First openly gay Black congressman loses seat to multimillionaire Levi heir

The first gay Black congressman Mondaire Jones has lost his seat to the heir of the Levi Strauss & Co fortune, Daniel Goldman.

Jones lost the Democratic primary election for New York’s 10th Congressional District and will say goodbye to Capitol Hill when his term ends in January 2023.

He was the United States’ first openly gay Black congressman, but came third in the polls with state assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou taking second place. The New York Times reported the election results on Wednesday (24 August).

The fight for the congress seat was a tough one as Jones was a popular candidate and endorsed by house speaker Nancy Pelosi and senator Cory Booker.

Ahead of the election on Tuesday (August 23), Jones told Grio that if he were unseated it would be a “blow to our democracy and the fight to protect fundamental rights”.

“I have been a leading progressive member of Congress, who has brought the rest of the Democratic caucus with him on issues like Supreme Court expansion, and voting rights and democracy reforms.”

During the run up to the election, Goldman used $4 million of personal funds to sponsor his campaign and stated this gave him the opportunity to focus on voters not donors, as reported by Axios.

And Goldman often brought up his position as the lead counsel against Trump during his impeachment hearing. However he has been heavily criticised for his comments on restricting abortions, which he has since walked back on.

The multimillionaire was also under fire for his investments in Fox News and opposing progressive legislation like Medicare for All.

In an interview with Axios, Goldman said: “The overarching… unprecedented and existential threats we are facing need to be resolved first, before we can focus on the progressive policies.”

Jones was elected to the US House of Representatives in the 2020 election and is a staunch advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. He pushed for stricter gun laws, student debt cancellation and immigration reform.