Washington, DC – Today LGBTQ Victory Fund, the only national organization dedicated to electing LGBTQ leaders to public office, endorsed John Blair in his 2020 race for New Mexico’s 3rd Congressional district. Blair would be the first openly LGBTQ member of Congress elected from New Mexico if he wins. His race for the open seat is key to Victory Fund’s efforts to increase the number of LGBTQ people elected to Congress in 2020.
Blair raised $147,000 in the third quarter despite announcing his candidacy late in the quarter – which the Santa Fe New Mexican editorial board called “an excellent showing in such a short time.” His more than 25 years of experience in progressive politics includes serving as New Mexico’s Deputy Secretary of State, serving in the Department of the Interior during the Obama administration, and serving on Capitol Hill for several Democratic members of Congress. While at the Department of Interior, Blair was part of the team that made the Stonewall Inn a National Monument – the first LGBTQ civil rights landmark to receive that designation.
“Only eight openly LGBTQ elected officials are serving in all of New Mexico, so it will be a groundbreaking moment when voters make John the first openly LGBTQ member of Congress from the state,” said Mayor Annise Parker, President & CEO of LGBTQ Victory Fund. “With more than two decades in progressive politics, John is the most qualified candidate to take on the issues that matter most to his constituents: climate change, gun violence and the opioid epidemic that continues to plague New Mexico and all of America. And while John will be focused on those issues, his lived experience as an LGBTQ person will prove invaluable in a U.S. Congress that continues to have few openly LGBTQ members.”
Blair is Victory Fund’s sixth federal endorsement for the 2020 election cycle, having endorsed Mayor Pete Buttigieg for President of the United States and Jon Hoadley, Mondaire Jones, Gina Ortiz Jones and Ritchie Torres for U.S. House.
In 2018, Victory Fund endorsed a historic number of LGBTQ candidates for Congress. Eight U.S. House candidates and two U.S. Senate candidates won their elections – the most ever.
More information about the candidates is available at victoryfund.org/ourcandidates. Since 1991, Victory Fund has helped thousands of openly LGBTQ candidates win local, state and federal elections.
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LGBTQ Victory Fund
LGBTQ Victory Fund works to change the face and voice of America’s politics and achieve equality for LGBTQ Americans by increasing the number of openly LGBTQ elected officials at all levels of government.
