Tammy Baldwin Elected to Congress

Trailblazing Wisconsin Assemblywoman Tammy Baldwin won her 1998 election to represent the Madison-area 2nd District in Congress, making history on multiple fronts. The 1998 election victory made Baldwin the first woman to represent Wisconsin in Congress as well as the first non-incumbent LGBTQ candidate elected to Congress. She was the first out lesbian to ever serve in in the U.S. House, and later – following her 2012 U.S. Senate election – the first LGBTQ official to serve in both chambers of Congress.
Baldwin was one of four lesbians running for Congress in 1998 who received Victory Fund’s support, and the only successful candidate of the group. Col. Margarethe Cammermeyer, a high-profile activist for gay rights in the military, ran in Washington’s 2nd Congressional District. California Assemblymember Christine Kehoe challenged Rep. Brian Bilbray in California’s 49th District. Victory Fund also endorsed former state Rep. Susan Tracy, who ran for Congress in Massachusetts’ 8th District but didn’t advance in the primary.