2006 she won Planned Parenthood's CHOICE Award, the Legislator of the Year Award from both the Arizona Public Health Association and the National Association of Social Workers, and the Legislative Hero Award from Arizona's League of Conservation Voters.

In 2010, Sinema was one of Time Magazine's '40 Under 40' - a list of the nation's most influential young civic leaders.

Predictably, Sinema's opponent labeled her 'too liberal' for the district, but she was able to paint him as a Tea Party supporter who wanted to eliminate the federal Department of Education.

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