# Openly GLBT candidate with most votes?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/openly-glbt-candidate-with-most-votes/392160>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 14, 2007, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/openly-glbt-candidate-with-most-votes/392160 "2007-02-14T08:11:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2007, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/openly-glbt-candidate-with-most-votes/392160/1 "2007-02-14T08:11:30Z")

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Inspired by this thread, [Homosexuals in Elected Office](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=8257675), I was wondering about something similar:

Who is the openly GLBT candidate with the most (cumulative) votes?

Rules (to make them comparable):[ul]  
[li]Must be openly GLBT; elections before coming out don’t count.[/li][li]Cumulative total, for all elections they’ve been in.[/li][li]Votes for any office, local, state, or federal all count.[/li][li]Only votes in General Elections count; Primaries, Party Nominations, etc. don’t.[/li][/ul]

I’d guess the following are likely US front-runners:[ul]  
[li]Ed Flanagan, VT Auditor, elected state-wide twice, ran for US Senate, elected 3 times to VT Senate. And still going.[/li][li]Gerry Studds, Congressman, re-elected 6 times after coming out.[/li][li]Barney Frank, Congressman, elected 10 times since coming out. And still going.[/li][li]Allan Spear, MN Senator, elected 8 times after coming out.[/li][li]Karen Clark, MN Representative, elected 15 times (out from the beginning). And still going.[/li][/ul]