LPAC in the News: 2022 Elections
LPAC and Executive Director Lisa Turner were featured widely in the press in regarding the 2022 elections. Check out some of the coverage below.
The Boston Herald:
“Maura Healey’s victory marks a milestone in women’s representation,” Lisa Turner, the executive director of a national committee supporting LGBTQ+ women candidates. “Not only is Healey the first woman elected as Governor of Massachusetts, but she is the first open lesbian ever elected to lead a U.S. state. As governor, she will be an important role model for millions of LGBTQ women across the country.”
Read the full story from Matthew Medsger.
NBC News:
“I’m smiling right now, because I’m so happy,” Lisa Turner, executive director of LPAC, a political action committee dedicated to electing lesbians and other queer women to political office, said of the Healey and Kotek wins. “I just can’t tell you how exciting it is to see these women continue to be successful and just to be so excited for the future.”
Turner said these governors-elect will be “shining stars for not only the Democratic Party, but for their states and for the country.”
Read the full story from Matt Lavietes.
The 19th News:
Being a first as a state legislator matters, said Lisa Turner, executive director of LPAC, a super PAC that funds LGBTQ+ women running for office.
“When they’re elected, it changes that dynamic,” Turner said. “It does matter. It does help. It hasn’t always prevailed,” she said, adding that there often aren’t enough out LGBTQ+ lawmakers to help change the tide on anti-LGBTQ+ bills.
After this year’s midterm elections, seven states will still have never elected any out LGBTQ+ women to their state legislature, Turner said: Indiana, New Jersey, North Dakota, South Carolina and Tennessee, in addition to Louisiana and Mississippi. Alaska left the list by electing Democrat Jennie Armstrong to the state’s 16th House District, Andrew Gray to its 20th House District and Ashley Carrick to its 35th House District. They will take office in January.
“Why we haven’t been able to get over that hump yet, I’m not sure,” she said. Overall, queer women are underestimated as political candidates, Turner said, while still being competitive and resourceful in a political playing field that gives more money, more endorsements and more support to gay men.
This year, LPAC invested heavily in primaries to try to level that playing field and to support queer women running for office, she said. Backing candidates at the local level first so they can work their way up from school boards or councils and into higher office is crucial, she said — and LGBTQ+ organizations need to grow bench-building operations in southern states.
Read the full story from Orion Rummler.
Openly:
The Democrats flipped legislative chambers in Minnesota and Michigan, meaning they control both houses and the governorship, and may flip the Pennsylvania House.
"These are bright spots," said Lisa Turner, executive director of LPAC, a political action committee backing LGBTQ+ women.
"If you win (any of the) chambers, you can fight and get things done at a different level," she said.
Read the full story from Benjamin Ryan.
LA Blade:
LPAC, the only national organization dedicated to electing LGBTQ women and nonbinary candidates to public office, has endorsed 124 candidates running up and down the ballot for the 2022 election cycle. With more than 40 million votes already having been cast for the general election, queer women across the country are on their way to electoral victories.
“This is a critical time to be supporting LGBTQ women candidates,” said LPAC Executive Director Lisa Turner. “Queer women are making history this election cycle, whether Maura Healey becoming the first openly lesbian governor in the country, Becca Balint becoming the first LGBTQ person to represent Vermont in Congress, or more than a hundred state legislative candidates standing up for democracy.”