Lesbian politician, who voted against same-sex marriage, loses election
A Hawaii legislator lost the chance to face off against her Republican rival in November – despite her opponent being technically not eligible.
Democratic state representative Jo Jordan made headlines three years ago when she voted against equal marriage, even though she’s openly gay herself.
“Down on that floor we’re not only representing our constituency that elects us, we’re representing the 1.4 million people and that’s where I feel, that’s where my duty begins,” she said at the time.
It turns out she may not have been representing her constituency like she thought.
On Saturday, Jordan lost by 10 points to Cedric Gates, meaning he will face off against the GOP’s Marc Paaluhui in November.
The defeat will be especially galling for Jordan after it was discovered Gates shouldn’t have been able to run against her.
Gates ran against Jordan as a member of the Green Party two years ago, but this year came back to run as a Democrat.
However, party rules state that if you leave the party to run for membership in another party (as he did with the Greens in 2014), you can’t rejoin the party for three years.
This problematic defeat has encouraged the Republicans, who hope to win the seat come November.
“It’s going to be a major focus for us,” Republican party chair Fritz Rohlfing told KHON2 News, a local station.
“The Republican candidates did draw a fair number of votes in that area, and that district tends to be lower in turnout, even in the general election.”
Meanwhile, Jordan is “weight her options”, according to Civil Beat, a Hawaii-focused politics blog.
