(Boston) Maura Healey became the first openly lesbian governor elected in the United States on Tuesday, in the state of Massachusetts, according to American media.
Posted at 9:24 p.m.
The 51-year-old Democrat easily beat Republican Geoff Diehl, dubbed by Donald Trump, according to Fox News and NBC channels in this northeastern state of the country which had been led for eight years by a Republican, Charlie Baker, who did not not represent.
Human Rights Campaign, an American association for the defense of the rights of lesbian, gay, bi, transgender or queer people (LGBTQ) immediately hailed in a press release a “historic” electoral victory in the United States, Maura Healey “becoming the first lesbian governor of the country”, pending results in the state of Oregon (northwest) where Tina Kotek, a woman also openly lesbian could also become governor.
For the first time in US history, LGBTQ people were candidates in midterm elections in each of the 50 US states on Tuesday, a record that could have a major influence on the political landscape of the country.
Some 678 LGBTQ people thus presented themselves in the polls during which the Americans voted to renew all the seats of the House of Representatives and a third of the Senate. A whole series of governorships and local elected officials are also at stake.
That’s an increase of nearly 20% from the last election, according to an analysis conducted by the LGBTQ Victory Fund, which helps fund such campaigns.
Some 90% of these candidates are Democrats.
The victory of M.me Healey was highly predictable, consistently leading in the polls, and well-regarded as a human rights advocate and, since 2014, state attorney general, the equivalent of local attorney general.