Today HRC released the following statement after Josh Gottheimer was declared the winner in New Jersey’s 5th Congressional District over Scott Garrett, who made national headlines last year for his anti-LGBTQ statements.
“Josh Gottheimer’s win tonight showed our nation that the tide is turning and that targeting LGBTQ people for political gain is now a recipe for electoral defeat,” said HRC Senior Vice President of Policy and Political Affairs JoDee Winterhof. “We look forward to working with Josh Gottheimer to pass the Equality Act and help move our country closer to full federal equality for LGBTQ people.”
The race was clearly a referendum on Congressman Garrett’s opposition to LGBTQ equality.
In 2016, HRC launched #turnOUT, its most robust get-out-the-vote effort in its more than 35-year history. This year, HRC developed an “Equality Voter Model” that gave the organization the tools needed to reach beyond HRC’s 1.5 million members and supporters to target pro-equality voters in crucial races and key battleground states across the nation. The dynamic new model used years of polling conducted for HRC, public voter files and available data on voters not yet affiliated with the organization, but who have demonstrated an openness to creating a more equal and fair society. HRC’s historic effort also included deploying more than 100 staff members to races across the country, mobilizing our volunteers to commit more than 50,000 hours contacting voters and fundraising for candidates, launching an unprecedented persuasive advertising campaign and harnessing the power of social media like never before.
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